Tips and tricks to help get your carpet clean again

Whether you’ve recently moved into a rental apartment or have neglected the carpet in your own home, old stains on the carpet are an unsightly nuisance. As a homeowner, you may be tempted to replace the carpet with a value-for-money hardwood floor. As a renter, you probably won’t have that option.

Whatever your residential status, if you decide to keep the carpet these tips on how to get old stains out of carpet will help to return it to a clean and hygienic condition.

Carpet stains aren’t always permanent

The best strategy to remove stains from carpet is to tackle them straight away before the stain dries. Avoid the big mistakes when cleaning stains from your carpet and instead:

• Remove the excess
• Blot the stain with a damp cloth
• Use a carpet cleaning solution
• Blot away the stain
• Dry the cleaned carpet

However, there may be occasions when it isn’t possible to spend time cleaning your carpet after a spill. Perhaps, for example, you are already late for a morning meeting when you knock over a coffee. Accidents happen at the most inopportune times. Luckily, even though you must rush away from the disaster, a carpet stain is often not as permanent as the name suggests. This method will usually remove old stains from carpet:

1. Spray hydrogen peroxide on the stain, saturating it to begin to lift the stain.
2. Leave the hydrogen peroxide for around 10 minutes.
3. Use a stiff brush to loosen the stain from the carpet fibers.
4. Vacuum the solution from the carpet using a steam vacuum, or blot with paper towels.

If you don’t have hydrogen peroxide, you might try club soda instead.

Make your own carpet cleaning solution to remove old stains

It is also possible to remove old stains from carpet with a homemade carpet cleaning solution. For really old stains, sprinkle baking soda on the stain and leave for a few minutes. While letting the baking soda work a little magic, mix the following into a solution:

• One tablespoon of clear dishwashing liquid
• One tablespoon of white vinegar
• Two cups of warm water

Using a wash cloth, dab the solution on the baking soda. It will fizz a little before turning to suds. Continue until the stain has absorbed all the baking soda and homemade carpet cleaning solution.

Now, with clean, warm water, dab the mixture out of the carpet. This may take 10 or 15 minutes, but with a little persistence the old stain should disappear.

An unintended problem of removing old stains from carpet

Now for the bad news… there is an unintended problem when you successfully remove old stains from your carpet: it will become apparent just how dirty the rest of your carpet is, and you may decide to hire carpet cleaning professionals to get your whole carpet looking as good as the clean patch you’ve produced.

Before you start to remove old stains from your carpet, do this

Whether you use a shop-bought carpet cleaning solution or your handmade variety, there are a couple of tips you should observe:

• Always test the solution on a hidden patch of carpet
• Dab from the edge of the stain to the centre of the stain to prevent spread
• Never over-scrub
• Ensure that you have cleaned all solvents and solutions from the carpet

Finally…

Not all old stains are equal. Some, like red wine and blood, will be much harder than others to remove. If you’ve got a stain that proves particularly stubborn, a professional carpet cleaning service may be able to get rid of it using tools and solutions that are most readily available to you.

For a professional carpet clean in the New Jersey area, call Porter’s Cleaning. We guarantee satisfaction.

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