Emergency reference
What to do when something spills
Pick what spilled and what it landed on. Act within minutes — nearly every entry here becomes far harder to treat once the spill dries.
Pick what spilled and what it landed on. Act within minutes — nearly every entry here becomes far harder to treat once the spill dries.
Blot immediately with a white cloth. Apply cool water, blot again, repeat. Then a small amount of neutral detergent solution, blot, rinse. If color remains on solution-dyed nylon only, a dilute oxygen bleach may be used. Do not use hot water — it sets the tannin.
Remove the excess before you apply anything. Scrape solids with a dull edge, blot liquids with a white cloth from the outside in. Adding cleaner to a puddle only spreads the stain and pushes it deeper.
Pet urine that has soaked to the pad, anything on wool, oil on unsealed stone or concrete, and any etch mark on polished stone. Home remedies on these four routinely turn a repairable problem into a replacement.
Remove the excess before applying anything. Scrape solids with a dull edge; blot liquids with a white cloth, working from the outside of the spill toward the center. Adding cleaner to a puddle just spreads the stain and pushes it deeper — it does not lift it.
Heat sets protein- and tannin-based stains — blood, wine, pet accidents — by cooking the compound into the fibers. Cold or cool water is the right first move on all three. Switch to warm water only once the stain is confirmed to be grease- or wax-based instead.
Four situations routinely turn a DIY attempt into a bigger repair: pet urine that has soaked through to the carpet pad, anything on wool, oil on unsealed stone or concrete, and any etch mark on polished stone. Home remedies on these four are more likely to make the damage permanent than to fix it.
Not on natural stone, and not on grout whose color you want to keep. Vinegar and other acidic cleaners etch calcareous stone — marble, travertine, limestone — on contact, and chlorine bleach strips color from grout and can discolor some vinyl and carpet fibers. A pH-neutral, surface-specific cleaner is the safer default for almost everything on this page.
Porosity decides it. Sealed vinyl and glazed tile don't absorb, so most spills wipe off with a neutral cleaner. Carpet, wool, unsealed stone and grout all soak liquid in, which is why blotting technique, dwell time and poultice treatments matter so much more on those surfaces than on anything sealed.