Introduction – Accidents happen, sooner or later all carpets will collect marks/stains.
With over 30 years experience in domestic and commercial carpet cleaning, I have seen just about anything and everything either spilt or walked onto carpet in all sorts of homes, including my own. Being a Father of four children (2 boys, 2 girls, oh and a dog), I know from first hand, how easy it is to stain or mark carpet.
Carpet cleaning – How to raise your carpet’s durability?
Now before I get into the 15 most common household stains and how to remove them, I want to discuss about two important items for carpet cleaning yourself, which are defiantly helpful for you to improve the longevity and appearance of your carpet.
Firstly
Front door and Backdoor mats
One of the most critical aspects of carpet maintenance is the use of floor mats. Mats are also one of the least understood and most neglected parts to keeping your home cleaner.
They greatly reduce the amount of soil carried into your home by foot traffic, (not to mention what are caught underneath your son’s joggers!) and helps remove outside moisture from being tracked in.
Now if you don’t like the look of mats at your front door, the next best thing would be an entrance rug. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but it’s better to wipe the stain onto a small mat, then to walk it throughout your house!
Secondly,
Vacuuming
How Often? Well this will change with every house. Why? If two people were living in a house, I would vacuum maybe once a week. If a house has (like mine) mum, dad and four kids and a dog, I would vacuum at least twice or three times a week.
FACT: 85% of soil tracked into an average home is dry particulate, 15% is oily.
This means you can remove 85% of soil yourself!
Table of Contents:
- Important tips before you start
- Items every Home should have ready
- Treatment Options
- Order of Treatment
- 4 Products you should never use on carpets
- We’re here to Help!
Important tips before you start
When a spillage or mark occurs, don’t leave it, prompt and immediate attention could be the difference between removing it or leaving a permanent stain. hot liquids (tea/coffee) need to be attended to immediately, if left too long they could penetrate into the carpet fibres, and could be almost impossible to remove.
Remove as much of the spill as possible, for liquids, I recommend “micro-fibre cloths”.
Place the micro-fibre cloth over the spillage and blot up by applying pressure to the spill. Repeat this process til no more transfer appears on the cloth. Never rub or scrub a stain or spill. (As this will break the carpet fibres, leaving a fuzzy appearance).
For solids, use the side of a blunt knife or spoon, to scrap of excess of solids.
Always work from the outside of stain or spillage towards the middle, to avoid spreading the stain further.
Now Let’s Go!
Items – Always Have Ready
Now all of these items for spot cleaning you can keep in one single carry tray – or even in 1 bucket – it’s that easy.
- Micro-fibre cloths – (You can buy at ‘Super Cheap Auto’ or ‘Bunnings’. Comes in Packets)
- 1 Spatula / Paint scraper / Blunt Knife
- 1x Spray Bottle
- 1 x Bottle of white vinegar (Must be white)
- 1 x Bottle clear nail polish remove (Acetone)
- 1 x Bottle clear detergent (Dishwashing liquid – must be clear)
- 1 x Bottle of ‘Softly’ wool detergent
Treatment Options
- – Damp microfiber cloth – Blot Up
- – Dry microfiber cloth – Blot Up
- – 1 tsp of ‘Softly’ wool mix detergent
– 1 tsp of ‘white vinegar’
– 1 litre of warm water
– Mix and pour into a spotter bottle.
– Spray lightly over stain, leave for 1 minute, blot up. - – 1/3 cup of white vinegar
– 2/3 cup of warm water
– Mix and pour into a spotter bottle
– Spray lightly over stain, leave for 1 minute, blot up. - – Nail polish remover
– Apply to micro-fibre, then press onto stain and hold onto stain for 10 seconds.
– Then keep repeating til no more transfer. - – Place brown paper over stain.
– Rest iron on top of paper (at medium heat)
– Do not press down
– Leave for 10 seconds, remove iron and paper
– Then scrap off excess gum/wax
*Note: Do not use on man- made fibres e.g. nylon acrylic/polypropylene carpets.
Order of Treatments
Now the most important aspect of treatment is to have patience, and take your time. It may have to repeat twice to achieve your desired outcome.
Simply find the stain from the list below, and follow the recommended steps.
| Stain Types |
Step 1. |
Step 2. |
Step 3. |
| Beer/Spirits |
1 |
3 |
|
| Tea/Coffee |
1 |
5 |
2 |
| Wine |
1 |
5 |
2 |
| Soft Drinks |
1 |
3 |
2 |
| Blood |
1 |
3 |
2 |
| Vomit |
1 |
5 |
2 |
| Nail Polish |
6 |
2 | |
| Lipstick |
6 |
2 | |
| Ink/Ballpoint |
6 |
2 | |
| Dirt Marks |
1 |
3 |
2 |
| Wax/Gum |
7 |
||
| Paint/Acrylic |
1 |
5 |
2 |
| Paint/Enamel |
6 |
2 |
The list above is general recommendations for removal of unwanted stains/marks. I do not recommend cleaning products from supermarkets, especially ones that say “can remove all stains” as some of these contain bleaching and reducing agents that may take colour out of your carpets.
If the stain/mark remains, your one stop-solution is Butler Carpet Cleaning for any kind of professional service in Sydney like Upholstery Cleaning, Rug Cleaning, Mattress Cleaning, Tile & Grout Cleaning, Mould Removal, Leather Cleaning and much more.
So, what you are waiting for? Contact us now and get benefit of our carpet cleaning expertise
4 Products You Should Never Use on Your Carpet
Now like I said in the introduction, with over 30 years experience, I have seen many mistakes people have tried to remove stains by panicking and just grabbing what’s closest.
Here are just a few items that you do not want to treat your carpets with:
-
Stanley Knives
“Oh, I thought I could just cut the stain off”
No! We don’t want to cut any piece of the carpet at all…let the solutions do the work. -
Mineral Turps
“But it says it removes paint”
Yes, this is true, but not from carpets. Mineral turps is far too strong and aggressive, and can weaken the carpet fibres, and in some cases release the secondary backing off the carpet and end up with a ‘bump’ appearance which you cannot fix. -
WD-40/Hairspray
The reasons why this product may knock over some ink stains is because they contain a combination of solvents in each product. But the residue left behind can sometimes be near impossible to remove depending on the carpet type.
-
Chlorine
Household bleaches such as Domestos, White King etc, these solutions will rip out colour from nylon carpets or even dissolve woollen carpets.
We’re Here to Help
Now if you are still not confident, or need some advice, we are more than happy to talk you through what to do.
Just remember the main point I want to get across is, it doesn’t matter if accidents occur, that’s just life, it’s how quickly you react to them that counts.