How to Remove Old Carpet Stains

Dealing with old carpet stains can be a burden, but if you know the proper techniques, you can typically get rid of most stains. There are a variety of different techniques that you could use for these stains as well. Here are the basics of how to remove old carpet stains.

Step 1: Identify the Stain

If it is possible, the first thing that you should do is try to identify the stain on your carpet. Every stain is going to require a different cleaning method in most cases. Therefore, if you do not know what the stain is, you are going to have to guess at the cleaning method. Sometimes it will work and sometimes it will not help the stain at all. In some cases, you are not going to be able to identify the stain. If that is the case, you can try a few different techniques and see what works.

Step 2: Steam Cleaning

The first thing that you should try is steam cleaning. Steam cleaning works very well to remove stains of all kinds. Many people mistakenly use a carpet shampoo instead of steam to clean their carpets. The problem with this is that shampoo will often not be fully removed from the carpet. After you clean the carpet initially, you are going to notice that it seems to attract more dirt. The shampoo is going to stay in the carpet and make the carpet even dirtier. If you use a steam cleaner, you are going to be able to heat up the carpet and the steam will help break down the stain for you. You should be able to rent a steam cleaner from a rental store in your area.

Step 3: Commercial Cleaner

The next thing that you should try is a commercial carpet cleaner. There are many different carpet cleaners on the market, some of which are  great on every kind of stain under the sun. Most of them come in a liquid that you will be able to apply to the carpet with a spray bottle. Others are poured directly on the stain. When you are using any type of carpet cleaner you want to make sure that you blot out the stain instead of rubbing it out. Rubbing the stain will generally only make it worse. If you have pet stains, you will want to try an enzyme cleaner so that it can remove the urine.

Step 4: Home Remedies

There are a number of household products that you can use to clean your carpet as well. For example, shaving cream works great on certain light colored carpets. You can also use club soda to remove wine or any other colored drinks from the carpet. Vinegar can also be used to clean up the carpets in certain cases.