How to Clean Carpet Stains

Featured Pro: Eric Stromer
Category: Home Improvement
Time: 3:01


ERIC STROMER: Hey, I’m going to show you how to keep your carpet looking its best by removing stains. I’m Eric Stromer, and this is your GMC Trade Secret.

CARTER OOSTERHOUSE: And I’m Carter Oosterhouse. Now, after Eric shows you how to remove those stains from your carpet, I’m going to show you how to choose the best carpets for your needs.

ERIC: Thanks, Carter.

Now, spills and spots on your carpet are a fact of everyday life. First thing to keep in mind, if you have a liquid spill like I have here, you’re going to want to blot it. You don’t ever want to rub it in. You just blot it with a towel. Look at that.

Now, for semi-solid stains like this peanut butter, go ahead and scoop it off the carpet with a spoon. Get as much of it off as you can. And then rinse with water. And remember blotting. Now, if it’s not quite out, just repeat the process.

Now, to remove solids like mud or dirt, go ahead and scrape the carpet with a dull knife. Get as much of that broken up as possible and then vacuum it up. Any remaining stain, go ahead and blot with water. Now, the great thing here is I’m using a wet-dry vac, so I can go ahead and vacuum this up immediately.

Now, another common stain, coffee, sometimes can be a bit stubborn. So let’s go ahead and try our blotting technique. It’s oftentimes recommended you work from the outside in on the stain, because sometimes that stain can spread if you start in the center. So you want to essentially contain it with the water.

There’s still a bit of residual staining from the coffee. I’m going to have to step it up to a carpet-cleaning product. I’m going to go ahead and use this. Now, before you do a carpet-cleaning product, you’re going to want to test it on an area that’s not quite as visible. So generally you’ll test it off to the side where you don’t see it as much, maybe under a table or under an ottoman or something like that.

Let’s go ahead and try that, again, containing the stain from the outside in, saturating the carpet. And then, per manufacturer’s recommendations, this particular product wants you to leave it on for five minutes till it soaks in. Then you do your blotting again, followed by the vacuuming.

There it is. It looks good as new. Now, if you have stains of your own, make sure that you follow these simple directions. And before you buy carpet of your own, check out Carter Oosterhouse’s segment on selecting the right carpet for your needs.

I’m Eric Stromer, and that’s your GMC Trade Secret.