Mud can make your carpet smelly, ugly, and unattractive in an instant which is why you should always do your best to avoid this problem.
It never fails either your kids or your pets are going to track mud into the house at least once during the rainy season, but most likely it will happen more than once. It doesn’t seem too bad when the kids or your pets track mud into the house on your hardwood or tiled floors, but the carpet is another issue.
Mud – it invariably gets tracked into your house and onto your rugs and carpets. Mud can get on your carpets all year round for all of the above reasons and other reasons. So what is the best way to clean it?
How to Deal With the Mud
1. Start by making sure the mud stain is totally dry. It’s much more difficult to remove a stain that is still wet than it is to remove a stain that is dry. Wait for the mud to dry out, or dab it with a towel or cloth until it has dried up.
2. With the stain now dry, the next step is to brush off some of the dry mud that hasn’t yet stained the carpet. You’ll be able to remove some of the dry mud with your hand, but if you use a hard brush you’ll be able to get rid of more. You could try going over the stain with a vacuum, too; this will help to loosen some of the dry dirt. Give it a brush afterwards and you might be surprised at how much of the mud you’ve managed to remove.
3. With the residual mud out of the way, you can focus on the real problem: the stain. This is the mud that has adsorbed to the carpet and won’t come out with a simple brush stroke. In this particular guide, we’re showing you how to clean the stain by hand, but you could also try spot cleaning or carpet steam cleaning – more on that later.
4. Before you start cleaning the stain, you’ll need to collect some simple supplies. These include white cloths or towels, some mild liquid detergent, some white vinegar and some water.
5. Start by squirting some of the liquid detergent onto the stain. You don’t need to use a lot. Next, begin blotting at the stain gently with your cloth or towel. It’s important to blot and not to wipe, as wiping may work to spread the stain around your carpet – not something that you want!
6. Hopefully, most or all of the stain should have been removed by the liquid detergent. However, if this didn’t work entirely, then it’s time to use the white vinegar. Soak the area with the vinegar and then immediately begin blotting it dry with your cloth or towel. It should go without saying, but use a clean part of the cloth – don’t use the same dirty part you used to blot the stain earlier!
7. Finally, with the stain removed, you’ll need to flush the area with water. This helps to remove the dangerous cleaning chemicals and odors from the carpet. Once the area has been flushed, grab another dry cloth and blot it until it is nice and dry.
If the mud stains persist, it’s possible that they were caused by an iron-based clay. In that case, call a professional carpet cleaner like Langenwalter in Martinsville.
