Please help me, ladies!
We’ve been in our new townhouse for about eight months. We have neutral-colored wall-to-wall style carpet in our living room. There are a couple of stains from who knows what – beer spillage, chocolate drool from a friend’s happy baby, etc. I spot-treated them (the stains, not the babies) and sometimes they have come out, sometimes they haven’t. Yesterday, the sun was shining in for the first time in a while and I saw stains all over the place. Anyway, I cannot get them out! I tried Resolve Foam Cleaner, no dice. I have a Bissell small steam cleaner and that isn’t helping much, either.
Is there any tried-and-true method for spot-cleaning a carpet and KEEPING it clean? There’s nothing worse than mystery stains that return every few months.
Thank you,
Spotted in Spencerville
Heather says:
Such is the life of builders’ grade carpet. We are currently saving to replace the carpeting in our bedroom. The original homeowner knew they would sell quickly and did not invest in upgrades and compounded the problem by selecting a shade of cream. As I have severe allergies, we’re saving for hardwood as a replacement.
Spot treating:
Always test your carpeting in an inconspicuous area before attempting spot removal!
One of the biggest problems with many commercial stain removers is they offer a temporary solution and may leave the area more vulnerable to oils in the future or worse, leave a sticky residue that attacts more dirt. For water soluble stains, I have had the best luck spot treating with vinegar diluted with warm (NOT HOT) water. I pour a small amount over the stain and blot gently with white rags. When the surface dirt is completely gone, I place several white rags over the spot and weight them down with a heavy object for a couple of hours. The cotton wicks the moisture from the carpet and helps prevent the pad from becoming saturated, thus avoiding the potential for mildew growth.
Oily stains are more difficult to remove. Use a small amount dilute dish detergent and blot the stain. Remove as much moisture as possible then follow with the vinegar solution, blotting and wetting until all soap has been removed.
In each case, I suggest running a fan in the room for several hours after removing the weighted rags to help the area dry thoroughly. Vacuum to restore the carpets texture.
There is a chance the stain will wick to the surface and “reappear.” Simply repeat the steps.
General cleaning:
Frequent vacuuming is essential to carpet longevity. Dirt destroys carpeting and frequent steam cleaning will substantially reduce a carpet’s life. Most builders’ grade carpeting is made of nylon which will stain unless treated with a product such as Scotchgard Carpet Protector. These products should be used immediately after a steam cleaning to protect the fibers from new stains. Other products such as DuPont’s Teflon Advanced Carpet Protector must be professionally applied. Personally, I find there is a trade off with these products, spot free carpeting, but a possible increase in chemical exposure.
Builders’ grade carpeting is often warrantied for five years, but will begin to show wear in less time.
Good luck!
Submit your household questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Ack! I’ve got that HORRIBLE builder’s carpet TOO! I’m w/Heather on this one…spot treating works, but it’s really just a temporary solution. My carpet was AWFUL! My daughter drinks(SPILLS) white grape juice and no matter HOW well you clean the spot, it just keeps coming back…it just seems to pull all the dirt off your shoes and the stain just keeps getting darker and darker. A few weeks ago, my husband and I finally broke down and bought the Bissel Pro Heat carpet cleaner. That thing has been a GODSEND! It also comes with a Scotchguard thingy so that you can treat the carpet when you finish cleaning. I spilled salsa on the carpet 2 nights ago and, thanks to the Scotchguard, you can’t even tell! Builder’s carpet just really sucks, I can’t wait until we can get the HARDWOOD. (Oh, and by the way, the Bissel comes w/a hardwood attachment…don’t know how it works yet, but I’ll find out sooner or later!)
There’s a reason for the “mystery stains” that you stated earlier. It’s pretty common amongst my clients prior to me coming. It happens for two reasons. One reason is wicking (stated earlier by Heather). The other is improper neutralization and soap removal. You are putting resolve cleaner onto your carpet. Unless you either give your carpet a proper acid rinse followed by proper extraction, there is no way that you will be able to control when your resolve cleaner will STOP CLEANING. It will continue to clean days into the future until it looks worse than before.
Ok. Here is the bottom line! Some retail carpet cleaning products are like the gift that keeps on giving! They are full of soapy detergents (chemicals) that set-in your carpet when used. These soapy solutions are difficult to remove and will attract dirt like a sponge soaks-up water! Someone may have used on of these products prior to you moving in. If not, the stains could be from
things such as drink spills or food contamination. The only true way to remove these stains is to extract them. In other words, completely remove the contaminants from the carpet. Rubbing the stain will only move the soil around and bury it deeper into the carpet fiber. So, you can use a wet/dry vacuum to extract the soil from the carpet. Sound too difficult? It's really pretty simple!
Put 2 drops of woolite into a 16oz glass andfill with warm water. Mix well! Pour 2-3 ounces directly onto the soiled area and agitate with a toothbrush. Use the wet/dry vacuum to extract the solution from your carpet. This process acts like a mini-extraction machine! Continue the process until desired results are achieved. This process does require some work! But, the results are worth it! Hope this helps.