Plush, Plush Baby
Everybody loves a nice candlelight in their space to provide warmth and glow. You can even burn one lusciously scented candle to set the mood of your dinner with a couple of friends.
Then, voilà, worse comes to worst. Wax drips on your carpet. Party’s over.
You don’t have to feel this way, though. Keep your head cool. This isn’t a hopeless mess.
Getting candle wax on your carpet is a pretty common accident. Luckily, you can revive your lovely carpet with a little bit of patience and the right materials. The removal methods we will describe are easy to do, and the materials are readily available at home.
No need to stress out!
Ready? Let’s get your carpet spotless in no time.
Ways To Remove Wax From Your Carpet
Ice, Ice, Baby
Yup. You can sing along while doing this tip. We assure you this is going to be a quick and easy one.
You can effectively remove wax from your carpet by using ice, a towel, and a butter knife.
Here’s the detailed list of steps:
- Put some ice cubes in a bag or wrap them in a towel. This will prevent moisture from the ice from wetting the wax.
- Place the ice bag over the wax. This will harden the wax.
- Gently scrape the wax using a butter knife or any other scraping tool. Make sure not to damage your carpet while doing this step.
- Clean up the scraped wax chunks.
- Blot the affected part with a cloth to remove any stains and absorb leftover moisture.
Tip: If you’ve just spilled wax on your carpet, be sure to attend to it quickly before it spreads further in and around your carpet’s fibers.
Iron Or Hair Dryer
Instead of going cold, we are using heat instead to remove wax.
We are listing the steps for an iron, but you can also use a hair dryer.
Follow these steps:
- Grab a paper towel and place it on top of the wax.
- Set your iron on a low temperature first to avoid damaging the carpet’s fibers (we don’t want your carpet to burn!)
- Gently press the iron over the paper towel for about 10-15 seconds. You can also rub the iron over back and forth. This should let the heat melt the wax as the towel absorbs some of it.
- Lift the iron and reposition the towel on other stained areas.
- Repeat steps 3 – 4 until the towel has absorbed all the wax. Wet the towel again if it dries, or get a fresh one if it has absorbed too much wax.
Don’t see any absorbed wax? Don’t panic. Hold the iron longer to ensure the wax melts.
Be sure to keep an eye on your heat. Remember that we’re dealing with carpets here. Too much heat can melt and burn fabric fibers. Alternatively, you can use a hair dryer.
Tip: Before doing this method, the wax should also be hardened using ice to make the removal easier.
How To Remove Wax Stains
Yay! You got your wax off the carpet. But… it doesn’t end with that.
Now, you have to deal with the stains it left. Ugh.
We got some bad news if the wax is from one of your brightly colored candles. This could leave an awkward colored stain on your carpet even after completely getting the wax off.
Don’t stress! If you have vinegar or alcohol at home, try these hassle-free methods we’re about to share with you.
However, if things don’t work out, opt to buy a carpet spot cleaner or any carpet-safe stain remover to solve your problem.
Vinegar
Nope, we’re not cooking anything for this one. This is an ideal way to remove any lingering wax stains on your carpet.
To do so, follow these simple steps:
- Dilute your vinegar first by mixing it with water. Make sure it’s strong enough and not too dilute. A good ratio is 1 part vinegar to 1 part water.
- Pour the mixture onto the wax stain. Let it sit for some time.
- Soak up the mixture by placing a towel on the affected area to absorb any remaining stain.
- Clean up the area after and repeat this method for any other stains.
Rubbing Alcohol
You probably know by now that candle wax is made of oils. So, something like alcohol works well to dissolve it.
- Apply some rubbing alcohol to the stain. Let it sit for around 30 minutes.
- Apply rubbing alcohol to a cloth or towel, and then blot the stain to allow the wax to melt.
- Wipe away the wax.
- Then, clean the leftover residue with a fresh cloth and water.
You may need to repeat this method several times for one stain.
Additional Tips
You know what they say. Don’t cry over spilled… wax.
Accidents like this are inevitable, especially if you got dogs or kids. Try to place your candles in a safer place to avoid this from happening.
Our tips should prove that there’s no sweat in getting wax off your carpet. Here are some additional tips to remember the next time this happens (and we hope it doesn’t).
- Clean the spilled wax as soon as you see it. The goal here is to prevent it from spreading further, making things worse. The longer you let it sit out, the harder it becomes to get the wax off. Use the ice method first before trying other methods.
- Don’t apply too much direct heat to your carpet when using an iron. Switch to a hair dryer if your carpet is made of sensitive fibers.
- Don’t use colored dish soap when cleaning any lingering stains. This could just worsen the situation by adding more stains to your carpet.