How to remove blood from carpet, fresh or dried

Step by step: how to remove blood from carpet, fresh or dried

Safety first. Wear disposable gloves when cleaning up someone else’s blood. Never mix ammonia with bleach or with hydrogen peroxide; rinse with water between products. Do not use ammonia on wool or silk carpet.

1. 1

   Blot up the excess with cold water

   Press a white cloth or paper towel onto fresh blood to soak it up, without rubbing. Dampen the spot with a little cold water and blot again, moving to a clean part of the cloth each time. Work from the edge toward the center so the stain does not spread.

2. 2

   Mix a cold detergent solution

   Stir 1 teaspoon of mild, clear dish detergent into 1/2 pint (1 cup) of cold water. Avoid detergents with bleach or moisturizers. Test it on a hidden piece of carpet, like inside a closet, first.

3. 3

   Dab and blot until no more color lifts

   Apply a small amount of the solution to the stain with a cloth or spray bottle, wait a minute, then blot. Keep going until the cloth stops picking up red or brown. Do not soak the carpet; you want the stain wet, not the backing.

4. 4

   Use diluted ammonia on stubborn stains (synthetic carpet)

   If a mark remains on nylon, polyester or olefin carpet, mix 1 tablespoon of clear ammonia in 1/2 cup of water and sponge it onto the stain. Blot, and repeat until no more stain comes up. Skip this step on wool or silk.

5. 5

   Try hydrogen peroxide on the last trace

   For a faint leftover shadow, dab a little 3% hydrogen peroxide on the spot after testing it on a hidden area, since it can lighten some carpet dyes. It will foam where blood remains. Leave it for 1 to 3 minutes, then blot and rinse with cold water.

6. 6

   Rinse with plain cold water

   Blot the area with a cloth dampened in clean cold water to remove any detergent, ammonia or peroxide. Leftover cleaner makes a sticky spot that collects dirt and looks like the stain came back.

7. 7

   Weight it down to dry

   Lay a thick pad of paper towels or a folded white towel over the damp spot and put something heavy on it, like a stack of books. Leave it until no more moisture is drawn out, then remove it, fluff the pile with your fingers and let the area air dry.

Why you should never use hot water on blood

Hot water cooks the proteins in blood and sets the stain into the fibers. Tide’s blood stain advice says to use cold water and not hot, because heat sets the stain, and explains that blood clots as it dries and clings tightly to fibers, so fresh stains come out far more easily than old ones. The same rule covers steam cleaners: do not run a hot carpet cleaner over a blood stain until the spot is completely gone.

The Carpet and Rug Institute adds the other half of the method: blot with white cloths, never scrub or brush, because scrubbing frays the pile and changes its texture.

How to get blood out of carpet by fiber type

Most wall-to-wall carpet is synthetic and can handle the full method; wool needs the gentle version only. The University of Georgia Extension blood stain guide gives the steps used above for synthetic carpet and warns that ammonia damages silk and wool.

Not sure of the fiber? Check the label on the back of a rug or the paperwork from the carpet install, and treat it as wool until you know. For blood on clothes and sheets, see our general blood stain guide.

How to get dried blood out of carpet

Rehydrate dried blood with cold water before you treat it. Dried blood is harder, but often still comes out.

• Scrape off any crust gently with a spoon and vacuum the flakes.
• Lay a cloth soaked in the cold detergent solution on the stain for 15 to 30 minutes to soften it, keeping it damp.
• Blot, then work through the ammonia and peroxide steps for synthetic carpet.
• An enzyme carpet cleaner can help on old protein stains; follow the label dwell time and rinse after.

If a brown shadow survives all of that, a professional carpet cleaner has stronger spotters and can rinse them out properly.

Mistakes to avoid

• Using hot water or a steam cleaner, which sets the stain.
• Scrubbing hard, which spreads the blood and frays the pile.
• Using ammonia or peroxide on wool or silk.
• Mixing ammonia, bleach or peroxide in the same spot without rinsing between them.
• Leaving detergent in the carpet, which makes the spot reappear as a dirt mark.