Scrub-n-Shine Guide to Carpet Spot and Stain Removal

Spots. Spills. Stains. They’re often the first things visitors to your facility notice about your floors. Left untreated, spots and stains will damage your carpets and create a negative impression of your business.

What’s the Difference Between a Carpet Spot and a Carpet Stain?

The difference between a spot and a stain is about 24 hours. Treated quickly, carpet spots and spills are much easier to clean than carpet stains.

Check for Carpet Spots and Carpet Stains on a Daily Basis

Commercial carpeting is a big investment. You can help prolong its life cycle and keep it looking attractive by treating and cleaning spots and stains as quickly as they are noticed. Checking for them daily should be a routine aspect of your Carpet Maintenance Program.

Commercial Matting is a Great Carpet Stain Prevention Tool

Placement of quality commercial entrance matting will capture moisture, greasy slush and street soils before they are tracked into your building.

Daily Vacuuming and Inspection

Regular carpet vacuuming, especially in high traffic areas, removes dry soil and prevents it from grinding into carpet fibers. During the daily vacuuming of your building, check for carpet spots and stains.

Interim Carpet Cleaning

Interim maintenance, such as low-moisture bonnet cleaning, will help your carpets retain their appearance and extend the life of your carpet. Interim cleaning should be performed often in high traffic areas.

Periodic Deep Cleaning

Sometimes referred to as restorative maintenance, deep clean carpets with a quality extraction machine to remove embedded dirt and soils. Use of high-quality carpet cleaning chemicals (and carpet cleaning equipment) from Scrub-n-Shine will bring back your carpets original brightness and reduce re-soiling.

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Identify Your Carpet Spot or Stain

Whenever possible, identify your carpet spot or stain before attempting to remove it. Different stains require different chemicals and removal processes. Your success rate will be dependent on an accurate identification of the spot or stain you are trying to remove.

Vacuum or Scrape Dry Carpet Soils and Absorb Liquids

Vacuum up or scrape up solids first. Blot liquids with dry, white absorbent cloths or paper towels. Continue blotting until your cloth is no longer absorbing liquid. Never use colored towels as they may transfer dyes to fibers. Avoid rubbing, as this can actually move stains further into carpet fibers and into the carpet pad.

Treat Your Carpet Spots and Stains

Have a variety of chemicals in your cleaning arsenal for when accidents strike.

Use of Hydrogen Peroxide Based Products

Hydrogen peroxide based products don’t leave a residue and are ideal for stains that contain tannins, like coffee and tea.

Use of Enzyme Products

Enzyme-based cleaners are great for removing organic soils such as food spills, urine and blood.

Red Dye Stain Removers

Red Wine Spill on Carpet

There are specialty cleaners for removing red dye stains left from red wine and juice spills.

With All Chemicals, Always Follow Manufacturer’s Directions

When using cleaning chemicals, always follow the manufacturer instructions. Pre-test treatment chemicals in an inconspicuous area to ensure they will not discolor or damage carpet fibers.

How to Remove Carpet Stains Using the Blot Method

Spray chemical on each carpet stain and work it from the perimeter toward the center of the stain. Based on directions, you may need to pre-wet the area with water.

Let treatment chemical sit a few minutes, then blot. Change cleaning cloths if they become saturated to avoid spreading the stain into the surrounding area.

After treating, lightly spray-rinse the area with clean water to remove any residual chemical. Then blot again. If chemicals are not completely removed they more easily attract new dirt later and cause re-soiling.

To help prevent reappearance of carpet stains, place a dry cloth or paper towel and a weighted object on top of the stain and leave it overnight. Stains that have penetrated to the lower sections of carpet fibers or the pad should “wick” up the fiber and into the dry cloths.

You may need to repeat these steps in order to completely remove stubborn stains from carpeting.

Scrub-n-Shine Offers DIY Products and COMMERCIAL Carpet Cleaning Services

Want to do it yourself? We can help with a great product line of heavy-duty carpet cleaning chemicals.

Want to hire it out? We can help with our state-of-the-art carpet cleaning equipment.
NOTE – We only offer COMMERCIAL carpet cleaning services

Glossary of Carpet Cleaning Terms Used in This Article

Blot – Press down and soak up into a cloth.
Bonnet Cleaning – A low moisture cleaning method which cleans only the face fibers of carpeting. It is performed with a rotary bonnet machine.
Extraction – To pull or draw out soils and liquids from carpeting with suction. Usually done with a machine.
Organic Soil – Originating from any living organism. Includes blood, food, grease.
Resoil – New stains that appear where old stains were cleaned, due to sticky residual cleaning chemicals attracting new soil to the same spot.
Tannin – An organic, acidic substance that comes from certain plants and is found in drinks like red wine, coffee, tea and some juices.
Wick – To draw up liquid (and soil with it) to the surface of carpeting.

Contact us with your commercial carpet cleaning situation. We can help!