Removing Candle Wax Stains from Carpet
How to Remove Candle Wax from Carpets.
Tips for Removing Candle Wax
Keeping carpets clean and free of stains is a chore especially when there are pets, children, dinner parties or game nights where even the adults have accidents.
Add a quite night alone with candle light to the list. It’s nice to have that quiet time to yourself until you decide to take a bath and bring the candle with you. It’s hot, you jerk and candle wax is spilled onto the carpet.
Candle wax is quick to harden making the chore of cleaning it from the carpet not such an easy task. It’s water resistant so any type of water soluble cleaner or detergent is basically going to be worthless to you.
When the wax is hot, it really can get into the carpet, deeper and faster than some other stains. If you dump hot water onto the wax stain in an effort to get it out, you are likely going to make that stain set deeper into the carpet and that, of course, is not what you want.
Below are some steps that you can to follow:
Lift the Wax
If you can work fast enough before the wax hardens and is still a little soft, you should be able to carefully scrape some wax up with a dull butter knife or something similar. Be careful not to pull on the carpet fibers.
Freeze the Wax
Next fill a plastic bag with ice cubes and place it over the remaining wax spill. Let sit for about 10 to 15 minutes. This will allow it to harden and make the next step of lifting the wax a bit easier.
Lift the Wax Again and Vacuum
Now that the wax is frozen, again, use the butter knife to carefully scrape up as much of the wax as you can. Be careful that you are not too rough that you damage the carpet fibers.
When you have scraped up all you can, vacuum the area.
Apply Heat to the Remaining Wax
Place white paper towel or a brown paper bag over the remaining wax. Heat your iron until it is warm, not overly hot. Try a low setting first.
Run the iron over the paper towel or bag to gently melt the wax and transfer it to the material you are using. Keep the iron moving so as not to burn the material. As the wax starts to transfer to the towel or bag, be sure to move to a clean section. Continue this step until you have removed the wax.
If Any Wax Stain Remains
If there is any color from the wax remaining on the carpet, use a clean white cloth and apply isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) and gently dab the stain until color is removed. Switch to a clean area of cloth if needed.
If any color still remains after dabbing with isopropyl alcohol then add a small amount to a clean cloth, cover stained area and let sit for 30 minutes then dab again.
Additional Wax Cleaning Tips
There are a few other methods to try when cleaning wax. These methods should be tried after you have lifted what wax you can.
Note: Do not use products such as gasoline or paint thinner on the carpet.
- You can often use dry cleaning solvent to work on candle wax. To do this, just apply a small amount of it to the area of the stain and then blot it up with a clean sponge or paper towel.
- If there is any type of dye left in the carpet, you can try a using hydrogen peroxide. Just test in an inconspicuous spot first for colorfastness.
- Some stains from candle wax will leave an oily residue. If this happens, remove all the wax that you can as directed above. Then, apply a layer of baking soda to the area. Allow this to sit for several hours. The baking soda will pull the moisture out of the carpet, then vacuum the carpet to remove the baking soda.
- If all else fails, contact your local professional carpet cleaning company to help remove the stain.
