How to Get Rid of a Carpet Stain

Although carpet provides lots of advantages to a homeowner, like keeping your floors warm and soft to walk on-it does have at least one major drawback-it stains! If you've ever had the misfortune of spilling something on your carpet you know that even with the best spot removers and carpet cleaners as well as quick action, you can still be left with an ugly, noticeable stain. The only way to get rid of a permanently stained section of carpet is to remove it and replace it with a new piece, but then you're often left with a very noticeable carpet patch. However, by using a few simple tools and some patience, you can get rid of that stained section and ensure no one will notice the repair. Here's how

Things You'll Need

• Pliers
• Felt tip marker
• Sharp, strong utility knife
• Carpet tape or duct tape

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Instructions

1. Look at where the stain is located on the floor and decide which carpet edge is closest to the stain.

2. Using the pliers, grab onto the carpet at the closest edge and pull it off the tackless strip.

3. Roll the carpet back away from the wall, and using the back grid of the carpet backing as a guide (so the patch will be square), mark around the outside edge of the stain (on the underside of the carpet).

4. Use your utility knife to cut along the marked outline (also working from the back of the carpet) and remove the stained piece.

5. Use the stained piece of carpet as a template by laying it onto a piece of spare/scrap carpet, then mark and cut out your patch. IMPORTANT: be sure you line up the grain lines of the patch so they're the same as the piece you removed. Otherwise the grain of the patch will be different from the rest of the carpet when you put it in place, and it will be noticeable.

6. Place the patch in the hole (be sure to align the carpet grain) and fix it in place (again from the back) using carpet or even duct tape

7. Roll the carpet back into position and push down on the edges to reattach it to the tackless strip.

8. Use your fingers to rough up the fibers on the patch and the surrounding carpet so they blend together.

Tips & Warnings

• Hopefully you kept some carpet scraps when your carpet was installed, but if none are available, you can likely steal a piece from the back of a cupboard or even under a large piece of furniture (like a sofa).

• Carpet can be tough to cut. Use a good quality utility knife to cut it (one of those thin, plastic razor knives won't likely be strong enough to do the job).

• Even though utility knives are sharp, carpet is still tough to cut. Take your time, work carefully and cut on a solid surface to avoid any accidents.