When it is time for a deep clean around the house, we sometimes find dirt and stains in odd places from unknown sources. Most common stains to find on carpets are food, drink and pet stains, but how can we resolve and restore carpet affected by rust stains and what causes rust stains on carpet in the first place?
What Causes Rust Stains on Carpet? - What to Look for
Rust is formed through oxidation when iron in metals reacts to moisture. Any type of metal furniture, legs on chair or couches, standing lamps, bookshelves or house plants in metal pots can cause rust to form on carpet. The best way to prevent this is to use a protective barrier between your furniture and the carpet like a plastic mat, sheet or caps for furniture legs. However, most rust stains are found after residing in the carpet for a long period of time and by this point are most difficult to remove.
The Best Way to Remove Rust Stains
Before beginning the process of cleaning the rust out, be sure to wear gloves and a face mask to protect yourself from breathing in or touching the rust. Use a butter knife or another dull blade to gently scrape the rust flakes off of the surface without damaging your carpet.
Once most of the surface is cleared and just the stain is left, use a sponge with some dish soap (no water) and blot the stain. Let the dish soap saturate the rust for about 10 minutes, then put pressure on the stain with a old cleaning cloth that can be disposed of afterwards. With continuing pressure on the stain, you should start to notice that the rust is bleeding into the cloth and leaving the carpet. Remove as much as you can, using a different spot on the cloth until there are no clean usable spots left.
At this point, a little bit of rust should still be in the carpet. The older the stain, the deeper it is and harder to clean. After blotting the stain with dish soap, the next step is to use a mixture of water and ammonia. With a bowl of 2 cups warm water and 1 tbls of ammonia mixed together, pour with all over the stain and wait about 5 minutes. With a new cloth, blot the stain until all residue and ammonia mixture is extracted.
If you still have a stubborn rust stain left, you can try a pouring a mixture of lemon, salt and vinegar over the stain and let it do it’s magic for a couple of hours. Then, again, blot the stain until you get the results you desire.
To Summarize
Any stain in your beautiful carpet is a nuisance especially when you’re getting into shampooing and deep cleaning your carpeting. Knowing the source of what causes rust stains in carpet will help you figure how to prevent future stains from forming. Make sure you make or buy some kind of barrier between metal furniture and your carpet, or else you’ll need to follow the previously stated cleaning tip for those pesky rust stains.
