When you have to deal with blood stains on your carpet after dealing with a nasty cut or gash, it just seems to add insult to the injury – in this case, literally. A blood stain is certainly not a souvenir one wishes to keep.
Cuts, nicks, small accidents or nose bleeds. There are so many ways to get blood on your carpet. Even small injuries in pets and children can streak blood all over your lovely carpeting. While you can easily take care of any injuries sustained by yourself or your dear ones, getting that blood stain out of your carpet can be a nightmare.
A blood stain is one of the most stubborn stains for any fabric surface. Hemoglobin, which is a good guy in our bloodstream, becomes a bad guy when it adheres to fibers in your carpet.
Hemoglobin is essentially a protein and the agent responsible for binding that rusty blood stain to the fabric. The chemical nature of blood makes it resistant to a variety of cleaning techniques. Due to the coagulants present in it, the blood starts to coagulate with each passing minute, which makes it even harder to lift out of the carpet.
The best results in stain removal can sometimes be achieved through simple household items. Spending an insane amount of money on commercial stain removal products is usually not necessary. Acting fast and using the given methods can help you successfully remove stains from your favorite carpet.
Here are four methods that you can use to get those dreaded blood stains out of your carpet:
Contents
Method 1: Using Hydrogen Peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide is one of the most effective agents to counter a blood stain. When hydrogen peroxide comes in contact with the hemoglobin present in the blood, a series of reactions take place that break up the pigmentation in the blood. So instead of just using it to disinfect the wound, you can now also use it to remove the blood stains as well as disinfect that area of the carpet.
Things you’ll need:
- Hydrogen peroxide
- Paper towel
Step 1. Pour hydrogen peroxide over the blood stain
Pour hydrogen peroxide over the bloody patch on your carpet. It will bubble and fizz, but that’s normal. It’s simply hydrogen peroxide breaking up the blood stain on a chemical level.
Step 2. Blot the area with paper towel
When the bubbling starts to settle, blot the area with a paper towel in order to absorb the moisture. You’ll find that the stain has considerably lightened.
Repeat this method until the blood stain completely dissolves and blot up the remaining moisture with paper towels.
Method 2: Using Salt
Salt can also be used to lift blood stains out of your carpet. It breaks down the proteins in the blood, making it easier to deal with the stain. Saline water or a salt paste can be used to remove blood stains on your carpet.
Things you’ll need:
- Salt
- Water
- White cotton rag
Step 1. Make a salt paste
Add some salt to water and mix it into a paste. The salt paste should have the consistency of thick slurry.
Step 2. Cover the stain with the paste and let it sit
- Pour the salt paste over the blood stain on the carpet, covering it completely.
- Let the salt paste sit on the stain for at least 1 hour, or if possible overnight. You may observe the blood stain soaking into the salt paste over time.
Step 3. Blot the stain out
Blot at the stain with a cotton rag. Keep at it without rubbing or pressing until the entire stain lifts out from the carpet.
Step 4. Clean up the salt residue
All you need to do now is remove the salt residue from the carpet. Let the area dry and vacuum up the dry salt.
Method 3: Using Baking Soda
Things you’ll need:
- Baking soda
- Water
- White cotton rag
Step 1. Cover the blood stain with baking soda paste
- Add water to baking soda and mix thoroughly to make a paste.
- Cover the blood stain with the paste.
- Leave it overnight, if possible, or at least for 1 hour.
Step 2. Blot away the stain
Blot at the stain with a cotton rag. Continue with the process until the entire stain lifts out.
Do no rub or press on the area. It will just push the stain deeper into the carpet.
Step 3. Finish the cleanup using water
- Pour a little water over the area and blot with a clean end of the rag, taking the bulk of the baking soda out.
- Let the area dry and vacuum up the remaining baking soda.
Method 4: Using Liquid Dish Soap
Dish soap is an inexpensive cleaning product that can be used to clean blood stains. It contains ammonia that is found to be effective at lifting out blood stains. It is also one of the handiest methods to deal with a blood stain on your carpet.
Things you’ll need:
- Liquid dish soap
- Water in a spray bottle
- Cleaning brush
- Cotton rag
Step 1. Brush the stain with dish soap
- Cover the blood stain with liquid dish soap. If the stain is not fresh, you can let the dish soap sit for a few minutes.
- Spritz the area with a little water from the spray bottle.
- Brush the area until the stain lifts entirely.
- Blot away the dish soap foam with a cotton rag.
- Repeat the process if any stain remains.
Step 2. Finish the cleanup using water
- Spray the area with water and blot up the moisture.
- Repeat to completely remove the dish soap from the carpet.
- Blot away as much moisture as possible and let the carpet dry.
Additional Tips
- Blood stains on your carpet should be attended to as soon as possible and shouldn’t be allowed to dry.
- Wear gloves while dealing with blood, animal or human, to prevent any chance of infection.
- Don’t treat the blood stain with hot water. The heat will set the stain into the carpet fabric.
- Before using hydrogen peroxide on your carpet, check the colorfastness of the fabric in an inconspicuous area.
- You can use hydrogen peroxide to remove old blood stains that have firmly set into the carpet fabric over time. Soak the blood stain in hydrogen peroxide for a few minutes and iron the area on the highest heat. In this case, heat works as a catalyst. You can use paper towels to protect the delicate fabric from the iron.
- While hydrogen peroxide disinfects on its own, you can follow up the other cleaning methods with the disinfectant of your choice. Besides hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol can also be used to disinfect the blood-stained carpet.
- Do not use dish soap in conjunction with bleach, as the ammonia present in the dish soap can react with the chlorine in the bleach and give rise to hazardous fumes.
Seriously , baby wipes work a treat
The salt method works PERFECTLY for small stains. However, the salt paste dried up too much in an hour for me to be able to blot it. In that case, I sprinkled a little bit of water over it and blotted it out from there, and that worked just as well.
Hey Layne
Thank you for sharing your experience with us.
-Team FabHow
We had huge dried bloodstains on our off-white carpet after our dog’s big skin tumor ruptured – of course while we were away from home. None of the methods above worked well for heavy deposits of dried blood. What did work was diluted chlorine bleach. Only reason we tried it was because we were going to replace the carpeting anyway, and had nothing to lose if the bleach caused damage. But it didn’t! Diluted bleach worked wonders to remove even on the biggest dried stain! Caution though – bleach will take the color out of darker carpets. Bleach may also leave a pale yellowish ‘ghost’ residue, so I wouldn’t use it on a stark white carpet either. However, for our cream-colored, apparently tough carpeting, it completely removed all trace of dried blood, leaving no evidence behind. We’re still planning to replace the carpet eventually, but meanwhile we don’t have to live in a house that looks like some horrible crime scene.
Hi Ingrid
We are so sorry for your loss.
Chlorine must have taken the color out but it sure cleans the stain.
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Thank you