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You are going to love this DIY carpet stain remover with glycerin!
Why glycerin?
Well, I started testing different ingredients for stains, and was very pleased with the results of glycerin. I started seeing this ingredient in many store-bought stain solutions I was testing. I purchased a bottle to begin testing it in some homemade solutions.
It is fantastic! I will also share with you how it works and compares to other options.
DIY Carpet Stain Remover With Glycerin
In 2016, we shared this homemade carpet cleaner. It has been incredibly popular for seven years. It cleans and refreshes carpets really well utilizing the reaction that occurs between baking soda and vinegar.
When baking soda and vinegar react, it breaks up dirt and grime in the carpet fibers, releases carbon dioxide and ultimately forms into a salt. After it reacts and dries, you simply vacuum it up. I also added in this post you can apply hydrogen peroxide to many types of carpets to further aide in stain removal.
I still use this method often, and it is especially helpful for pet stains and dirt!
But after having children, we are getting more and more food type stains on our rugs and carpets. This homemade stain remover for carpets in this post is very effective at food stains plus it can be used in small batches.
Ingredients for DIY Carpet Stain Remover:
- 1/8 cup glycerin
- 2 tbsp dish soap
- 2 tbsp water
- Washing bottle or squirt bottle
Directions:
- Add all ingredients to a washing bottle or squirt bottle. Gently shake.
- Apply a few drops to the stained area of the carpet, allow it to sit for a few minutes.
- Gently scrub the stain with a microfiber or sponge, let it sit a few more minutes.
- Wipe up with a damp microfiber towel (Important!!! this absorbs extra moisture) ***
- After the area has dried, you can vacuum normally to make the fibers look just like they did before.
*** Please read this important tip! Glycerin is an oil texture, it can soak into fibers. If treating a small rug, you can wash it. If treating carpets, use sparingly and please absorb this area with a microfiber after use! It won’t necessarily harm the carpet, but it can soak too deep if you don’t address this. This is why I am also recommending my carpet/upholstery cleaner below.
Need To Clean Upholstery or Absorb Deeper Stains?
We have a great post about cleaning upholstery like chairs and couches! The best tip in this post is our portable fabric cleaner. I wanted to mention this to you because that portable upholstery cleaner will also work for very tough stains on rugs and carpets. If all else fails with your carpet stain, I use that machine. It works like a professional cleaner. Anyways, something good to keep in mind!
Before and After
Above are two before and after pictures on my kitchen rugs. The first one is baby food stains from a few days prior (sweet potatoes). I had cleaned up it with just some water and dish soap, it got some of it out, but it still had the tint of the food. I use this stain remover, scrubbed with a microfiber and it came right up.
The second picture is some sauce from an orange chicken dish we made. It was very stuck on with a texture almost like gum and didn’t clean up with warm water and soap, I used this and scrubbed just a little bit and it came right up!
What Exactly Is Glycerin?
Glycerin is a sugar alcohol, also called glycerol, found in many personal care and food products. You will find glycerin in products ranging from soaps to foods to skincare. It is even found in many medicines or cleaning products.
Glycerin is a solvent that can be animal or plant-based. Solvents break down particles from other substances and push them away.
It is very rare to have any allergic reaction to glycerin, so it makes a safe and common substance found in a variety of products.
How Is Glycerin Beneficial in Stain Removal?
Since glycerin is a type of alcohol and a solvent, it is great for breaking down and removing stains from fibers like carpets. It is very useful for food stains especially. This includes fruit stains, ink stains, and dirt.
What Does Dish Soap Do in This Stain Remover?
Dish soap, or dishwashing liquid, is a solution made of different surfactants that are specifically designed to break up the tension between solids. Dish soaps are made to cut grease or oil from surfaces. This makes dish soap fantastic for cleaning just about anything on any surface. When you add dish soap to a stain remover, it enhances the stain removing properties. This stain remover works without the dish soap, but after testing many different combinations, adding in the dish soap makes it work even better!
What Does The Water Do In This Stain Remover?
Water is the “universal solvent” and very important in cleaners including DIY cleaners. In this solution, water not only makes everything mix together well, but it also works together with the glycerin and dish soap to remove the stain from the carpet fibers.
Helpful Tips To Read For This Homemade Carpet Stain Remover With Glycerin and Dish Soap
Please read through this list of tips when making this stain remover.
- The dish soap is sudsy with this ratio, but using microfiber will pull the rest of the suds up! Allow it to dry, then vacuum. Don’t worry about residue for this.
- Glycerin has a sticky feel to it, but again, the microfiber will help this when you rub the stain. Although it is sticky, it doesn’t leave a residue nor does it stain anything.
- This solution won’t discolor carpets or rugs in anyway. It doesn’t have that power unlike hydrogen peroxide might.
- Dawn is best in these solutions due to their ratio of surfactants, if you are using another dish soap, it might leave residue. Please keep this in mind.
- Microfiber cloths are made to absorb moisture, so it is important to use that when you apply this solution.
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Very helpful information for so many others
It’s a great stain remover!! 🙂
Could this be used as a pre-treat on laundry?
Yes it can! I would use less dish soap for clothing. I also recommend this stain remover for clothes
Hi Alexis ! I love you newsletters and have been getting them for several years. I love this article on stain removal, but what this: diet orange soda spilled on beige carpeting. It’s as if the orange soda actually dyed the carpet even though I tried to absorb the soda within a minute, and cleaned it with everything I had available at the time. After several months, the carpet still has a faint orange stain.
Thanks for your help.
This recipe is worth a try on that! I would use this, follow up with an acid like vinegar after you use this stain remover. I have had a stain that was so deep into the fibers of my carpet, I had to use a carpet cleaner. I linked the one I like in this post. That portable upholstery cleaner uses warm water, cleaning solution, and a strong vacuum to suck up the solution and stain. I have found that to work on even the hardest stains! If all else fells, I would think about getting one of those!