Carpet Stains You Can Remove With Plain Cold Water
Some carpet stains are really bad news. These are the ones that are really tough to get out and require a professional to come in to treat the carpet. To tell the truth, with some stains, even the professionals get that feeling of creeping dread when we get a call from someone who has got house paint or strong hair dye on the rug, knowing that there’s hard work waiting. I guess every job has its rough days…
Then there are the stains that aren’t so hard to deal with. These are the ones that your typical average Joe or Jane Bloggs can handle solo, as long as he or she is reasonably able-bodied and sober. Of course, you may not be able-bodied (or sober), or you may just plain old dislike blotting and dabbing at the carpet, and there’s no shame in that. That’s what professional stain treatment services are for. All the same, it’s possible to remove some stains quickly and easily at home without anything fancier than cold water and a few rags and towels (and maybe an old toothbrush). Well, it’s comparatively easy and quick, but you’ve got to get onto it promptly.
How To Remove Stains With Water
When dealing with any of the simple stains, there are several key steps that you need to follow. The first one, of course, is to act straight away. The longer a stain sits on a carpet – even a simple one – the more likely it is to set and become permanent.
- First of all, scrape up any solid matter and blot up surplus liquid with an absorbent cloth, a paper towel or an old towel or something else really absorbent (we’re going to refer to these absorbent things quite a lot, so from here on out, I’m just going to refer to them as old towels). If you’re lucky and if your carpet is one of the more stain-resistant types (or if you’ve applied Scotchgard stain protection), then this may be all that you need to do.
- If you can still see where the stain is, apply a little bit of cold water. Don’t use too much or risk spreading the stain to other parts of the carpet. Also, be sure the water is cold, as hot water will set stains (blood, egg, food colouring on wool carpets, for example).
- Use an old towel to blot the stain up. Don’t scrub if you can possibly avoid it, as this will make the carpet fibres look funny. If you absolutely have to scrub because the stain is a bit stubborn, then be very gentle – use an old toothbrush, as this won’t damage the carpet or cause it to felt up. Work from outside the stain towards the inside to avoid widening the mark.
- Keep on applying cold water, followed by blotting until you either (a) can’t see the stain any more, (b) can’t get any more out of the carpet, (c) run out of towels or (d) have had enough and get on the phone to find a professional stain removal expert.
- Get a fresh, dry old towel and blot once to remove as much moisture as possible.
- Let the area dry. You can help it along the way with a hair dryer if you have the patience. Alternatively, you can try what the average person does: open the windows or ensure good ventilation and/or crank up the heating a bit so that the area dries easily.
- Avoid walking on the wet spot in the carpet until it’s no longer wet.
One further point: if you want to, add a spot of dishwashing liquid to help lift the stain out of the carpet. However, this isn’t strictly necessary and ordinary cold water will work.
Stains That Come Out With Water
But what carpet stains respond well to this sort of treatment? Some do, and some don’t. I’ve compiled a list of common things that end up on the carpet that can be dealt with by the method described above. You may be surprised that some of them are really that easy to remove.
Hot drinks
This would have to be one of the most common stains we encounter. Tea, coffee, herbal tea and hot chocolate come out of the carpet with a little help from cold water and plenty of blotting.
Soft drinks
Those brightly coloured sodas may look alarming, but they still come out with cold water – thank goodness! So do closely related non-alcoholic drinks such as fruit juice and cordial. Just about any drink will come out from the carpet with ordinary water, except red wine, which is notoriously stubborn.
Beetroot Stains
As long as the beetroot juice hasn’t dried, it will come out from the carpet. Fresh beetroot is no problem, but pickled beetroot is harder because of the vinegar. However, if you get onto treating the carpet’s beetroot stain AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, it should come out. If it dries, it’s hard to remove.
Children’s Poster Paint
Yes, this really does come out with cold water. Ideally, there should be a newspaper, an old sheet, or something along those lines protecting the carpet if children are doing artwork in a carpeted area. However, despite these measures, accidents happen. As long as your child is using water-based paint, cold water will remove it from the carpet as long as (the old story) the paint doesn’t have the chance to dry. This also applies to adults’ watercolour paints.
Jam
Jam, jelly and marmalade are all sugar-based, and sugar is water-soluble, so getting jam out of the carpet is fairly straightforward. This is one case where scraping up as much of it as possible before applying the cold water and starting the blotting process will be quite effective. Use a teaspoon or a blunt table knife to scrape without damaging the carpet.
Tomato and Chilli Sauce
These stains are easy enough to remove from a carpet or rug with just plain water. However, this only applies if the spill or stain involves just one of these sauces and maybe barbecue sauce. In the case of pasta sauce that’s been on the pasta along with oil, things get harder because of the grease involved. Any sauce containing turmeric, such as curry or mustard (the bright yellow colour is your giveaway), will be much tougher to remove.
Blood
Cold water is the most effective way to remove bloodstains from carpets, as long as you’re dealing with small amounts. With larger amounts of blood, you’ve probably got other problems on your hands, such as calling the ambulance and/or the police and applying first aid (or working out how to conceal the body – but I’ve been reading too many mystery novels!). You can help remove blood with hydrogen peroxide either instead of or as well as cold water, as this chemical dissolves any protein with a very satisfying fizz.
Some Stains That Won’t Come Out With Cold Water Alone
Unfortunately, some stains that seem easy may need more than just cold water to treat them, either because of what’s in the stain or because you’ll need to remove odours from the carpet. Some of these toughies include:
· Urine, vomit and faeces, either human or animal.
· Anything containing oil or fat (gravy, stew, curry etc.)
· Mud
· Grass stains
· Felt tip pen
· Anything that’s had a chance to dry onto the carpet fibres
I hope my quick guide to removing carpet stains using only water comes in handy. I know it’s not ideal, but it pays to know what you can and can’t do when you haven’t got anything else. At the end of the day, you can always nip to the local shop or Aldi on Holloway Road and grab a bunch of cleaning detergents and spotters. What’s even better for the carpet, you can get in touch with me, so I can treat your carpet professionally.
Sorry, couldn’t help the plug. It pays the bills 😉