How to Remove Bleach Spots From Carpeting

Spills happen during the daily laundry dash, especially when kids get into the washing machine action. And bleach, that must-have for truly white whites, makes for a fierce stain. You can, however, banish such blights from your carpet if you act quickly.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Mild Dishwashing Liquid
• Rubber Or Latex Gloves
• White Absorbent Cloths Or Paper Towels

1. Wear rubber or latex gloves. Blot the excess bleach with a white absorbent cloth or paper towel.

2. Blot-rinse with water.

3. Gently blot detergent solution of 1/4 tsp. mild dishwashing liquid and 1 cup (8 fl oz/250 ml) warm water onto the stain, using a clean cloth or paper towel. Work from the stain's outside edge to the center.

4. Let the detergent sit for at least 5 minutes.

5. Repeat blotting with a clean white cloth until no more of the bleach transfers to the cloth and the bleach smell is nearly gone.

6. Rinse thoroughly with cold water.

Tips & Warnings

• If the stain is old and has discolored the carpet, contact a carpet professional.
• Keep a spray water bottle and white rags or a roll of plain white paper towels on hand in your laundry room for future spills.

[ColorfulCarpets]

on 12/16/2007 What has not been explained is that if the bleach is not thoroughly neutralized (reduced) using a bleach neutralizer (reducing agent), the bleach spots will simply return in a very short time. Bleach is not neutralized by simply flushing with water. A neutralizing solution (such as sodium thiosulfate) must be used to deactivate the bleach that's in the carpet. This type of product can be purchased at a swimming pool supply store. It's basically the same product that's used to reduce chlorine content in swimming pools or jacuzzis.

You must also consider what colors are present (or missing) in the carpet. A beige carpet that has yellow bleach spots on it would NOT require a beige-colored dye to fix these spots. The color beige has yellow in it, but additional yellow is not needed. (since the yellow is still present in the spots). Colorful Carpets. www.colorfulcarpets.com

[ColorfulCarpets]

on 12/16/2007 What has not been explained is that if the bleach is not thoroughly neutralized (reduced) using a bleach neutralizer (reducing agent), the bleach spots will simply return in a very short time. Bleach is not neutralized by simply flushing with water. A neutralizing solution (such as sodium thiosulfate) must be used to deactivate the bleach that's in the carpet. This type of product can be purchased at a swimming pool supply store. It's basically the same product that's used to reduce chlorine content in swimming pools or jacuzzis.

You must also consider what colors are present (or missing) in the carpet. A beige carpet that has yellow bleach spots on it would NOT require a beige-colored dye to fix these spots. The color beige has yellow in it, but you do not need to add more yellow (since the yellow is still present in the spots). Colorful Carpets. www.colorfulcarpets.com

[Roperiam]

on 10/28/2007 How to take out bleach stains...Use Roper Systems Bleach Stain Carpet Repair and Follow These Easy Directions.

It has been proven time and time again...anyone can follow this system. No training involved and its accurate. Low risk of making a mistake. You will be doing what the pro's think they can't do.

Patent # 6533824

This System works on all color loss situations. The system will restore color on bleach stains, acne medications, chlorine, or cleaners that have removed color from your carpet. It will even work for sun fading! Please call toll-free for more info, 1-800-536-5420

on 3/7/2006 Here's one that my wife and I tried out of desperation. A few bleach spots the size of a dime to a nickel had accumulated on our carpet next to our washing machine. It didn't bug us, but when we were getting ready to sell out home we realized our dilemma. Here's what we did:

* Bought a box of Rit fabric dye that is available at any WalMart or Target. We used the dry powder version. They don't have a huge selection of colors, so we just got the color closest to our carpet, but a shade darker. We have blue-grey carpet so the closest thing was Navy Blue.

* Mixed some dye in enough water to dilute it so that it looked lighter-colored than our carpet.

* Using a toothpick we then very tediously applied the solution to the bleached areas.

* When we confirmed it was too light, we added a bit more dye to our mix and tried again, repeating the process until obtaining just the right shade.

It was amazing! Even though our carpet is blue-grey, with just these small spots and by applying it in such small amounts at a time, you can never tell that the dye we used is actually not grey at all!