Tips for Removing Gum from Carpet
Have you ever had gum in your carpet? It can be a real sticky situation. Pun intended.
Removing gum from carpet can be challenging because it can reappear long after you thought it was gone since some of the sticky residue might remain deeper in the carpet fiber.
Here are a few helpful tips to get the gum gone for good. But be sure not to bite off more than you can chew … another pun. If the stain becomes difficult to remove, you will want to call a professional carpet cleaner in Kenosha to help.
Scrape
Speed is essential for successful stain removal. Act fast and it’s possible the gum won’t have settled into your carpet yet. If that’s the case, you can attempt to scrape the gum off the carpet using a knife or spoon. If successful, simply dab a bit of lemon juice on a towel and blot the remaining bits of gum to remove any excess sticky residue.
Peanut Butter
Before attempting to scrape the gum off the carpet, you might first want to dab peanut butter on top of it. But, be careful to only put the peanut butter on the gum. If the peanut butter gets on the carpet, that’s likely to lead to another sticky stain you’ll need to attend to.
Eucalyptus Oil
Eucalyptus oil has been known to loosen adhesives. Try pouring a bit of it onto a towel then blotting the gum with it. Let the oil settle in for a few minutes before attempting to scrape away the gum.
Vinegar
Soak a cloth or towel in vinegar and place it over the gum overnight. In the morning check to see if the gum has loosened from the carpet.
Ice
You can attempt to “freeze” the gum by applying a plastic bag filled with ice cubes directly to it. Let the ice sit on the gum for 30 minutes or more before attempting to scrape the gum away. After 30 minutes have passed, you can either scrape or chip away at the solidified gum.
Heat
There are a couple of methods involving heat that can potentially loosen the gum from your carpet:
- Iron: Place a paper towel over the gum. Then place a clean cloth over the paper towel and iron over it to attempt pulling the gum from the carpet.
- Blow Dryer: Place a piece of plastic wrap over the gum then turn your blow dryer to its highest heating setting and wave it over the plastic wrap and the gum. After a minute or two, attempt to pull the plastic wrap away while still waving the blow dryer over it. There’s a chance the gum will be attached to the plastic.
Call the Professionals
If these household methods aren’t able to remove the gum from your carpet, give a professional carpet cleaner a call. Nature’s Way Chem-Dry has great success with a wide range of carpet stains, including gum.
Their Hot Carbonating Extraction (HCE) process applies the right amount of heat and moisture required to pull the gum and stick residue away from your carpet. Their HCE process has seen such great results that it is recognized with the Carpet & Rug Institute Platinum Seal of Approval.
Nature’s Way Chem-Dry provides Racine, Marquette, Walworth and surrounding Wisconsin neighborhoods with a variety of green-certified, industry-approved carpet cleaning services.