How many times have your kids gotten a bloody nose and have been so absorbed by the television that they let it drip all over the carpeting? If you kids are like mine, you probably want to send them to some work camp in Siberia until they are old enough to scrub the rug themselves.
Getting blood out of carpeting is difficult and unless it is just a few drops or a small stain, you probably want to leave it to the professionals (or just get new carpeting).
To get the blood out…
- Act fast
- Use the right tools
- Scrub out to in
- Get out the soap
- Repeat, as necessary
Time, Time, Time
You don’t have much time to clean up a blood stain before it comes nearly impossible to get out. In fact, once a blood stain has dried, your chances of getting it all out drop. Don’t let a blood stain (or any carpet stain, for that matter) sit until it dries.
To be blunt: don’t be lazy, get up and clean it now!
Have The Right Tools
To clean up a blood stain, you are going to need:
- Cold water (hot or warm water is going to set the stain in)
- A nylon brush
- A special cleaner for blood and other biological stains
- Ammonium or hydrogen peroxide
That’s it. You should be able to find all of these things in your medicine chest or your cleaning supply cabinet.
Clean It Up
When you get any stain on your carpet, you are going to want to make sure that you don’t scrub the stain into your carpeting instead of getting it out.
- Don’t scrub too hard or too long.
- Scrub from the outside of the stain to the inside so that the stain doesn’t spread and spread.
- Don’t use too much cleaner or water (which can cause the stain to melt deeper into the carpeting).
- Rinse well after getting the stain out.
Extraction Is Important
Getting out all of the soap and water from the rug is going to be really important? Why? Because soap is a dirt magnet and leaving it in your rug is going to attract dirt.
Water is also not great to have a lot of in your carpet either, because it can turn mildewy and cause another set of problems.
If you have a vacuum with a shampooer attachment, use that to get as much water out as possible. Otherwise, use clean towels to gently blot up the extra water.
Repeat Until Clean
You may have to repeat all of these steps until the stain comes out. Blood is one of the most difficult stains to get out, so having a lot of patience is definitely necessary.
What did you do with the blood on your carpeting? Did you just get a rug to throw over it, get a new carpet, or were you able to get it clean?
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