Carpet Stains 101
While I realize that cleaning your carpet is not directly linked to customizing your home, our business often receives questions on how to remove stains. Hopefully this little guide comes in handy the next time a full-fledged food fight between two armies of gorillas that escaped from the zoo ensues in your living room….or more likely, your dog knocks over your wine glass.
Try to remove as much of the spill as possible from the carpet, immediately. Use the chart below to figure out what sort of agent or solvent you need to use, and pour the solvent onto a sponge and blot (not rub!) the spill. Dry the area with a paper towel. You may need to repeat the blotting process. Then “rinse” by blotting with wet (like wet with water, not the solvent, or god forbid the ketchup you were trying to clean up in the first place) paper towels, and then dry. Hopefully the damage will be minimized, if not prevented altogether.
| Blood | Water, then detergent |
| Butter | Trichloroethane, then detergent |
| Chocolate | Detergent, then ammonia |
| Coffee | Detergent, then vinegar |
| Crayon | Trichloroethane, then detergent |
| Egg or fruit juice | Detergent, then ammonia, then vinegar |
| Furniture polish, grease or oil | Trichloroethane, then detergent |
| Ice Cream | Detergent, then ammonia, then vinegar |
| Ketchup | Detergent, then ammonia |
| Lipstick | Trichloroethane, then detergent, then ammonia, then vinegar |
| Mayonnaise | Trichloroethane, then detergent |
| Paint (oil) | Trichloroethane |
| Paint (latex) | Detergent |
| Shoe Polish | Trichloroethane, then detergent, then ammonia, then vinegar |
| Tea | Detergent, then vinegar, then trichloroethane |
| Urine | Vinegar, then ammonia, then vinegar again, then detergent |
| Wax | Scrape, then apply trichloroethane |
| Red Wine | Apply a small amount of white wine, then trichloroethane. |
