Bleach Stain Removal Carpet Cleaning Tips.
It’s literally impossible to remove bleach stains from your carpet. In fact, they aren’t even really stains. It’s damaged carpet. But don’t freak out. Bleached carpet stains can be fixed!
Bleach damage is unique. Here’s why…
If you drop a big bowl of yellow curry on your carpet, it makes an actual stain. The curry adds color to the dye sites in the carpet fibers, permanently changing the color of the carpet. In contrast, if you spill bleach on your carpet, the bleach removes color from the dye sites. The color of the carpet is still permanently changed, but not because the color was added. It’s because the color was removed.
Where Things Get Interesting
Bleach damage can be repaired. All you have to do is determine what colors were stripped from the carpet and add them back in. In the US, most carpet is a very light cream color. We almost always call it “white” carpet. But it’s not actually white. It’s a very light shade of brown. This can be demonstrated by accidentally bleaching it. Bleach damage on “white” carpet will be significantly lighter in color than the carpet itself. How is that possible? How can you bleach something that’s already white? Isn’t white the absence of other colors?
Bleach Stain Major Hints
There’s a major hint we can use to repair bleach damage! “White” carpet can be bleached because it’s not truly white. It’s just a very light shade of brown. Interesting, no? How, then, can we fix bleach damage on “white” carpet (which is actually very light brown carpet)? Ask yourself what primary colors are mixed together to make the color brown. The answer is blue, red and yellow. If you mix all three primary colors, you get brown. Therefore, we know that “white” carpet is actually made with blue, red and yellow dye. Neat!
Understanding Bleach Carpet Stains
Buckle up, people, because I’m about to blow your mind…Nine times out of ten, the bleach damage on “white” carpet appears pink. What does that tell us? It means the bleach has damaged and stripped away the blue dye, leaving behind the red and yellow dye. The red and yellow dye appears to be pink. Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “Red and yellow make orange, dummy.” And you’re right about that. But in very, very light brown carpet, there’s a lot more red dye than yellow dye. So, when the blue has been stripped away, what’s left over appears to be pink, not orange. Got it?
Neutralizing Bleach Carpet Stains
So, how can we fix a bleached area that appears to be pink when it’s on “white” carpet? Easy! Simply add blue dye. All you have to do is destroy any remaining bleach with a product called bleach eradicator. You soak the damaged area with the eradicator, which neutralizes any remaining bleach, then extract it with a vacuum.
The Final Step in Removing Bleach Carpet Stains
There you have it; bleach is no fun to play around with. Good luck cleaning and don’t forget to visit Our How it Works page to find out more about our cleaning process.
