How To Remove Mud Stains

Need to know how to remove mud stains? Stains caused by mud can happen to anyone on a rainy day, for instance, when a bit of mud splatters on your pant leg, or is stuck to your shoe and gets all over the carpet, or the dog tracks it onto the couch.

Mud stain removal can be difficult if the stains and splatters are not treated quickly because mud is actually made of lots of different proteins, dirt, clay, grease and other organic materials.

In addition, while it is normally best to deal with a stain as quickly as possible this is sometimes not true with mud.

This is not to say that you don't want to deal with it relatively quickly, but you generally will have better results, especially if dealing with a lot of mud, if you let it dry out a bit so it doesn't spread everywhere, and the large amounts can be scraped or brushed off.

Below are instructions for how to remove mud splatters from laundry, fabric and clothing, upholstery and carpet.

Removing Mud Stains From Laundry And Other Fabrics

Step 1: Let the mud dry and then scrape as much of it off as possible.

Step 2: Pretreat the stain with a paste of powdered laundry detergent (that contains enzymes) mixed with a little water, or with liquid laundry detergent (also containing enzymes).

Hint: Depending on the age and extent of the stain you may want to presoak the fabric with this enzymatic detergent solution from 30 minutes to overnight, in warm water.

Additional presoaks that work well on mud spots and stains include Borax and Biz.

Step 3: Launder in the hottest water the fabric will allow to get out the stain, and either chlorine bleach if the fabric will allow it, or oxygen bleach if not.

Hint: Make sure the stain is gone after washing, but before you place in the dryer or you may set the stain.

If the stain does not come out after one wash you may need to repeat before placing in the dryer.

You can also watch this video on removing stains caused by mud from clothing.

How To Remove Mud Stains From Upholstery

Step 1: Let the mud dry and then scrape off the excess, being sure to vacuum up any chunks of dirt and mud with the upholstery attachments to your vacuum cleaner.

Step 2: Mix a solution of two cups cool water and one tablespoon dishwashing liquid.

Step 3: Using this solution, sponge the spot from the mud with a clean white cloth.

Step 4: Next, blot at the stain until the liquid is absorbed.

Step 5: Repeat steps 3-4 until the spot is removed from the upholstery.

Step 6: Now that the stain is removed you should get plain cold water and a new white cloth and sponge the area to remove the cleaning solution, and then blot dry.

Hint: Be sure to get the upholstery only as wet as necessary to remove the mud stains.

You can get more information on how to clean upholstery here.

Mud Stain Removal From Carpet

The instructions for how to remove mud stains from carpet is the same as for upholstery.

However, if you don't have luck with this stain removal method above you can also do something additional with the carpet stain, which is to mix a solution of one tablespoon of ammonia with two cups warm water, and use this as a stain removal solution.

You can also watch these videos of carpet cleaning techniques for removing mud and dirt stains.

Recommended Mud Stain Removers

Perhaps you don't want to make your own stain remover, but instead want to use something designed to remove mud stains.

Here are some articles and reviews on this site which discuss various products that are designed to remove these stains, or where people have said they had success using specific products on mud and dirt:

Woolite Pet Stain Remover Plus Oxygen {For Carpet}

Borax Powder For Laundry

Carbona Stain Devil #6

Shout Laundry Pretreater

Oxiclean For Kids' Sports Uniforms

Purex Detergent

Mrs. Meyer's Laundry Detergent

White Bar Soap {Pretreat Laundry}

Cheer Detergent Review {With Before & After Pics}

Fels Naptha For Sports Uniforms

Super Iron Out For Red Clay In Baseball Uniform

Shout Free Pretreater + Old Toothbrush

Use This Product Plus Enzyme Detergent On Tough Stains

Oxydol Liquid With BIZ

Baby Wipes To Wipe Shoes

You can also share your own stain remover review here to tell me what commercial removers work well for you for removing mud or other stains.

Do You Have Any Tips To Share For Removing These Stains?

I'm always looking for more tips and ideas for how to remove stains. You can share your stain removal tip here, for how to remove mud stains or anything else.

Get Even More Stain And Spot Removal Help Here

Are you a stain magnet like me? If so, check out the A to Z Stain Removal Guide which gives directions for how to remove over 100 types of stains from all kinds of surfaces.

Third photo by giraffe_756 and fourth photo by welliefreak via Flickr Creative Commons

Related Pages You May Enjoy

A-Z Guide: Instructions For Removing Over 100 Types Of Stains

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CAUTION: This website is provided for informational purposes only. It is provided as is, without warranties or guarantees. Some stains and messes just won't come out, and are permanent. Further, some cleaning methods can harm your item, so if what you want to clean or launder is sentimental or expensive call a professional. See disclaimer of liability for more information.