Home Stain Treatment Guide. | Rothwell's Cleaning Services

Home Stain Treatment Guide.

I have put together this quick guide for treating stains on your carpet yourself as I am always asked and often once it’s too late. The main thing to remember is don’t panic. We see it so many times where someone has spilt something on the carpet and then made it worse by panicking and putting every cleaning product they can find onto the carpet. Take it slow and follow this guide and remember the first aim of spot treating carpets is to do no damage.

Mud or alike.

– This is easy and should be no problem for most situations.

  1. Let it dry (thoroughly dry).
  2. Brush it off so it is lose, then vacuum the area.

In most cases this will work, don’t be tempted to add anything to the mark as what ever you put down will be harder to deal with than the mud by itself.

Liquid and some food

– If you are present when a liquid or food spill happens you can often remove most or all of this straight away but there will be some you just cannot, hot tea or coffee often being one of the hardest to treat. Once the stain has dried in you are too late and need to call a professional, so if you can clean the carpet straight away do so. You might still need a professionals help after if some of the mark remains.

  1. Dab or pick up what’s there with an absorbent towel. Gently dab the carpet absorbing everything you can into the towel. NEVER SCRUB or RUB your carpet as this will damage the fibres leaving a fluffy patch and push the substance into the carpet.
  2. Use Rothwell’s Spotter (or if not available one teaspoon of gentle wool detergent to 300ml water, or for urine, wine, tea & coffee add one teaspoon of white vinegar with the detergent) to wet the area, then as in step one dab this up. Repeat 2- 5 times slowly reducing the stain each time. Work from the outside of the mark to the centre, taking care not to spread the area wider.
  3. Mix one-part vinegar with four-parts water in a spray bottle, then mist on the area. (this will help to reduce re-soiling and leave wool carpets in a more natural condition).
  4. Place an absorbent cloth over the stain with a heavy item on top of the towel putting pressure on the stained area and leave it there for around 6 – 12 hours. This is going to draw up the original spill into the towel as it dries out. I find the easiest weight is a heavy book inside a carrier bag.

If you have a home carpet cleaner that washes water through the carpet you can use that instead of step 1. Rinse over the area with the machine, then in step 2 use the machine instead of dabbing the area with a cloth. I would recommend not using products with it unless you have training / knowledge of when and how those products work.

This is a best practice guide, but Rothwell’s cannot accept any responsibility for any temporary marks or permanent damage caused when following this guide or using Rothwell’s spotters. It is best to call your local, professional National Carpet Cleaners Association registered carpet cleaner. https://ncca.co.uk/ (Rothwell’s Cleaning Services Ltd are senior members of the National Carpet Cleaners Association.)

There are many things that will alter your results when carpet cleaning including but not limited to carpet type and age, the heat, quantity and type of spill and weather the carpet has been treated with a stain protection within the last 12-18 months. 

Unfortunately, home DIY stain treatment dosn’t always work, for those that it doesn’t please don’t go back to grabbing everything out of the cleaning cupboard and trying it, there are many harsh cleaning products sold and we see damaged carpets from these products daily. There are lots of ‘magic’ fixes on the internet too, but these are normally written by people with no experience or training and don’t take into account the many variants there are for each stain. Always remember anything you put onto the stain has its own risk and is a form of soiling in the carpet until removed. The first rule of any stain treatments is do no damage.

Still need help, call Rothwell’s on 01638 428 060 or email info@rothwells.biz. See more about our carpet cleaning here – https://rothwells.biz/services/carpet-cleaning/

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