This article comes from Realty Times.
What Causes Rust Stains on Carpet?
When it is time for a deep clean around the house, we sometimes find dirt and stains in odd places from unknown sources. The 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 the carpet in the first place?
What to Look for
Rust is formed through oxidation when iron in metals reacts to moisture. Any type of metal furniture, legs on chairs or couches, standing lamps, bookshelves, or house plants in metal pots can cause rust to form on the 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 an old cleaning cloth that can be disposed of afterward. 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 it 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 tbs 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 pouring a mixture of lemon, salt, and vinegar over the stain and let it do its magic for a couple of hours. Then, again, blot the stain until you get the results you desire.
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