Carpets tend to get stained. They’re on the floor, and everything that falls off ends up there: coffee, juice, food scraps, shoe dirt, ink… Dirt from our pets, or what our little ones can’t keep in their stomachs. And it must be cleaned soon so that it doesn’t leave any stains.
Do you know how to remove a stain without damaging the tissues?
Remove the residue of the stain on the carpet
Let’s imagine that one morning in a hurry we drop some coffee and toast on the carpet. The coffee is difficult to remove because it is liquid, but the toast (and the butter or jam) must be removed before we start washing the carpet, either by machine or by hand.
Some people remove this type of residue with a scraper, a knife, or even with a powerful vacuum cleaner. The important thing is not to use brushes or pressure, since the only thing we will achieve is to make the stain grow.
Dry the stain (if it is wet)
One time-saving trick later is to bring an absorbent (and dry) napkin in first. It will cause some of the liquids already in the fabric to come out. Very useful with the coffee stain, but not so useful with the jam stain.
After passing this instrument dry a couple of times, we can make a little pressure. Always use dry napkins on each pass, so as not to spread the dirt.
What kind of stain do you have?
Depending on the type of stain we find, we can use one product or another. There will be those who find the supermarket stain remover to be very original, and those who require a little more originality.
To remove red wine stains there are several options. After a drying process like the one mentioned above, oxygenated water (H2O2) like the one we have for wounds, together with some neutral salts (such as salt or bicarbonate of soda) is usually very good.
After that, an abundant rinsing to remove the salts impregnated with wine. The second option is white vinegar, to be removed first with a damp sponge, and then with a rinse.
If the stain is of dark ink, perhaps from a broken pen, we have several options:
- If it’s small and flexible, fill a bowl with milk and leave the stain inside for a few hours. After that, clean it with a stain remover and follow the instructions.
- If the carpet is of the rigid type, it will be easier for us to use a damp cloth with some (pure) alcohol to remove the ink little by little. Then use a stain remover.
- If you don’t have any of these, you can always use fine salt. Pouring an important amount, but without caking, on the carpet. And shaking the carpet after eight hours to remove the salt.
To clean an olive oil stain, it is usually helpful to use dry absorbent paper in the area. By running it over at first, and then pressing it down. Once most of the liquid has been removed, the stain should be wiped away with a damp cloth containing some pure alcohol. And finish the cleaning with detergent on the stain, and lots of water.
Although rare, rust stains can occur. In this case the ideal is a fabric stain remover applied for 5 or 10 minutes. And, if it does not remove all the stain after several rinses with warm water, we can try with lemon juice (strained, we will not leave lemon particles) plus salt. The lemon will help the stain to separate from the carpet, and the salt will absorb it without letting go.
If you drop some infusion (tea, coffee, mate…), the ideal is to use starch once you have dried the liquid. Of course, not everyone uses starch in the kitchen. If you don’t have any, use dry clothes for rubbing, and then detergent.
Mud or dirt stains, for example, are paradoxical. The less you do, the easier it is to clean them up. In fact, it’s best to cordon off the area, let the hours pass until the stain dries, and shake the carpet carefully.
If we’ve dropped paint on the carpet, we’ll need to see the guy. Pencil tip or pencil type paint, we can absorb them by vacuuming them up, being careful not to crush them. For wax paints it usually works to remove the excess, put a few layers of kitchen paper, and pass the iron at a low temperature over the stain. As the paint softens, it will stick to the paper. If it is liquid paint, it is more complex, since sometimes it will be necessary to
A gum stain is removed exactly as it is removed from the hair: by freezing it. You can pass dry ice over the stain to remove it using tweezers.
In general, it is not a good idea to use water or pressurized hot air (hair dryer). It is the same as washing and drying you can damage the fabric even if you remove the stain.
Of course, before experimenting it would be a good idea to know the type of carpet. Or ask the seller about the best option. Of course, this may take some time to make the stain permanent.
Are you sure we got the stain out?
Once the stain’s cleaned up, we’ll make sure we got rid of it.
First, we must let the carpet dry completely. Otherwise, the damp stain will give us a false witness, and we will go back to cleaning a carpet that may already be completely clean. To speed up the drying process we can use salt, but only if there is a real urgency.
If after all this procedure there is still a shadow of the stain, there are several options: either take it to the dyeing room or apply a fabric stain remover first. Most probably with the stain remover we will be able to leave the carpet in perfect condition, although there are complex stains that require industrial products that are difficult to acquire.
Carpets are the clothes of the house, and it is understandable that we want to keep them in good condition. Something that does not always happen, especially if we have small or pets at home. Here we have seen a few homemade tricks to get rid of stubborn stains.