Stain on a rug: the first moves

The first three minutes

A fresh stain sits on the pile; a dry stain is in the fibre. Between the two, a few minutes go by: more if the lanolin is intact and makes the liquid bead, far less on a rug already stripped of grease by an aggressive wash. Everything that follows plays out within that window.

1. Lift off the solid matter with a spoon or the back of a knife, working from the edge towards the centre so as not to spread it
2. Blot with firm pressure using white absorbent paper or a white cotton cloth, without rubbing, changing the paper for as long as it takes up colour
3. If the liquid has spread, damp very slightly with cold water and blot again, always by pressure
4. Stop there. Photograph the stain and note what was spilt and at what time

That fourth point is not a polite formula. An identified stain is treated far better than an anonymous stain that three products have already been over, and the treatment differs entirely depending on whether it is a grease, a protein or a tannin.

Blot, do not rub

Rubbing is the first reflex and the most destructive. Friction drives the stain down towards the foundation instead of drawing it out, breaks the surface fibres, and on damp wool it opens the scales: the area felts locally. It then stays visible even once the stain has gone, because the pile there has changed direction and no longer returns the light like the rest of the rug. It is a mark still visible years later, against the light.

Blotting is something else: you lay flat, press vertically, lift, replace, start again. Without turning, without any back-and-forth. From the edge towards the centre, to stop the stain gaining ground. On a large spill, stack several thicknesses of paper and stand on it for a few seconds: your body weight brings up more liquid than a hand pressing down.

Always white. A coloured tea towel, printed kitchen paper, newspaper: all of them can bleed in their turn onto wet wool, and you end up with two stains instead of one.

Cold water, never hot

This is the rule that admits fewest exceptions. On protein stains — blood, milk, egg, urine — heat coagulates the protein and fixes it in the fibre: what would have come out in cold water becomes permanent. And above 40 °C, wool felts in the presence of water and agitation. Temperature also acts on the colours: in cold water the migration of the dyes is very slow; it becomes markedly active above 40 °C. Three distinct reasons pointing the same way.

Second rule on water: as little as possible. Water that goes down to the foundation does not stay there; it comes back up as it dries, and it brings with it the soiling it dissolved on the way. That is the mechanism of the ring, and it is what makes a rug that has "already had its stain treated" harder to deal with than the same rug with its original stain.

Why household products are dangerous

Wool is a keratin, a protein covered in scales and coated in lanolin. It is washed between pH 5 and 7, that is, in a neutral to slightly acid medium. Above pH 8, alkalinity tips the fibre over: the scales lift, the fibre swells, yellows and can release its dyes. The trouble is that almost everything sold for cleaning is alkaline, and often well above 8.

• Liquid laundry detergent, kitchen degreaser, all-purpose cleaner: alkaline, and rarely rinsed out
• Bleach: it oxidises the keratin, and the discolouration is irreversible
• Ammonia: alkaline, and its smell recalls that of urine, which brings a cat back to the same spot
• Carpet shampoo and aerosol stain removers: they leave a sticky residue that catches the dust
• Salt: it leaves a crystalline deposit in the wool, which then takes up moisture from the air
• White wine on red wine: you are adding a sugar to a colouring

Vinegar and bicarbonate of soda deserve a word, because they come up in all the domestic advice. They are two opposite products, one acid and the other alkaline, and mixing them produces nothing but gas. Bicarbonate is a reasonable absorbent on a fresh grease stain, provided it is then vacuumed up completely. Vinegar can destabilise certain dyes: it is not put at random on a hand-knotted rug.

Five cases, five courses of action

Red wine. Blot immediately, by pressure, changing the paper for as long as it takes up colour. Cold water only, in very small quantities. No salt, no white wine, no sparkling water. Tannins fix as they dry and leave, on an ivory ground, a pink halo that remains after the matter has gone: it is stain removal in two stages, the matter first, the colouring afterwards, and the second stage is not yours to do.

Coffee and tea. The same tannins, the same course of action. The trap is elsewhere: the sugar and the milk. Their sticky residue leaves an area that looks clean for a few weeks, then greys, because it catches the dust at every step. And since milk is a protein, hot water fixes it. On a white coffee, cold water is doubly obligatory.

Urine. This is the most serious of the five. Blot heavily and fast, stacking paper and standing on it, then very little cold water and blotting again. No ammonia, ever. Urine is slightly acid when passed, then its urea breaks down as it dries and the pH rises sharply: old urine therefore works on the wool in an alkaline medium for weeks. It leaves a yellow-brown halo that is often permanent, can make the colours around it migrate, and it soaks into the foundation, where a surface treatment will not reach it. For a repeated accident in the same place, see animal odours.

Candle wax. Do not touch hot wax. Let it harden, or speed that up with a bag of ice cubes placed on top — a bag, never a bare ice cube, which would add water. Then break the hardened wax between your fingers and pick the pieces off one by one. Above all, no iron through absorbent paper: on wool that is heat plus moisture, and therefore felting, and the melted wax goes down into the foundation instead of up into the paper. A coloured wax leaves a pigment as well, which is another problem.

Blood. Cold water exclusively, never lukewarm. It is a protein: with heat it coagulates and fixes permanently. Dab, blot, renew the paper. Do not persist if the stain is already dry: on dry blood, domestic determination mostly produces a ring.

The ring, and how not to create one

When you wet an area, the dissolved soiling migrates towards the edge and is deposited there, because the edge dries last. You get a ring darker than the original stain. It is the commonest pattern on the rugs that arrive here "already treated", and it is extra work rather than work avoided.

Three precautions limit the risk. Wet the smallest possible area, never going beyond it "to even things out". Dry fast and cold: a fan, an open window, a draught, never a hot hairdryer or a radiator. And slide a thickness of absorbent paper under the rug, directly beneath the area, so that the moisture does not sit in the foundation.

When to stop and call

Stop as soon as one of these situations arises: the stain is bigger than the palm of your hand or is in the middle of the field, the rug is silk, it is urine, coloured wax, ink, paint or a chemical product, the stain has been dry for days, or a shop-bought product has already been applied. Stop too if the colours move. To check, lay a damp white cotton cloth on an inconspicuous area, press for thirty seconds and look: if the cloth takes up colour, the dye is unstable and any further water will make matters worse.

Then tell us what was spilt, when, and what you applied — especially if it was a shop-bought product. An alkaline stain remover leaves a residue that catches the dust; an oxidising product may have lightened the wool around the stain. Knowing that avoids adding one reaction to another. Selective stain removal treats the stain alone, with a product chosen according to its nature, rather than shampooing a whole rug for five square centimetres.

Finally, what holds before the accident holds after it too: a rug whose wool keeps its lanolin stands up better to the next spilt glass than a rug stripped of grease. That is one of the reasons why day-to-day care counts as much as the stain removal itself. We reply within 48 working hours, and the visit is free within our area.