Chocolate, candy and sticky kid stains

Chocolate is cocoa fat, milk solids and sugar. Scrape off the solids with a spoon, then treat it like a grease stain first: a drop of dish soap in cool water, blot, rinse. Any brown left over is a tannin-type dye and comes out with a mild oxidizer on synthetic carpet.

Hard candy, lollipops and fruit snacks are sugar and artificial dye. Sugar dissolves in warm water and blots up; the red or blue dye is the hard part. Red dye 40 in particular bonds to nylon and is one of the more stubborn household stains.

Red dye

Red dye on light carpet often needs a heat-transfer treatment: a reducing agent applied to the stain, a damp white towel over it, and a warm iron on the towel for a few seconds at a time. This is a professional step because too much heat can melt synthetic fibers. We do it routinely and it works on most red-dye stains that are not years old.

Sticky residue

Any sugar left in the fiber attracts dirt and the spot goes gray within weeks. Rinse well with plain water after treating and blot dry, or ask us to rinse it properly on the next cleaning.