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Accidents around the home happen. It’s just a fact of life. If you scratch yourself while cleaning, or your dog accidentally scratches it’s paw, you might leave a bright red trail of blood across the rug. In case this happens, it’s imperative that you act immediately! If you follow the steps that I detail in this blog entry – as soon as possible – your carpet (regardless of it’s material of pile type) will find itself fresh and clean, good as new. Additionally, there’s another very effective method that works fantastically on dried blood stains.
Removing Fresh Blood from Carpets
First Step
The first thing to do, as soon as you notice a stain, is to blot the area with an absorbent paper towel to absorb and remove any excess blood that hasn’t soaked into it. Make sure to BLOT – not to scrub or rub – as doing those things will only spread the stain and make it worse.
Second Step
Place a few drops of mild liquid dish detergent into a bowl or bucket with a few cups of cold water. Make sure to use as cold water as possible, as hot water will only set the stain into the fibers of the carpet, making the discoloration almost impossible to get rid of. Make sure to be somewhat careful and discerning regarding the amount of drops of dish detergent that you mix in! Any soap that remains after cleaning will just attract more dirt, and the blood stain will become a dark spot.
Third Step
Make a white rag or cloth wet with the home-made cleaning solution, and gently use a sponge to apply it to the top of the stain – again NOT rubbing or scrubbing it. Keep wetting the cloth and blotting the stain until all the blood comes up from the carpet. You might need to repeat this step a few times depending on the size or depth of the stain.
Fourth Step
Using a dry section of absorbent cloth or paper towels, blot up all the water from the carpet to allow it to dry as much and as fast as possible. If the stain covers a large area, aiming a fan into the room to circulate the air faster, or using a hair dryer on it’s cool setting could help hasten the drying process. By quickly drying the area, you will reduce any of the chances that blood that got deeply set within the carpet’s pile will come back up and become visible after the surface stain was removed.
Removing Dry Blood Stains from Carpets
Immediately take a stiff, bristly brush to the stained area and brush it firmly to help crumble the stain up, and then vacuum all the remaining particles up. Then, move to the Second Step of the tips for removing fresh stains from carpets detailed above.
