Cleaning a Carpet Stain

If you have carpet in your house, carpet stains are inevitable; they are a fact of life. And if you do much entertaining, you can easily double or triple the number of stains you sustain.

Replacing the carpet on an annual basis is not a viable option for most people so becoming a master of cleaning a carpet stain is not only desirable, it's mandatory. If you own your home you want to keep it attractive and if you rent you certainly want that deposit back when you move out.

Use a Carpet Shampooer – Extractor

The best bet is to buy and keep on hand a carpet shampooer – extractor to get up those spills right away before they have a chance to stain your carpet. True, it's not a cheap machine, but it will pay for itself over time. Imagine the cost of having professional cleaners come in two times a year. Two carpet shampooings per year is what the majority of carpet manufacturers recommend.

Home Remedy Stain Removal Tips

Remember, always test the color fastness of your carpet prior to using a stain removal solution. Test it in an inconspicuous place such the back of a closet.

And do not wet the backing, use any bleach, or use a rubbing motion on a stain. Instead, blot the area to take out the stain starting from the outside and working in. This will prevent the stain from spreading.

The final step is putting a thick stack of white paper towels on top of the area weighted down with a brick or stack of books to absorb the moisture.

Blood Stains

If you have a blood stain, use a paper towel and get out as much as you can by blotting. Then mix one tablespoon of ammonia with one half cup of cool water. Spray the stain and blot.

Now mix one half teaspoon dish soap with one quart of cool water and spray and blot. At this point the stain should start coming up. Repeat until the stain is gone and then give a final rinse spraying of cool water

Many stains will come up after being sprayed with a solution of hair shampoo and cool water mixed at a 50/50 ratio. Just keep spraying and blotting until the stain has lifted.


If you have serious mud stains in your carpet, water and elbow grease will eventually get it out but a trick to making your job quicker and easier is to spray the area with shaving foam. This helps to loosen the mud that has adhered to the carpet fibers.

Commercial Stain Removal Products

There are many commercial products in the marketplace to remove stains from carpet. Some are better than others and you can't rely on the name brand to tell which ones are the good ones.

The problem with some is that while they get the stain out, they leave an invisible residue behind that actually acts as a magnet for dirt. Your “clean” spot will end up looking worse than the surrounding area!

So start with a high quality stain resident carpet, preferably a darker color that will not show stains as much. Then when you do have a spill, make every effort to get it up as quickly as possible. And finally, shampoo the entire carpet two times a year.