01Advice
A fresh stain on a carpet or sofa: what to do
Blot, do not rub. Work from the outside of the mark inwards. Lift anything solid off first rather than pressing it in. Use a pale cloth; a coloured one can shed dye onto a wet patch.
The first minutes matter more than anything that comes afterwards.
01
The mistakes that set a stain permanently
- Rubbing. It drives the liquid deeper into the fibre and damages the surface of the pile, which later shows as a worn patch even once the stain is gone.
- Heat. Hot water or a hair dryer sets protein and sugar marks and makes them considerably harder to lift afterwards.
- Too much liquid. Pour on more than you can blot back out and the mark spreads into a ring, with some of it carried into the backing or the filling.
- Household mixtures on a fabric you have not identified. Some of them strip colour permanently, and that does not come back.
02
What was spilled
The same technique, with one difference per substance. In a seaside apartment in summer the sofa usually collects sun cream and salt from a wet towel; both are dealt with dry.
| Spill | First move | What to keep to |
|---|---|---|
| Red wine | Blot at once, a little cold water, blot again. | No heat. It spreads fast, so work from the edge. |
| Coffee and tea | Blot, a little cold water, blot. | No heat: milk and sugar set with warmth. |
| Oil and cream | Lift the solids with a blunt edge; do not wet it. | Water only spreads grease; leave it dry for extraction. |
| Blood | Cold water, blot, repeat. | Never warm water; protein bonds to the fibre with heat. |
| Pet urine | Blot through layers of paper, pressing, until the paper comes up dry. | Do not cover it with a scent. It has gone into the filling or the backing and stays there until extraction. |
| Sea water and salt | Let it dry, then vacuum. | Wet salt spreads through the fibre; dry salt vacuums out. Only then dampen, if at all. |
03
Why the ring appears, and why the mark comes back
A mark spreads outwards as it dries and leaves an edge behind.
If the liquid went through the backing of a carpet or into the filling of a sofa, it wicks back up to the surface days after the top looked clean. Both point at the same conclusion: the problem is not on the surface, so a surface method cannot finish it.
04
Where the home job ends
- the mark is old and has changed the colour of the fibre
- it went through the backing of the carpet or into the filling of the furniture
- it covers a large area
- the fabric is one you do not want to test anything on
- it has already been treated and has come back
In those cases the answer is extraction: the machine flushes and draws back out in the same pass, rather than working the surface.
05
What to tell us, and what not to do first
Tell us what was spilled, roughly when, and, most usefully, what has already been applied to it. That last one changes the approach.
Do not treat it with something new on the morning of the visit. A fresh layer of an unknown product can complicate a job that would otherwise be straightforward.
06
What does not come back
Old marks, faded patches and fibre damaged by rubbing do not come back with cleaning. If we can see that when we look at it, you hear it straight away and decide yourself whether the job goes ahead.
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What was spilled, and on what
Send a photograph of the mark in daylight and tell us what has already been put on it.
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Or directly by email
[email protected]For a larger property we come and look at the space first; for a single piece of furniture or a carpet a short description is enough.