It might be rare, but it happens. Your child might scrape a knee, or your knife might cut open more than your shipping box. Picking up broken glass, using scissors, juggling knives – whatever the cause, you now have blood on your carpet. However, blood can be tricky to remove.
Hemoglobin in the blood tries to bind with materials in the carpet. This makes blood difficult to remove when wet, and even more difficult when dried into a stain. Granted, Preferred Carpet Care knows exactly what to do, but until we can address your blood stain directly, let’s go over some things you can do to reduce or even remove blood stains from your carpet.
Act Quickly
As with most stains, blood is easier to remove when it is still wet. However, blood poses a few personal dangers – whether it’s from you or someone else isn’t as important as your safety. Before you address the stain, put on some nitrile gloves or other personal protection. Use a dry white paper towel and dab the area, moving from the outside inward. Remember to dab and blot only. Scrubbing will push the blood deeper into the carpet and encourage it to bond with the fibers. Remove as much as you can with the paper towel.
Apply cold water to the stain and continue blotting. If you have an unused spray bottle available, it’s a great way to apply the water. Make sure it’s cold water, though – warm or hot water might set the stain into the fibers.
Removing the Remainder
Next, we need a cleaning solution along with other supplies.
- For wool carpets, use 1 teaspoon mild, non-alkali detergent with 1 cup of cold water
- For synthetic carpets, use 2 tablespoons household ammonia with 1 cup of cold water
- For other organic rugs, use 1 part white vinegar with 2 parts cold water
Synthetic carpets are the most popular, so we will focus on that type.
Along with your cleaning solution, you will need clean white towels to dab the stain. You could use your clean spray bottle to spray your cleaning solution onto the stain, then blot it with the towels. Continue spraying and blotting until there is no more residue coming up onto the towels.
If the stain is persistent, however, change your solution to ¼ teaspoon of clear dish washing detergent mixed with 1 quart of cold water. Make sure your detergent is free of bleach and lanolin, so it does not discolor your carpet. Spray and blot, spray and blot.
In either case, the area needs to be rinsed once the stain is removed. Spray it with cold water and apply a pad of paper towels to soak up the moisture. Place a brick or set of books on the towels. After an hour or so, check the area and allow to air dry.
If the stain is still persistent, carefully apply 3% hydrogen peroxide and let it sit on the stain for an hour. Blot the area with a clean dry towel, then apply more paper towels with a weighted object to soak up any residue.
Sometimes this is enough to remove the stain, sometimes it needs more work. In either case, call Preferred Carpet Care or schedule an appointment online. We can make sure the bloodstain is fully removed so you don’t have to answer awkward questions later.