How to Remove Oil Stains from Carpet

Oil stains can be difficult to completely remove. This is because unless you get to the stain immediately, it will soak through into the backing and then the underlay of the carpet. If this happens, even though you removed the stain from the carpet fibres, the oil underneath will come back to the surface as it is walked on over time, causing the stain to re-appear.

Your best bet is to have the great Aussie stain remover on hand. You guessed it; Aerogard! It brings down mozzies and oil stains with equal doses of efficiency.

This process should achieve amazing results removing oil stains, especially if you get on to it quickly:

What you'll need

• paper towel
• Aerogard (aerosol mosquito repellent)
• warm water
• dishwashing liquid
• clean colourfast towel

How to remove oil stains from carpet

Step 1 - Soak up as much oil as you can with paper towels

As soon as you notice the spill, the first step is to try to soak up the oil. Using a clean tea towel, towel or several pieces of paper towel, blot at the oil stain. Apply pressure either by standing on the towel or by pressing with the heel of your palm, and continue with a fresh cloth until no more oil is being soaked up.

Step 2 - Spray a liberal amount of Aerogard on the oil stain

The next step is to spray a liberal dose of Aerogard onto a clean colourfast cloth. But make sure you DON'T SHAKE THE CAN: the active ingredient you are after here is the isopropyl alcohol at the top of the can. Shaking the can will mix the isopropyl with the insect repellent, which you don’t actually need for cleaning. Using the cloth, dab at the oil stain using a rolling motion, transferring the oil onto the cloth. Frequently move to a clean part of the cloth, and spray more isopropyl. Be patient with this process: it may take quite a while to get a good result.

Step 3 - Rinse with mixture of dishwashing liquid and warm water

To rinse, you may wish to mix dishwashing liquid with warm water and dab onto the carpet. Fold a towel in half, place over the damp area and apply pressure by standing on it. This should remove most of the moisture. Do a smell test to check you’ve gotten rid of any oil or Aerogard smell, and repeat if there is still residue. When you’re satisfied, open some windows or aim a pedestal fan at the damp area to aid drying.

Hopefully, by this stage, you’ve been successful in removing your oil stain. To be sure, wait a week and see if the stain reappears. If the oil has soaked into the carpet underlay, the stain may come back through compression when the carpet is walked on. If you can’t get rid of the stain, it might be time to call in the experts! Electrodry’s carpet cleaning technicians use specialised dry cleaning solutions to break down oily stains, and should be able to achieve an amazing result as long as the oil hasn’t pooled in the underlay.