How to clean dirt stains off carpet?

Author: Diego da Silva | Attribution parties: Flickr | Source

Unless you have adapted an absolute and strict no-shoe and no-dirty paws policy for your home, you are bound to get dirt on your carpets, rugs and hard floors.
While the floors can be swept and mopped, the answer to the question about removing dirt stains from a carpet or rug is a bit more complicated. The reason for this is that dirt stains can consist of a number of different nasty components. They are also called “combination stains” because of this.
 
The dirt spread on your carpet can contain ordinary soil as well as nasty stuff such as proteins, feces and other organic matter, grease, etc.
The first thing you should do is to remove the hard residue form the stain. This is one of the few cases, when it is better to let the stain dry up fully before attempting to scrape off the excess dirt with a spoon or the blunt side of a knife. This is because otherwise you risk spreading the dirt around and increasing the soiled area if the dirt is still wet.
 
After you have removed as much of the dirt as you can by scraping it off gently, prepare your cleaning solution. It consists of two cups of cool water and spoon of dishwashing liquid. Mix it and dip a clean cloth in it. Rinse it off and start blotting the stain. Always blot stains rather than rubbing them, because you reduce the risk of spreading them around a bigger area on your carpet or upholstery. Keep blotting and rinsing and blotting and rinsing, until you notice that all of the dirt has been transferred to the cleaning cloth and none is left on the carpet.
Then start “rinsing” the spot by using a clean cloth damped in clean water. After you are done, make sure you remove any excess water from the carpet by soaking the spot up with paper towels. To ensure that all water is out, place a pile of paper towels on top of the stain and press them down with something heavy. Let it stay for a couple of hours and remove the weight and the towels. The dirt stain should long be gone!
 
If the dirt stain is especially persistent, you may want to try a more serious cleaning method, by mixing two spoons of ammonia and two cups of lukewarm water. Use this solution the same way as the water and dishwashing soap solution. To stay on the safe side, you could try applying a tiny bit of the ammonia and water solution on a small and inconspicuous place on the carpet before actually proceeding to treat the stain.
 
In case you prefer to use commercially available stain removal solutions and products, always test the cleaning product first, so that you avoid damaging your carpet seriously or permanently.
Plus, it is important to always follow the instructions of the manufacturer exactly. If your carpet manufacturer has specific instructions for cleaning the carpet, then make sure you adhere to them. If necessary, call your local professional carpet cleaning company to remove all stains safely, quickly and efficiently.