Wax stains on the carpet: find out how to deal with this
Perhaps you lit a candle in a room to enjoy it's romantic, warm light. But what can you do if, by accident, the candle wax drips onto a carpet? Even if you act quickly, there will always be some wax residue that gets stuck in the carpet fibers and even onto the floor below it.
Fortunately, there is a way to deal with this problem: it takes a little patience, but you can remove the wax - let's see how:
Remove a wax stain from the carpet using the cold method
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Wax residue can be removed from fibers using the cold or hot methods. Let's first see how to do this using the cold method. This method is the least effective of the two, but can be useful if the wax has not (deeply) penetrated the fibers.
What you need: ice cubes in a plastic bag, or medical/food ice packs. You will also need a round tipped knife and a brush (or the vacuum cleaner).
Proceed as follows:
- Place the ice on the wax, leaving it on until the wax solidifies.
- When the wax is very hard, try to gently lift as much of it as possible in one go. Once done, scrape off any remaining residue.
- Brush up or vacuum the loosened wax quickly.
If this method doesn't work, try the hot method, described below:
Remove wax stains from the carpet using heat
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To remove the wax by using the hot method, there are two different techniques:
- Use a hairdryer: blow hot air over the wax at a distance of about 15-20 cm from the stain. As the wax melts, dab up with paper towelling and without any rubbing. Continue like this until the stain has been completely removed.
- With an iron: in this case you need paper towelling and parchment paper. Cover the wax stain with the parchment paper and hold a hot iron on it for 5 seconds. Then, lift up the parchment paper and dab with paper towelling. Repeat these steps until the stain has been removed. You can use a vertical steam iron for this task, but be aware that jets of hot air could spread the wax (so surround the stain with paper towelling to prevent this happening).
Wax stains no longer have to be a nightmare!