Ink on Carpet

By

Dadoffour

I was moving a printer from one room to another and when I set it down on the new carpet I noticed a three foot line of ink that ran to underneath where I put the printer. After a few choice words, I grabbed the printer and hurried it outside. Next I grabbed moist papertowels and blotted as much of the ink up that I could. Then I googled. Thank God for google! I poured rubbing alcohol all over the ink and blotted it up until it stopped coming up.

Then I used that cheap dollar store "Awesome" cleaner and sprayed all over what was left. Then I used the hand tool on my carpet cleaner to severely moisten the area without smearing the ink. I think this brought the ink back to the top of the fibers. So then I used the big floor carpet cleaner instead of just the tool. Lastly, I poured more alcohol all over what was left and put an old towel down and walked all over it. It looked better than after steam cleaning. If I had to do it over again(God forbid!) I would have run down and bought more alcohol (maybe drink some too!) and blotted it all up with alcohol and towels. Ok and last of all, two words for those of you with pen eating dogs: shock collar!

By Lea (Guest Post)

While I was refilling my black ink cartridge my container had an air bubble and splattered. I didn't find the spot on the carpet for a week due to where it was located. I went online reading about how to get the ink out and decided on something I had at home.

I tried hairspray, no. Rubbing alcohol by itself, no. Carpet sprays, no. When computer ink splatters, it is very thick and dries into a globby mass. If it is fresh you might have better luck with other things. This is what worked on the DRIED ink on a light beige carpet.

This is what worked perfectly; rubbing alcohol, oxyclean, apx 2 rolls of paper towels, weight and time to repaeat thru out the day. The spot was gone by the end of the day with no carpet wear or damage. No matter what you do, NO RUBBING. This will totally fray the carpet and show you tried to remove something from that spot.

Apply rubbing alcohol to the spot, it will spread, prepare warm water with oxyclean and add to the spot. Wait a few minutes and then take a few paper towels folded up, lay on top, then add weight to the towels. I used a one gallon vinegar bottle so that was about 7lb.

After about 5 minutes, I lifted up the towels, black. Repeat and repeat. After awhile I found the main blob was gone but then there was a soft black hazy spot. I STOPPED using the alcohol and just did the oxyclean over and over again. This kept it from spreading anymore.

After awhile, each time you pick up the towels you will find spots on the towels like mold. This is the ink wicking up from the different fibers. Keep doing this until the spot is gone and no more wicking. At the end you can do a clear water rinse to remove any of the oxyclean residue. You now cannot tell where this 1" blob of ink was unless pointed out. All that remains is a very light gray spot on the backing smaller than a dime.

By Carol in PA (Guest Post)

If you have a closet that is carpeted, you can cut a square of carpet from inside there to replace the stained carpet. Put the stained carpet inside the carpet. Use a utility knife.