The Best Carpet Stain Removers of 2023

While more and more homeowners are replacing their wall-to-wall carpeting with real or synthetic hardwood flooring, there are still many who prefer to cover their bare floors with luxurious-feeling carpeting. However, because carpets consist of a bunch of absorbent fibers, it is very easy for carpets to get visibly dirty or discolored.

While regular vacuuming helps to remove dust and debris, it’s a whole different ball game when it comes to cleaning the liquids or wet solids (hello, slime) that land on your carpeted floors. Those with kids, pets, or messy hobbies are very much aware that removing carpet stains requires special cleaners, a sponge or a clean cloth, and a whole lot of elbow grease.

The Tests

As you might expect, our testing of various carpet stain removers mostly focused on actually getting stains out of carpets. We applied five different stains to a gray, medium-pile carpet square: chocolate sauce, milk, tomato sauce, fox urine, and dirt. In this case, we used fox urine as a proxy for household pet urine (since there's no easy way of getting our hands on cat or dog urine, while fox urine is often used to keep critters out of backyards, and can be purchased on Amazon).

Each carpet cleaner had its own stain-covered carpet square. After letting the stains sit on the carpet square for days untouched, we then followed the application directions on the label of each carpet stain remover.

For the carpet stain removers that are meant to be applied and reapplied continuously until the stain is gone, we sprayed and blotted the stain four times in a row. For those that need to sit undisturbed for more than 10 minutes before blotting and reapplication, we sprayed and blotted the stain three times.

After the carpet square had completely dried, we then vacuumed each carpet square and evaluated the stain and odor removal performance of each carpet stain remover. We also scored the cleaners on their ease of use, scent, and special features (e.g. safe for use around kids and pets, eco-friendliness, etc.).

What You Should Know About Carpet Stain Removers

How Do I Clean My Carpets?

If you get a stain on your carpet, it’s always better to try to remove the stain as quickly as possible. The longer the stain sits in your carpet, the more the stain can be absorbed into the carpet fibers.

As soon as the stain lands on your carpet, the first thing to do is to wipe up what you can with a clean dry cloth. If the stain is wet or liquid-like, dampen the cloth before trying to swipe up the stain.

Once you’ve manually removed as much of the stain as possible, follow the directions on the bottle and apply the carpet cleaner to the carpet. Very recent stains should come up with one or two applications, but older or set-in stains may require many more applications of the carpet spray.

In general, the most effective way to clean something is to rely on both chemical (i.e. cleaning products) and mechanical (i.e. scrubbing) action. The cleaning products are typically made of chemicals that help to separate the stain from the surface, while the scrubbing physically lifts and removes the stain from the surface. With carpets, the same logic applies, but the scrubbing has to be done a bit more carefully that it would on a sealed floor surface.

The directions on most carpet cleaners tell you to blot the stain after applying the carpet spray; the term “blot” is often used in place of the word “scrub” because the word “blot” implies that you should be gently pressing the dry or damp cloth into the stain, rather than applying pressure to the carpet in a circular motion (e.g. scrubbing). While blotting is usually enough to remove a very recent stain from a carpet, it might not get the job done on older stains.

The “blot” vs. “scrub” language choice is important because if you apply a carpet cleaner to a stain and then scrub the stain with a sponge or a brush, you run the risk of increasing the footprint of the stain on your carpet, since there’s a chance the brush or sponge motion will actually push the stained material into the previously unstained carpet fibers surrounding the stain.

After you’re done removing the stain, it is best to either dry the carpet manually or to cordon off the area until the carpet dries. As with all cleaning supplies, it is best to do what you can to limit the likelihood of the carpet cleaner being ingested by a child or a pet.

If, however, you'd prefer to own a product that does a lot of the scrubbing for you, you can purchase a carpet cleaner. While vacuum cleaners are geared towards removing dry debris such as dirt and dust, carpet cleaners have built-in water tanks and shampoo dispensers and are meant to tackle liquid or wet stains on carpet surfaces.

When Should I Call a Professional Carpet Cleaning Service?

As long as it falls within your budget, time, and room constraints, it’s rarely a bad idea to use a professional carpet cleaning service. From a more practical perspective, though, most people tend to call in the professionals only when faced with very difficult stains or when the carpet discoloration is more widespread than a few spots. Carpets that experience heavy use, such as those at doorways or in hallways, can often take on a dingy appearance over time; this type of staining would be prohibitively time consuming for a normal person to take on with a bottle of carpet cleaning spray. Carpet cleaning services use professional-grade equipment to tackle the accumulated dirt that has been sitting in your carpet for months or years.

One thing to keep in mind is that professional carpet cleaning often requires that the room(s) with newly-cleaned carpet should be left to dry for a minimum of 6 hours; if you’re getting your carpets cleaned, be sure to figure out ahead of time how the traffic patterns in your home will change to accommodate one or more rooms being inaccessible for hours at a time.

For those who have an abundance of patience and want to save some cash, it is also possible to rent a carpet cleaner at most major home improvement stores. Again, though, once you’ve finished the carpet cleaning process, you’ll have to let the carpets dry for at least six hours.

How Often Should I Clean My Carpets?

Because carpets are fibrous, the amount of dust, pollen, and other smaller particles that collects in carpets is much higher than it is on sealed floor surfaces such as hardwood and tile. As such, it is recommended that you vacuum your carpets at least once a week, with more frequent vacuuming for high-traffic areas. While vacuuming helps to remove debris from your carpets, it also plays a key role in improving your air quality; this is especially important in households where residents have allergies, asthma, or other respiratory issues.

However, carpet manufacturers do not consider vacuuming to be enough when it comes to cleaning your carpets; they recommend that you have your carpets professionally cleaned once every 1-2 years in order properly maintain the integrity of your carpet and the cleanliness of your air.

Are Carpet Stain Removers Dangerous for Kids and Pets?

Many cleaning solutions contain ingredients that are poisonous. If anyone or any pet in your household has ingested cleaning chemicals, call 911 or your regional Poison Control center immediately.

It can be difficult to protect kids and pets against carpet cleaning products because in addition to the danger of them accidentally being ingested, these products can linger on your carpet while they dry. While no floor cleaning product is ever 100% safe for kids and pets, certain cleaning solutions are billed as “pet safe,” which indicates that the number and/or amount of the toxic ingredients are much lower than they are in typical cleaners.

In general, if you’re concerned about carpet stain removers being ingested or licked by children and pets, we recommend that you avoid carpet cleaners that ask you to let the product dry over a period of hours. In this case, it is better to use carpet sprays that dry quickly or that can be blotted with a cloth until they are dry.

If you have more serious concerns about the ingredients in carpet stain removers, we recommend checking the EPA’s Safer Choice products database for household products (not just cleaners) that have to meet certain standards in terms of their ingredients, packaging, and performance.

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