Flooring Tips & Tricks
How to Remove Coffee or Tea Stains from Your Carpet
"No one's leaving this house until I find out who spilled coffee on the carpet!" Sound familiar? Walk into any house in America, or anywhere else for that matter, and you are pretty much guaranteed to find a coffee pot or tea pot and carpeting. Unfortunately, the two don’t mix well. But if you discover that they have somehow found each other, there are some ways to restore your carpet back to its original condition quickly.
Cleaning Steps
- FIRST: Get to the coffee or tea stain as soon as possible. Don’t put it off until you have more energy or wait for your guests to leave. Get on it. Whoever spilled the coffee or tea might feel a little embarrassed that you're cleaning up after them, but they'll feel even worse if you wait and the stain sets. Speed is the key here, as the longer you wait, the more time the stain has to spread to adjacent carpet fibers, and the harder and more time consuming the carpet stain removing process becomes.
- SECOND: Blot up as much of the excess liquid as possible. Grab yourself a plain white cotton towel. Place it on the wet spot and apply pressure. You should be able to apply enough pressure with your hands to soak up most of it. You might even want to stand on the towel. Continue to do this until there is no more transfer from the floor to the towel. Make sure to only blot, rubbing weakens the carpet fibers and may spread the coffee or tea stain.
- THIRD: Apply a Detergent Solution. Put a detergent solution on a damp towel and blot the coffee/tea stained area again.
- FOURTH: White Vinegar Works Wonders. It’s always good to keep white vinegar on hand. For a more stubborn or older stain, white vinegar makes a great carpet stain cleaner. White vinegar will give you a little more solvent power than water alone and it is great for cleaning up the detergent residue. Residual soap can attract dirt. Use white vinegar in the exact same manner as you just did with the detergent solution. Blot, don’t rub.
- FIFTH: Rinse with Water. Clean the vinegar out of the carpet with warm water and blot once again when you are done.
Additional Tips
- Clean towards the center. It is very important that you start working from the outside and clean towards the center. Otherwise you will spread the stain.
- Use fresh WHITE or at least well rinsed cotton towel or paper towels.
- Repeat. If you didn't get it all on the first go around, don't be afraid to hit the spot again with your vinegar/soap stain remover.
- Make it is super dry. Once you are all done cleaning carpet stains, get the spot or spots dried up as quickly as possible. Wet carpet attracts dirt. Not only that, but the longer you leave it wet, the more wicking will occur, pulling up any of the remaining spill back up to the surface.
Not all carpet fibers react the same way when treated for stains. Before proceeding with any of the preceding cleaning procedures, we recommend you contact the appropriate fiber company for their suggested maintenance guidelines. Failure to follow these guidelines may void your warranty with them.Click here to view more Flooring Tips & Tricks >
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