Top Tips to Deal with the Worst Stains (and the two tips you shouldn't follow)

Your kids just spilled juice all over your new carpet. Your dog decided he didn’t want to go out in the rain, so used your new carpet as his very own grass patch. Or, you’ve just discovered a mystery stain under your couch—you didn’t even know was there.

All these types of stains can be frustrating. You might be asking yourself, “How do I remove these stains from my carpet?” Never fear, Rug Doctor New Zealand is here with the ultimate stain guide.

So, sit back, relax, and let’s talk stains!

 

TYPES OF STAINS

Stains generally fall into three categories: oil-based stains, acidic-based stains and permanent stains. Oil-based stains are substances such as lipstick, grease and butter. Acidic-based stains are things like fruit juices or tea and coffee.

Some stains are permanent, such as vivid stains, hair dye or foods with certain food colouring's like red or orange, certain coloured cake icings, and curries with their natural orange pigments that come from the turmeric. Certain fake tanning products can be permanent too. The pigments in these stains act as a dye, permanently colouring your carpet fibres.

If you’re in doubt about the type of stain you have, refer to our Rug Doctor Stain Guide.

 

STAINS: WHAT TO DO

So, what do you do if you have a stain? In all cases, you must remove the excess matter from the carpet before you attempt to clean it. With liquid stains, use an absorbent paper towel to gently blot up the excess stain to pull the moisture out of the carpet.

For solid stains, gently scrape off the excess solids, using a butter knife or spoon. Never use anything sharp. If you need to vacuum the solids away from the stained area, that is fine to do so. At Rug Doctor, we commonly get asked about candle wax and chewing gum stains.

For candle wax stains, scrape off as much wax as possible using a spoon. If you find that the wax is deeply embedded, cover it with a white cloth and apply an iron on a very low setting to the cloth. This is like a magic trick; the wax will transfer to the cloth. There will likely be a bit of wax remaining, and since wax is oil-based, our Spot Remover product can be used to remove any remaining residue.

Chewing gum on a carpet can be a sticky mess. Don’t be tempted to pull the chewing gum off the carpet as this can damage the carpet. Using the ice cube freezing technique works well on gum. Place a few ice cubes in a plastic bag, then hold the bag on the gum until it is hardened and frozen. Lift the gum gently from the edges, being careful not to damage the carpet fibres. Any remaining gum can be scraped off with a butter knife.

Another technique is to warm-up the gum with a hair dryer. As the gum begins to soften, you can use a plastic bag or soft cloth to gently lift it off the carpet. Just make sure the gum is heated and therefore softened for this to work properly. Certain carpets like synthetic or wool carpets are sensitive to heat, so apply the hair dryer with caution. Find out more about removing chewing gum from carpets here.

 

WHAT NOT TO DO

There are probably more “don’ts” than “dos” when it comes to stains. First, don’t wait! Any stain left over a long period of time becomes difficult to remove as it embeds deeper into the fibre of the carpet. Act quickly to take care of any stain.

For liquid stains, never rub the stain on the carpet. The goal is to pull liquid out of the carpet rather than force it in, therefore, gently blot the area. Don’t pour water on the stain.

Whatever you do, never try multiple products on one stain. This will only set the stain in and may even end up permanently discolouring or bleaching your carpet.

 

OUR PRODUCTS

At Rug Doctor, we have two pre-treatment products to use on stains. Our Spot Remover product is applied to remove oil-based stains such as blood, chocolate, milk and food stains.  Red wine stains are also best removed with the Rug Doctor Spot Remover.

On the other hand, our Stain Remover product is used on acidic-based stains like urine, fruit juice, tea, coffee and white wine.

Both products are for general use at any time, but when using either product for the first time, you should always test in a non-visible area to make sure it works with your carpet. Both products are also pre-treatment products and are not used in the Rug Doctor carpet cleaning machines.

Once you have identified which cleaning solution to use, apply a small amount to the stain and let it sit for about 5-10 minutes. Then, gently blot the area, working from the edge of the stain towards the centre so as not to spread the stain. Repeat this process as needed. Stains often require patience and may require more attempts for complete removal.

After the stain has been completely removed, use a clean cloth with lukewarm tap water to remove the product residue. Blot dry to remove all residual cleaning solution. After blotting, the area needs to thoroughly dry.

 

MYSTERY STAINS

We have all experienced it. You pull back your a rug only to discover a big brown spot. Your kids—or your dog—concealed their crime.  You don’t know how long it’s been there, and you don’t know what it is. The quickest way to identify the solid stain is to scrape it off and try to determine what it is. Dried liquid stains are harder to identify, but here are our top culprits:

• Coffee
• Tea
• Grease/oil
• Blood
• Milk/ice cream
• Fruit juice
• Pet urine/accidents
• Felt tip pens
• Paint (water-based)
• Red wine
• Vomit
• Makeup foundation (some water-resistant formulations can be tricky to remove)
• Nail polish
• Tomato sauce
• Candle wax

 

Over the years, we have found that blood, chocolate, grease from foods like pizza, ink pens and pet stains are the most common mystery stains. Kids and dogs, what more can we say?

 

BLOOD

Many times, blood cannot be immediately cleaned from the carpet because you’re first of all dealing with a medical emergency. Address the stain as soon as you can. Loosen the blood with a butter knife if it has dried and then vacuum. Blood is an oil-based stain, so use our Spot Remover to remove the stain.

 

TEA AND COFFEE

Depending on whether you have had milk in your tea and coffee will depend on what product you use, as the milk will change the PH balance of the stain. For black tea or coffee use the Stain Remover. For tea and coffee with milk in, use the Spot Remover.

 

CHOCOLATE

Scrape off as much of the dried chocolate as possible, then vacuum up the flakes. If the chocolate cannot be easily scraped off, you can treat it like candle wax. Cover the spot with paper towels and use an iron set on the lowest setting (don’t use steam). Move the warm iron slowly over the paper towels and the chocolate should melt and stick to the paper towels. After you get as much chocolate off the carpet as possible, spot clean the oil-based stain with our Rug Doctor Spot Remover.

 

INK

Art projects sometimes go wrong, and you end up with marker stains on your rug. Water based inks can be removed with the Rug Doctor Spot Remover, simply spray the area, then use a white towel or paper towel to blot the spot. Don’t rub! This might take several attempts, but you should see the colour transferring from the carpet to the towel. This works well on non-permanent inks. If your stain is from a permanent marker, it will unfortunately be permanent, although you may be able to lighten or reduce the stain.

 

GREASE

Why does pizza always land face down? Who knows! But it always seems to land on your carpet. Use paper towels to blot up as much grease as possible, then apply our Spot Remover product on these messy oil-based stains.

 

STICK WITH IT

Removing stains takes patience, and keep in mind that some stains require multiple repetitions of applying the product until the stain is completely gone. If the stain has gone into the carpet backing, it may make its way  back into the carpet fibres. You thought it was gone, only to have it reappear! Hang in there.

It is also very important to do the rinsing step after your stain is gone to remove all cleaning solution residue. When the residue stays behind, it acts as a dirt magnet. The rinsing also returns your carpet to a normal pH balance which can also help.

 

In Conclusion

While not all stains and spots can be successfully removed, Rug Doctor products have worked wonders on stains for over the last 30 years here in New Zealand. We strongly recommend keeping one bottle of each of our products on hand and then every 6-12 months hire out our Rug Doctor machine. Life is messy, and you never know when you’ll be needing our stain removers when accidents happen!

 

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