Two bad carpet stains

September 27, 2024 10:16 AM

I need help. My beige, lowish-quality carpet is badly stained in two places.

One is a rather large blood stain, and the other is an even larger caponata stain. These happened at different times, in different parts of the carpet. I was going to just ignore the blood stain, which is more or less out of sight, and at this point about six weeks old, but the caponata stain is larger, highly visible, and smells (right now it smells good, but I'm afraid that will change). I'm pretty sure it is primarily oil-based. I have tried "Zep High Traffic Carpet Cleaner" (spray, blot, wait, blot again) and it was not much help. Does anyone have any other ideas? The carpet is beige, and I don't mind too much if the solution leaves me with bleached-out neutral-smelling parts of the carpet rather than blood/rust colored, caponata-smelling parts, though of course a solution which removed the stains without hurting the carpet would be optimal. I don't mind purchasing something expensive, if it works.

Although the carpet is old, and really needs to be replaced, that is not currently an option due to it being surrounded by many heavy bookshelves and some heavy furniture. I estimate it would take days of steady work to get all of that out of my room and into the other bedroom, and some help (which I don't have) for the heavier furniture, and frankly I'd rather just live with the stains if that's my only option.

posted by ubiquity to Home & Garden (16 answers total)

Our solution in cases like this is to rent a carpet cleaner for the day - usually available at Home Depot or Lowes types of places and sometimes supermarkets. And then use Folex inside it. In fact you could also just purchase some Folex first and try that alone. Folex is a miracle cleaner.
posted by BlahLaLa at 10:28 AM on September 27 [5 favorites]

Just saturate the blood stain with hydrogen peroxide. Sop it up with a towel then keep re-saturating. It'll be gone to near invisible in a few exchanges.
posted by phunniemee at 10:31 AM on September 27 [4 favorites]

Having lived with three small sons and much low quality beige carpet for many years, the thing that always saved my security deposits was Oxyclean.

Not sure if it still works as well as it did 20 years ago, but it removed old chocolate milk stains and various other things I thought would never come out. I just looked it up quickly and apparently its not great for oil, so it may not work on that one, but the blood I bet it can handle.
posted by routergirl at 10:32 AM on September 27

Oxyclean has always helped me clean up after mob murders. So I can confirm it should work on both.
posted by bowbeacon at 10:38 AM on September 27 [6 favorites]

Response by poster: > Oxyclean has always helped me clean up after mob murders. So I can confirm it should work on both.

Right after mob murders, or weeks after when the blood had already set? And if the murdered mobsters had been munching on caponata, please let me know.
posted by ubiquity at 10:43 AM on September 27 [4 favorites]

Weeks. Stains that you think will always remind you of Tommy No-Nose and Jimmy the Creek suddenly vanish like magic.
posted by routergirl at 10:46 AM on September 27 [9 favorites]

I‘m working on the assumption the carpet is synthetic. Blot as much of the food stain as you can. Drench in washing up liquid solution. Blot again and repeat a few times. You want something that will help shift the grease. A solution with laundry detergent may also work. Play with the kind of stuff you‘d use to clean the stain out of your clothes.
posted by koahiatamadl at 11:03 AM on September 27

Seconding Folex, which is a pretty excellent carpet cleaner. I've been astonished by its success at removing various grime from poly/synthetic rugs.
posted by Bardolph at 11:23 AM on September 27

You could probably cut out the stained portions and replace it with a patch from a closet or from under a bed (or have someone do this for you). Finding a patch with a similar level of wear may be the tricky part…
posted by Tandem Affinity at 12:44 PM on September 27

You can buy a portable carpet cleaner, Bissell offers models under $200 CAD. Enzyme-based cleaning formulas plus extraction via cleaner will do wonders on stains. Having the carpet cleaner on hand will help you in the future.
posted by shock muppet at 12:44 PM on September 27

Folex is the OG, but the carpet manufacturer may suggest using 1c water, 1 tsp dish liquid and 1 tsp ammonia. Weirdly the blood may be the easiest to get out, especially with nylon carpet.
posted by fiercekitten at 12:50 PM on September 27

Nthing rent a carpet cleaner. Most supermarkets have them; it's kind of a pain to go get one and then return it, since they are bulky beasts, but they really do work miracles. I would never ever have gotten a security deposit back without one. If it doesn't work, or if you can't be arsed, there is also the solution of throwing an area rug right down on top of it. Voila, both stain and hideous beige carpet are gone.
posted by mygothlaundry at 12:58 PM on September 27

Seconding shock muppet, this model is $100 USD and is surprisingly effective! I prefer to own vs rent bc I hate all the various hassles of renting and I like being able to sanitize my own machine to my standards. YMMV if owning is better or not.

Source: not a mobster but a clumsy, hypermobile dog owner which probably results in a similar volume and frequency of spills
posted by seemoorglass at 2:41 PM on September 27

You can hire a carpet cleaning service. More expensive than renting the machine but way less of a hassle.
posted by grouse at 2:49 PM on September 27

Soaking it with vinegar should help with the smell, although everything will smell like vinegar for a while.
posted by Jacqueline at 1:20 AM on September 29

Response by poster: OK, I bought some H₂O₂ and some Oxyclean, and I already have some dish soap and maybe some ammonia, so I will try those solutions and report back. If those don't work I will try hiring someone or something.
posted by ubiquity at 11:58 AM on September 29