Okay, so somebody spilled some Kool-Aid, or red soda or wine in your light colored carpet, what do you do? I will reveal the easy method that can get out these kinds of spots and stains a majority of the time. You could save yourself a great deal of money in carpet replacement.
Here is the problem:
Red beverages have dyes in them that bond to the carpet fiber in a very strong way, making most methods of spot removal very difficult. You can use so-called miracle spot removers all you want, but unless you get to the spot immediately after it happens, chances are the dye in the beverage will bond to the carpet. If you have a hand held spot remover, you have a very good chance of removing the spot right away, using just hot water, but if the spot dries and the red is left in the carpet, the spot is now a STAIN and will require special cleaning to remove it.
This method requires a few steps to complete, but do not be intimidated. Here is exactly what you need to do to get out unsightly Kool-Aid or red beverage stains from your carpet. Please follow the instructions carefully.
Step 1: You will want to use the right chemical to get the stain out. We use a product called Kool-Aid, Juice and Dye Stain Remover that is specifically designed to get out Kool-Aid, juice and red beverage stains. It does a fast and easier job than other methods. We use it everyday.
Step 2: Get yourself several white, clean, terry cloth towels depending on how big of a stain you have. The bigger the stain, the more towels you will need.
Step 3: Apply a liberal amount of the Kool-Aid, Juice & Dye Stain Remover
Step 4: Place a wet, folded and clean terry cloth towel over the stain. When I say “wet” I am referring to a towel that has been put under warm water and rung out very slightly, leaving a liberal amount of water in the towel.
Step 5: Next, you will need a steam iron filled with water and placed on low to medium low setting. Place the iron over the folded towel. Don’t worry, you will not burn the carpet. Press firmly on the wet towel and let the steam pull the red dye stain into the towel. Keep the iron on the spot at least 2 minutes and check you progress frequently.
Step 6: As the iron steams out the red dye, it will turn your towel red or whatever color the stain was. Either rinse out the towel and replace it on the stain or put a new terry cloth towel over the stain and repeat this procedure until the stain is gone.
Step 7: Spray the area with hot water that you just cleaned and use another DRY terry cloth towel to blot up the excess water. This will rinse the area and neutralize the cleaning process.
That’s it!! You did it. If you need to, save this post for future reference.
Common Questions
Q: I read you can use dish washing liquid. Is that true?
A. Yes and no. You can use dish washing liquid but the end result is often disappointing since the soap residue collects and creates a grey spot over time. If you can invest a few dollars, (less than $20.00) why not go the safe route and get the chemical that is formulated to do the job.
Q: I’m affraid I will burn the carpet. How can I prevent this?
A. Easy. Follow our instructions and you will have no problems. You see, carpet is very durable and it takes a tremendous amount of intense heat before the fiber will burn or melt. A low or medium low setting along with a double folded terry cloth with prevent this. We have done this method hundreds of times without problem.
Q. Are there other products I can use?
A. I think there are more. I recommend the Kool-Aid, Juice & Dye Stain Remover
Please leave your comment as to how this method has worked for you. As you can see, there are many comments that have been left that testify to the cleaning power of this method. If you have any questions during your spot removal, feel free to give us a call at 701-306-7026.
Filed under: Spot/Stain Removal, carpet cleaning | Tagged: Fargo, getting kool-aid out of carpet, kool-aid removal, mn carpet cleaning, Moorhead, nd, red spot removal, remove kool-aid out of carpet, remove red juice from carpet
i just wanted to let you know that that the treatment that you decribed above really works i was about to ban my grandchildren from my house. i have really light carpet and the spilled red kool-aide on it while i went to run to the store. they threw a rug over it . i found it the next morning. and i tried the treatment an it worked. i thank you and my grandchildren thank you GOOD LOOKIN OUT!!!!!!
Dear John,
Hi. This method really truly absolutely works! I just tried it and it was amazing. A friend had spilled some Big Red soft drink on my light colored carpet. The spot was not a small one either. This happened at least 2 years ago (not kidding). I never tried to get it up because, someone told me, that there is no way to get a red colored drink out of carpet. I thought, ok I guess I’m just going to have to live with it. Then, I started my annual spring cleaning. I saw that spot and thought ,INTERNET, duh. Read this article, tried it and the entire spot is GONE! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this to anyone who, has a red drink stain.
I can not tell you enough times, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!
Just wanted to let you know, we moved furniture out of my grand daughters bedroom and found a big red koolaid stain, I tried everything to get it out and no luck, then I went to google and ask how to get koolaid out of carpet and got this. This stain has been there for a long time, I did as this said and it worked wonderful. Thank you so much for your help.
Thanks for your comments, I am glad this method is working for you.
This really works!!! Its great. Thanks!!!!
This really!!!!!!works. I spilled a full glass of a red soda on my white carpet. I tried this and the complete spot is gone, no pink or any thing. Thanks so much for the tip. I’m sharing it with everyone I know!!!
I really doubted that anything would work in my truck as I found a red juice stain on the back carpet from my 4 year old. The stain must have been there for several weeks.
Nothing else even touched the stain including those mega stain removers and carpet cleaners.
I followed your directions exactly and continued the process several times and 97% of the stain is gone. Yahooooooooo…. can’t belive it…..
I am one of those technical engineering types who has to see it to believe it…… THANKS FOR POSTING A SOLUTION THAT WORKS…..
[...] If neither of these methods worked, it might be a dye issue, meaning the stain has bonded very tightly to the carpet. In that case, you might need some heat and steam to break the bond. For this procedure, check out my post on Getting Kool-aid out of carpet [...]
I just tried this out and it worked great. thanks for the help
I’m very impressed, this worked amazing on a rental property with stains that have been there for at least 2 years EEEKKK!!! Worked amazing looks like new
My cat had vomited in a few places and I could NOT get the stain out…nor could the carpet cleaning guy. This was months ago. Yesterday I read your article and figured “why not?” Much to my amazement, three of the stains are completely gone and the fourth is so light that I doubt anyone else would even know that it’s there. Thanks SOOOOOOOOOOOO much for publicizing this! P.S. Use caution when lifting the towel cuz it’s HOT!!!!!!!!!!
This really does work !!
It is amazing !!
It got Big Red out completely !!
Thank you soooo much for this tip !!
Thank you so much for posting this. My daughter had some red substance from a science project; my friend warned me that I absolutely positively wouldn’t want it in my carpet. As you can guess, last night, I found the jar uncapped and the substance dripping into my beige carpet. I scraped and scraped and steam cleaned it with no luck. I googled your method and it worked beautifully! Thanks for saving my carpet.
I had alot of red juice stains on my carpet light carpet i thoght i would have to replace it.
This is amazing with a little time the spots are gone, with dawn dish soap and the iron on high i pressed down hard and the stains disappeared like magic, love thanks so much for posting this, i have spent a ton of money on stain removers to find out dawn dish soap is the magic cleaner.
Thank you so much this method worked so well! I have been trying for three months to get a washable marker out of my carpet and nothing has worked and although it took about three hours the marker has disappeared!