Stains are going to happen. Spills will occur. No matter how old or new your carpeting happens to be, you want to protect it, and even though you may have done everything you can to prevent something going wrong, it still does. It can be frustrating, but the moment sauce, grape juice, wine, or some other food or beverage item or possibly even pet urine hits those carpet fibers, you need to pay attention to exactly what happens in those next few moments.
First, remain calm.
When people invest thousands upon thousands of dollars in brand new carpeting, they often get panicked when something is spilled on it. That panic leads to rash decisions that can actually make things worse, even though they assume they will be doing the right thing for it.
Second, do not scrub the stain.
It is crucial to understand the difference between scrubbing and blotting. If you scrub at sauce or some other stained material, including pet urine or even cat vomit, for example, you are actually pushing it down deeper into the carpet pile. You are not soaking it up.
What you need to do is apply light pressure with clean, dry cloth or paper towels. This is called blotting the stain up. It’s also a good idea to apply water to the area and then continue blotting.
Third, call an expert.
If your carpets have not been professionally cleaned in a long time, this is a great wake-up call to have them thoroughly cleaned with truck mounted equipment. If this is relatively new or even brand new carpet, an experienced and dedicated professional cleaning service can do spot cleaning which is a cost-effective option.
Even if it appears as though you got everything up and all you notice is a damp area that you assume will dry just fine, you have to realize, even with Scotchgard, staining material will work its way down and just because you don’t see it at the surface doesn’t mean it is completely gone.
The only way to truly get that stain out all the way down to the bottom, possibly even the foam padding underneath the carpet, is with truck mounted equipment, the right cleaning solutions, and experience.
