How Do I Clean Deep Set-In Stains on Carpet?
- 1). Pour 1/4 tbsp. of regular dish washing liquid into a spray bottle, along with 1 cup of warm water. Fill a second spray bottle with cold water.
- 2). Spray the bottle containing the detergent onto a clean wash cloth and dab your carpet stain repeatedly. As the stain begins to dissolve, blot it with a clean, dry section of the wash cloth. Spray additional diluted detergent from your bottle onto your wash cloth and continue dabbing gently until the stain dissolves completely. Good Housekeeping recommends this approach for carpet stains that refuse to go away.
- 3). Spray cold water from your second bottle onto a separate clean wash cloth and dab the carpet to remove the detergent. Misting the wash cloth with a spray bottle is highly preferable to pouring water onto the cloth, as you do not want your cloth to become overly saturated. If you expose your carpet to too much moisture, it will become difficult to dry and susceptible to the growth of mold spores.
- 4). Dry your carpet by placing a layer of paper towels over the spot containing the stain and then placing a heavy pot on top of the paper towels. Leave the paper towels and pot overnight and remove in the morning.
- 5). Vacuum your carpet thoroughly. Afterward, sprinkle baking soda over the area formerly containing the stain to freshen the carpet and remove any lingering odors.
- 6). Vacuum the stain using a wet dry vacuum if the above method fails. This type of vacuum, available for rent or sale at many hardware stores, saturates the carpet with clean water and then filters out the dirty water, eliminating dirt at a much deeper level than basic cleaning solutions. Roll the wet-dry vacuum over the stain repeatedly until it disappears.
