How To Remove Chocolate Stains From Carpet
Chocolate stains on you carpet is never a treat. Clean-up often results in a bigger mess. Before you give up eating chocolate, follow these tips and techniques to turn the stain from bitter to sweet. This
water soluble stain
can be both absorbed into and built up on the surface of the carpet fiber. Chocolate can contain oil, grease, cocoa butter, coloring, sugar and milk. These ingredients account for the smearing effect when removal is attempted.
Procedures to remove chocolate stains
- Scrape away the solid or semi-solid stain using a spoon or blunt end of a bone scraper. Never use a knife as it's sharp edges could harm the pile fibers.
- Apply an
alkaline cleaning solution (pH 9-10)
and blot. Always pretest any stain remover on an inconspicuous area of the carpet. Apply a few drops to each color in the carpet test area. Press a clean, white cloth on the wet area for approximately 30 seconds. Check both the towel and the carpet for color transfer, color change or any other damage. Repeat same procedure with another stain remover if you notice any change.
Do not scrub the area. Scrubbing can distort the pile and harm the fibers. Scrubbing can result in making the stain set into the carpet or rug. If available, utilize a carpet cleaning machine or a spray bottle to apply the alkaline cleaning solution to flush the stains. Then extract to remove stains from carpet. As an alternative a shop vac may be utilized for extraction purposes. Dry treated area as much as possible. Care must be taken not to over-wet the carpet. - Rinse all spotting agents from the carpet, as these can create their own stains if left in the fabric.
- Blot with dry clean bleach-free cloth to remove and dry any moisture from the rinsing procedure. When most of the moisture is removed, you may use clean, dry towels weighed down by flat, heavy objects like a book or brick on the damp area to absorb any remaining moisture. This helps prevent wicking of any deep staining material not removed that will move to the surface as the carpet dries.
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