We have lots of customers come in to store who have had a spill on their carpets. Lots of things can go wrong in day to day life and carpets, it seems are the thing that people get very concerned about cleaning. This is understandable considering the cost and inconvenience if you get it wrong and carpets need replacing, lots of our customers rent their homes so they get worried about losing their bond. But the good news is that most stains are easy to clean with the correct products and method.
First of all scrape up any bulky part of the spill, this can be easily done with a simple dust pan and brush, try not to spread the stain as you go.
Get a clean dry cloth, old towels are great, and blot up any excess liquid, try to remove as much of the offending spill as you can.
Spray the area with a good quality carpet spotter, I recommend Rapidclean Spotty, these products are generally stronger that the run of the mill carpet detergents so they work more effectively.
Leave the spot for 5 or so minutes to allow time for the detergents to start to break down the stain, don't scrub the stain, you want to avoid pushing the soil further into the carpet. Don't let the detergent dry on the carpet.
With another clean cloth start to wipe from the outside in to the middle of the stain rolling the cloth over as you go, each time you wipe over the stain make sure that the surface of the cloth is clean. This will avoid transferring soil that you have picked up on the cloth back to the carpet.
Once you have removed all of the stain it is VERY IMPORTANT to rinse the area. This can be done with some warm water in a spray bottle, simply spray a small amount of water on the area and wipe the spot using the same rolling method as before.
Carpet detergents are formulated to attract dirt so if you don't rinse the area well, the residual detergent will quickly attract dirt from shoes etc and it will re-soil. We hear customers say that the stain must have gone down into the carpet because the spot keeps getting dirty. This is usually the result of residual detergent left in the carpet rather than anything coming to the surface again.
One of our customers told us that they should hand out a bottle of Spotty when you go home from the Maternity ward............... he obviously had some adventurous children