Valentine’s Day – Clean Up Tips for Candle Wax

February 14, 2014

colorful candlesA flattering glow from candles can quickly turn into a hot waxy mess on your carpets. If you had a good time on Valentine’s Day, chances are you have a mess to clean up. The task of trying to remove candle wax out of your carpet might seem challenging, but here are a few tips and step-by-step instructions that will get you on the road to cleaning up the nasty spill.

Things You Will Need

- Ice

- Waterproof Ziploc Bag

- Dull Knife

- Paper bag or Clean White Cloth

- Cleaning Cloths/Towels

- An Iron

- Carpet Cleaning Solution (optional)

Steps

  1. You need to immediately start cleaning up the spill as soon as possible; doing this will make the job of removing all the wax from the carpet fibers much easier on yourself.
  2. Take your waterproof Ziploc bag and fill it with ice. The key idea here is to freeze the wax so you can first start scraping up the larger bits. It’s important that the candle wax is not getting wet from condensation or water leaking from the bag, since moisture can potentially make the stain a lot trickier to remove.
  3. Take your dull knife and scrape off as much of the candle wax as you possibly can.
  4. Now for the next process, you can either use a brown paper bag or a clean white cloth. Take whichever medium you choose to use, and spread it over the stained area. Have the iron plugged in, to ensure it is heated up to the necessary heat level. You want to keep the iron on a low setting to make sure you do not singe the carpet fibers.
  5. Begin running the iron over the affected area. As you iron over the candle wax it will start to melt, and should gradually transfer to the warmer surface (which will be the brown paper bag or clean towel). You may have to repeat this step a couple times, and always use a clean, fresh paper bag or towel each time.
  6. After you have removed majority of the wax from the carpet, there still might be small remnants of wax left. These small bits are very easy to get rid of. Simply take a hot, damp clean cloth and vigorously rub the leftover stained area. If this does not do the trick, try using a store bought carpet cleaner over the stained area.

This cleaning process should help you get rid of that pesky wax stain, and also keep you informed on how to clean up next time a candle spills onto your carpet.