5 Common Household Carpet Stains and How to Remove Them

Imagine you’re arriving home one day after a hard days work and looking forward to a relaxing night on the couch with glass of wine and your favourite TV show.

It’s raining and before walking into the house you carefully remove your shoes to avoid tracking mud on your nice clean carpets.

As you walk into the living room, it appears others haven’t been as considerate as you and you discover a trail of frenzied child-sized muddy footprints all over your carpet floors.

Would you?

1. Try to pick up the mud using paper towels?
2. Wet a sponge and try to aggressively scrub out the stains?
3. Use your grandmother’s secret homemade carpet cleaning spray that also double as a shampoo and cold relief medicine?
4. Have your kids clean up the mess, knowing very well they’re going to make it worse?

Knowing exactly what to do when faced by common household stains is important for keeping your carpet clean and prolonging its life span.

Read on and learn the best practices for encountering 5 of the most common household carpet stains.

Tips for Removing Common Household Carpet Stains

Coffee

Coffee stains on the carpet are tricky and can leave a yellowish discolouration if not properly taken care of soon after a spill has occurred.

1. Blot the spill dry with a clean cloth – make sure you replace the cloth if it becomes saturated to avoid spreading the stain further
2. Add a small squirt of dishwashing liquid to some lukewarm water in a glass and blot at the stain with a new clean cloth– make sure you start from the outer edges, and work towards the middle
3. Repeat Step 1 to dry the wet area

Pet Mess

Sometimes your best friend leaves a little gift for you, a gift you could do without. These types of stains need to be attended to immediately before the odour becomes a permanent defining feature of your carpeting.

1. Remove any stool by hand or blot dry urine using a dry cloth or paper towel
2. Liberally pour vinegar all over the stain ensuring to soak the area through
3. Now sprinkle some baking powder over the soaked area and leave to dry for at least a day or two
4. After this time has passed, vacuum the area to remove any of the residual baking soda

If immediately attended to, all of these stains can be taken care of with little to no fuss. If you find that stains or odours still persist, feel free to give us a call and ask about our carpet stain and odour removal services.

Wine

Ok, so we all know wine has a tendency to make our judgements and movements a little shaky at times and it’s not uncommon to see that familiar dark red stain on many carpets across the Gold Coast.

1. Blot the stained area with a clean dry cloth to pick up any liquids
2. Add a small squirt of dishwashing liquid and one tablespoon of vinegar to a glass of water
3. Apply a little bit of the cleaning liquid to another clean cloth and blot at the stain until removed
4. Bot the area dry with a fresh clean cloth

Blood

Ok, we don’t want to know how it got there. We’re just going to give you some advice and then we’re walking away.

1. Add cold water and a little grease fighting dishwashing detergent to a spray bottle – if hot water is used, the blood will coagulate making it a lot harder to remove, so it is very important you use cold water
2. Liberally spray the stained area with the cold water solution
3. Use a paper towel or a dry cloth to blot the area and soak up the blood
4. This takes patience, but it will be worth it in the long run

Mud

Ah, this brings us back to the situation at the start of the article. What should you do when faced with all this mud?

1. Wait for the mud to dry as any scrubbing or rubbing of wet mud will push it deeper in the carpet’s fibre
2. After the mud has dried, vacuum the area slowly and for a long period of time - 15 to 20 passes should do it.
3. Add a squirt of dishwashing liquid to a glass of lukewarm water
4. Dip a clean cloth into the solution and blot the remaining stained area
5. Blot dry with a fresh clean cloth