Carter's Carpet Restoration

Serving Placerville, El Dorado Hills, Folsom, Granite Bay, Cameron Park & Surrounding Areas

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DIY Carpet Stain Removal

Karen Carter

DIY carpet stain removal

Looking for some DIY carpet stain removal tips?  You’ve landed at the right place.  As professional carpet cleaners, Carter’s understands that people can’t call a professional every time a spill happens.  Carter’s gives helpful and safe advice for DIY carpet stain removal in between professional cleanings.  Spills happen, however, you can be prepared to remove stains when they occur.  Read on to learn how to remove stains with safe and simple household products.

White Cotton Towels for DIY Carpet Stain Removal

DIY Carpet Stain Removal

The first thing to keep on hand is a stash of clean, white cotton towels for DIY carpet stain removal.  Colored towels run the risk of transferring color to your carpet, hence it’s safest to stick with white.  Cotton is a very absorbent material and results in more moisture and stain removal power when doing DIY carpet stain removal.  If you don’t have white cotton towels on hand, you’ll be fine with plain white paper towels.  

Foam Shaving Cream for DIY Carpet Stain Removal

DIY Carpet Stain Removal

It may sound funny, but old-fashioned white foam shaving cream is great for DIY carpet stain removal.  Foam shaving cream is an air-filled soap and when used for stain removal it has the benefits of soap without the concentration.  Foam style shaving cream is a lot easier to rinse out of your carpet fiber than over the counter cleaning products. This means the shaving cream leaves less residue than most cleaning products, resulting in healthier carpet. You see, soap residue is something you don’t want in your carpet because dust and dander will stick to it.  Over time, spots cleaned with soapy cleaners become darker and look dirtier than before, thanks to sticky soap residue.  

Ready to remove some stains?  Foam shaving cream is best used for dry stain removal, like make-up or dry soils. First, get the stain damp with a moist towel.  Then spray some white, foam shaving cream over the spot.  Use the moist towel to rub the spot in a circular motion.  The shaving cream will slowly break down stain.  Next, mist the spot with a spray bottle of water or simply wipe the area with a damp towel.  You can repeat this process until the spot is removed. It may take several attempts.

White Vinegar for DIY Carpet Stain Removal

White vinegar is another safe household product that can be used for DIY carpet stain removal.  The vinegar does not leave a soapy residue (as mentioned above) and it can help with odor issues.  Typically a 50/50 mixture of white vinegar and water will safely clean up liquid stains like vomit or pet urine. Clean up as much of the stain as possible by absorbing any moisture with your clean, white towels.  Sometimes it’s easiest to cover the spill with your towel and stand on it.  After you’ve removed as much of the spill as you can, get your spray bottle of white vinegar and water.  Spray the affected area heavily.  Again, you’re going to use your white, cotton towels to remove the moisture. Continue to spray and remove with towels until you are satisfied.  The white vinegar will help neutralize possible odor and it won’t leave a residue. 

White Wine for DIY Carpet Stain Removal

If you ever need an excuse to buy a bottle of wine, here it is!  White wine can be very effective in DIY carpet stain removal of red wine stains.  For detailed instructions on DIY red wine removal, check out this blog post.  And if you enjoy red wine, make sure you keep a bottle of white on hand in case of a spill!

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