Carpets can offer a softness and warmth to many areas you frequent in your house every day. They can also harbour up to 200,000 bacteria per square inch if they aren’t taken care of properly!
Rug stains are an inevitable part of owning a carpet. With so much foot traffic, they are subject to frequent spills and grime.
Knowing how to remove a stain from a rug will help keep your carpets looking clean and new. Our guide looks at the most common rug stains that a rug cleaning service can help you tackle.
1. Coffee
Knowing how to get these stains out of a rug is an excellent skill to have, as they are common on living room carpets. Coffee is such a tricky carpet stain because of the temperature of the beverage when it spills. The heat causes the carpet fibers to open up and the stain to soak into the rug.
Some coffees also have artificial colours to make the drink appear darker. These colours can make stain removal even more challenging.
When you have a coffee spill, first dry the spot with a paper towel or clean rag. Replace the towel until you have soaked most of the liquid up. Don’t rub the stain, or you will trap it deeper into the carpet fibers.
Next, take some cold water and add it to the stain. This step will help to dilute the coffee stain. Take a new white cloth and blot it until more of the stain has lifted.
After you’ve lifted as much of the stain as possible, it’s time to treat it. Mix one tablespoon of a clear dish liquid soap in a bowl with one tablespoon of white vinegar. Add in two cups of warm water and mix the solution.
Take a clean white cloth and dampen it with the solution. Blot the stain with the solution starting from the outside of the stain and working your way in. It is important to continue this process until the stain disappears.
Finish by adding cold water to the area one more time. Blot the water with a cloth until much of the liquid is gone. Let the carpet air dry, and you shouldn’t see the coffee stain anymore.
Coffee gets harder to remove the longer you let it sit. Call your professional area rug cleaning service ASAP so they can remove the stain before it sets permanently.
2. Blood
If blood gets on your carpet, you need to act fast. If the blood is still wet, start by blotting the blood with a damp rag or paper towel. Starting at the edge of the stain, work your way toward the center.
Mix a tablespoon of clear dish liquid soap in a large bowl with two cups of cold water. Your cleaning efforts will be hindered by hot or warm water, which clots blood.
Dab up the cold water with a clean paper towel or white rag. Blot the stain with the solution until you can’t see the stain anymore.
Once it’s gone, blot once more with plain cold water and a clean white towel. Use a dry rag to blot at the area until the liquid has been absorbed.
Call a professional Persian rug cleaning company to help if your stain isn’t gone. They use special rug cleaners to remove the rest of the stain before it sets into the carpet.
3. Red Wine
Enjoying a glass of red wine is a great way to unwind unless it spills on your lovely carpet. If you have a red wine mishap, grab a clean cloth or paper towel and blot the stain.
After you have blotted as much of the stain as you can, grab some club soda. Pour a little bit onto the stain and keep blotting. The bubbles in the club soda help release the red colour from the rug.
Keep repeating the process until the stain isn’t there anymore. Once the stain is gone, grab a clean towel and blot the area until it’s dry.
If you’ve let your stain sit too long, call a professional rug cleaning company to help you out. They will know how to remove the stain from your rug in no time.
4. Ink
Removing ink from a rug is trickier than other liquids because of the chemical properties of the ink. Pens have dyes, pigments, and lubricants to create the ink used in them.
The chemicals in ink mean you need a heavy-duty specialty cleaning product to remove it from a rug. This type of stain is best left to the experts. A professional area rug cleaning and repair service will know how to remove the stain from your rug without ruining your carpet.
5. Pet Stains
If your furry friend has ever had an accident on your floor, you know how tough those stains are to eliminate. Pet urine has water, enzymes, uric acid, urea, and cholesterol in it. It also contains yellow pigment.
Pet urine starts as an acid, but after about twelve hours turns alkaline from the bacteria in the liquid. The salt from the alkaline mixes with the yellow colour and causes the stain on your carpet.
The second you notice a pet stain, mix one cup vinegar, one cup water, and two teaspoons baking soda in a solution. Blot the stain with a cloth soaked in the solution.
Use a clean towel to blot the area dry. Repeat the process until the stain has vanished.
The smell of the urine can get worse the longer it sits. Make sure to find professionals who know how to remove pet stains, so they don’t ruin your carpet.
Rug Stains Don’t Have to Ruin Your Beautiful Carpet
A spill on your beautiful carpet can be a very stressful situation. Thankfully, with some professional help, rug stains can be a thing of the past.
Do your carpets need some expert help? If so, the professionals at Love Your Rug can help! Contact us today for your rug cleaning quote.
