How To Remove Chocolate Stains From Carpet

by Taylor

Chocolate stains on my carpet don't make me smile, even though typically this food, itself, does.

These stains are hard to remove, not only because they are on your carpet, which always makes stain removal a bit trickier, but also because these types of stains are what is called a "combination stain."

Chocolate contains several different ingredients, and each has a slightly different method for removal, including protein, fats and oils, and tannins, for example. You have to treat each type of staining agent to remove the whole stain, and be careful your methods don't set the other parts of the stain in the process to effectively clean up the mess.

Below I've gathered some tips for removing these stains from your carpet. As you can see, there is more than one right way to remove them. That means if you have successfully used another method not already listed I would love to hear from you and add your tip too!

You can share your tips for removing chocolate here, or read other tips already submitted, such as for other surfaces such as clothing and more.

In addition, if you've got other tips for removing carpet stains I would love to hear these too! You can share your carpet stain removal tips here, or read even more tips already submitted.

Remove Chocolate Stains From Carpet With Laundry Detergent

Below is a video demonstrating how to remove chocolate stains from carpet with laundry detergent.

But before I explain more about that chocolate stain removal method from carpet, I wanted to discuss something else I think is really interesting about this video.

Specifically, the video below assumes a dry bar of chocolate got onto the carpet.

Normally, when I think of this type of stain I think of dripping and melting chocolate, like from chocolate syrup, hot chocolate, or chocolate icing.

However, you can get stains from a bar of chocolate also, and those stains are "dry" stains, because they don't contain much liquid in them.

In that case she recommends first vacuuming the area of the carpet where the chocolate stain occurred to get as much of the chocolate up as possible.

She cautions not to use the beater brush on your carpet though, which makes sense because you don't want to grind the stain into your carpet.

Instead, she used the upholstery attachment to the vacuum and just used the suction of the vacuum to suck up bits of chocolate.

Obviously, if you have a wet chocolate stain you should skip the vacuuming.

After vacuuming up as much chocolate as possible she next blotted at the stain with a towel dipped in cold water, working from the outside of the stain towards the inside of the stain.

Next, she used laundry detergent, without bleach, to remove the rest of the chocolate stain.

She cautioned to first test the laundry detergent on your carpet in an inconspicuous area to make sure it would not harm your carpet.

Finally, after using laundry detergent you need to get rid of the soapy residue so you again blot at the area with cold water.

The reason for this is that the soap will actually attract dirt and grime, and so you don't want to leave any in your carpet to bring attention to the area you spot treated for the chocolate stain.

Here is the video for full details:

Below I've got yet another method for chocolate stain removal from carpet.

Photo by kimberlykv

How To Remove A Chocolate Stain From Carpet

The video below gives detailed instructions for how to remove a chocolate stain from carpet.

It takes about five minutes to watch the whole thing, but I believe it is worth it since it demonstrates many different methods for chocolate stain removal from your carpet.

First, the video suggests using surgical spirit (a.k.a. rubbing alcohol per Wikipedia for us Americans) on the carpet chocolate stain.

Next, the video suggests several of the same stain removal solutions as Stain-Removal-101.com for chocolate stain removal.

The first of these is a liquid dishwashing detergent solution, consisting of 1 teaspoon of dishwashing liquid and 1 liter of cool water.

Next, assuming your carpet is not made of wool, you could try an alkaline solution consisting of 1 teaspoon of ammonia and 1 liter of cold water.

(Ammonia will literally dissolve wool so don't use it on wool carpets!)

Next, the video gives hints for neutralizing the alkaline solution by then adding a solution consisting of white vinegar and water.

This keeps adverse reactions from occurring later, to your carpet, because of a high pH.

Watch the video for full details.

So, there are some methods for how to remove chocolate stains from carpet.

Do you have another method that has worked for you? If so, you can submit your own tips here, for removing the stains from carpet or any other surface in and around your home, or read other tips which have already been submitted.

Photo by thebittenword.com

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