We all have those unfortunate times when we spill a glass of wine on our carpet, or the kids “accidentally” use texta’s on the carpet. We all have those moments when we see the honey, orange juice or the like tip onto the carpet in slow motion. It is the way you react in the first few hours that can make the biggest difference to the way the stain can be cleaned up.

This is a very simple process that can help you deal with emergency spills:

For Liquids:

1. Get a wet white cloth – tea towel, nappy, paper towel and put the cloth on the stain to try to absorb as much liquid as possible. Keep changing the cloth as soon as you can see the cloth taking in the spillage. DO NOT RUB OR SCRUB THE STAIN. You can apply a small amount of pressure to help absorb more of the spillage.
2. Ensure that the cloth used is white – coloured paper towel and towels can cause further dyes to run onto the carpet.
3. Try to get as much liquid out of the stain as possible. Keep applying new cloths until no more of the spillage can be seen being absorbed into the cloth.
4. If you are not getting any more of the stain on the cloth, but there is still a stain visible on the carpet, apply a small amount of water to the stain and repeat the above process. Continue process until no more of the spillage is being absorbed.
5. If your stain is still visible on the carpet please contact a local SCRIA member for assistance. Stain Removal is a very specialized field of carpet cleaning and many carpet cleaners do not have the skills to carry out processes to rectify carpet stains.

For Solids:

1. If you spill anything solid on your carpet try to scrape off as much excess solids as possible with a blunt knife. Be careful not to damage the carpet fibres by rubbing the carpet. If a gentle scraping does not remove excess solids do not continue with this process.
2. Once the excess solids are removed, use the process as described above for liquids to try to get out excess staining.
3. If your stain is still visible on the carpet please contact a local SCRIA member for assistance. Stain Removal is a very specialised field of carpet cleaning and many carpet cleaners do not have the skills to carry out processes to rectify carpet stains.

Things to understand:

• Some foods and drinks contain food dyes. Depending on the type of carpet you have, the carpet will react with the dyes in different ways. There is no simple remedy for removing dyes from carpet. Call a SCRIA professional if you have any discolouration on your carpet that has not been removed through the above steps.
• If you spill bleach on the carpet, removing the bleach will not bring back the colour. There are specialised colour repair specialists who can rectify this situation.
• Often chemicals you find in the supermarket have a more severe effect on the carpet than professionally used chemical. Be careful what you use – many commonly found chemicals can cause more damage than good.
• There are many urban myths about how to remove stains from carpet – more often than not they cause more harm than good.

Thanks to 

Specialised Cleaning and Restoration Industry Association