Spot Treating Do’s and Don’t: How to Remove a Carpet Stain
One of the worst things in spot removal you can do is treat a spot using the wrong products and methods.
Whether it’s pet urine, a coffee stain or spilled juice, we’ve seen well-meaning residents try scrubbing the spot out of their carpet using a dozen random products from underneath their kitchen sink only to make the spot worse.
If you’re wondering how to safely treat a carpet stain, do NOT scrub laundry detergent, shampoo, dish soap or other “supposed remedies” in your carpet. Ignore what HGTV or Angi’s List says about kitchen sink products that act as supposed remedies for stain treatment. It WILL make the spot worse and harder to remove. As a temporary measure, we recommend the steps below and will explain the benefits of this approach until you can have the spot professionally cleaned:
Use paper towels to absorb spill
Paper towels are more absorbent than most cloths or rags, and help extract the liquid. If you don’t have paper towels on hand, use a wool rag, kitchen towel or bath towel. DON’T use a microfiber cloth. Microfiber is more dense than carpet and will not absorb the liquid – it will push it farther into the padding.
The most important thing after a spill is getting as much of the liquid out of the carpet as possible.
Add a Teaspoon of Baking Soda to Area
Gently cover the spot with baking soda and use a cloth or new toothbrush to saturate it into the carpet followed by two or three spritz of water from a spray bottle. Make sure you’re not scrubbing it into the carpet, but rather you’re gently spreading the baking soda.
Baking soda is a mild form of alkali which helps break down the acids found in organic stains. It also helps remove odors.
Contact Professional Help
After applying the temporary treatments to the spot, the best thing to do is to hire a steam carpet cleaning service like Always Green Carpet Cleaner Manhattan to not only clean the stain, but the entire area. That’s because treating one spot can cause it to stick out noticeably from the rest of your carpet, so it’s best to have the whole room cleaned
We Recommend Professional Cleaning VS DIY Tips:
1. Steam technology
When a stain sets into your carpet, the molecule structure begins to bond with your carpet fibers, and in order for it to be removed, it needs a substance that will break down the molecule structure of the acids in that stain. This is what steam does. Our units are capable of heating water almost to boiling in order to safely break down the stain.
2. Powerful extraction
A good extraction unit like ours will have two motors – one for heating and releasing steam and the other for powerful suction to extract. (By the way, cheap carpet cleaners from the store or even rental units like Rug Doctor DO NOT compare in quality). These cleaners can only suck back liquid from the surface of your carpet, but our units are powerful enough to reach the base and even the carpet padding.
3. Special treatments
If a stain has been left unattended for some time (no effort has been made to treat it at all by our client) then it might become necessary to invest in additional treatments. This isn’t to “upsell” clients, but rather it’s to provide a last resort for tougher spots. 80% of cleanings can be done with just steam and extraction technology which allows us to keep our pricing competitive. If we were to include special spot treatment for each job, we would be forcing an extra service and cost on most clients who wouldn’t need it.
If you need help removing tough stains from your carpet or upholstery, give Always Green Carpet Cleaner of Manhattan a call. We offer free walk-throughs and our team is here to answer any questions you have.
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