Red wine spills. Cordial catastrophes. Tomato sauce trickles. Don’t you just hate these colourful stains on your plush carpets? Like it or not, a party almost always guarantees a colourful, blotchy carpet. Good news is, you can do something to remove stains from your carpet, and or prevent them from ever reoccurring.
Here’s a safe, practical guideline that you can follow to help you out:
- Place doormats at all entrances and oblige everyone to wipe their shoes before stepping into a carpeted area. Doing so will not only save your carpet from wear and tear, but will also keep dirt and other pollutants from sticking on it.
- Act fast and attend to the stain right away. This means not letting it set while waiting for your guests to leave. Speed is a key factor here—the longer the delay, the more time the stain has to spread, and the harder and more time consuming it is to remove.
- Blot as much excess liquid as you can. Don’t soak, wipe or scrub it. Doing so will only damage the carpet fibres and cause the stain to spread. Just blot it gently using a clean white towel or paper towel to remove the stain. After sucking up the liquid, rinse the spot with water and blot again until dry. Repeat the process as needed.
- Gently scrape off any solids with a spoon or spatula. Wash the remaining spill and blot dry. Dried solids, on the other hand, can easily be broken up and vacuumed. Repeat until the stain is gone, then rinse with water and blot dry.
- To eliminate greasy stains, apply a volatile dry solvent like thinners to the spot using a white towel. Thinners are very strong and should not be used if you are sensitive to chemicals. Blot from the edges to the center. Continue dabbing until spot is clean. Remember to always patch test any cleaning agent on a hidden part of the carpet to avoid carpet damage or discolouration. CAUTION: If this step looks a bit difficult consider using a professional.
- Since stubborn or old stains may not respond well to DIY efforts, you may need to hire a commercial carpet cleaning service company. It’s highly recommendable and worth the extra cost, saving you a bigger cost of buying a new carpet.
Simply follow these steps above should you encounter unwanted stains to ensure your carpets are constantly in good shape, looking fresh and fabulous.
Also consider that some carpet fibre types actually get dyed by the staining agent and are essentially that colour for good ie. Permanent. Happy blotting!
Bye for now. Thanks for reading.
From Mark the Brisbane carpet cleaner