Last Updated on June 4, 2022 by Kimberly Crawford
With YouTube and all of these start-up kid vloggers, slime seems to have taken over childhood to the dismay of course of the parents who will be left out to clean them off. Sure, they can easily be wiped off if you have a tile floor but what if it is carpeted? How do you get slime out of a carpet?
Slime is made of detergent, glue, water, and borax. If it sticks on the carpet, it could be a case of serious cleaning. So in this post, we will cover all the home remedies that should get that slime out of the carpet.
How to get slime out of the carpet with baking soda
A lot of people would think that baking soda is a wonder cleaner but really, most of the time, it cannot fare well on its own. When it comes to slime on a carpet, baking soda should be mixed with vinegar for best results.Â
For the first step, get a scraper and take off as much slime as you can. After this, agitate the stained area with warm water using a scrub or sponge. Now, apply baking soda to the strands of the stained area. After this spray a liberal amount of white vinegar and just allow the baking soda to interact with it.
Now, using a damp cloth or sponge, take the small slime residues off the carpet strands. Allow the area to dry and then vacuum it off to further eliminate the smaller residues in it.
How does rubbing alcohol remove slime from the carpet?
Rubbing alcohol is an underrated cleaning agent even for stained carpets. A word of caution, however, rubbing alcohol should not come in contact with the backside of the carpet because it will surely damage it.
For this, you will need two cups of rubbing alcohol, a scraper, a sponge, and a vacuum. First, use the vacuum and sponge to clean off the large chunks first. For the remaining blots, clean the carpet strands with a sponge and rubbing alcohol. Repeat it many times until all the stains are off the carpet.
A fine alternative for rubbing alcohol which works the same way and unobtrusive as rubbing alcohol would be nail polish remover or acetone. We will cover this in one of the succeeding sections so let us just leave this here for now.
How to get slime out of carpet with ice
Since it is all wet and gooey, you could only pick so much with your hands and there are also risks of staining the carpet with dripping. One intervention is letting the slime dry and then topping it off with carpet ice after.
Put a piece of carpet ice on top of the slime until it becomes frozen solid. Give it 10mins or so until the slime hardens. Now break or scrape it off out of the carpet. Slowly pick-up the residue with your hands.
For bigger chunked slimes, 10minutes of ice might not do the work. Sometimes, it could go for hours. If this is necessary, you have to stick around every now and then because you will need to replace the ice in the bag. If you let the ice melt, the stain from the slime might spread, adding to your work and wasting more time.
How to get slime out of carpet with vinegar
A disclaimer, you cannot use any type of vinegar to clean your carpet. For this, you need to use white vinegar only. Before you do that, scrape off big chunks of slime first and rinse off with warm water on a damp cloth. After this, spray white vinegar on the stained strands liberally. Just let the vinegar stay there for three to five minutes and wait until it does its magic.
Repeat the process of rinse-spray-rinse until the slime residues come off. For hardened residues, you may use a teaspoon as a scraper.
Does vinegar discolor carpet?
The answer is both a yes and a no. Generally, vinegar, specifically white vinegar will not discolor the carpet. As a matter of fact, it is a recommended cleaning solution for most fabrics and carpets. However, some carpet materials are more delicate than others and vinegar might not bode well with these carpet types.
The carpet types that vinegar can discolor would be a natural fiber, wool, and silk carpets. Such is the case, it is also important that you know what type of carpet you have too. Saves you effort, time, and money.
How to get slime out of the carpet with soap
The most neutral slime cleaner apart from water and baking soda would be soap. Again, vacuum the spot and take off the larger slime chunks. After this, prepare the liquid soap or detergent solution. Mix two tablespoons of liquid soap or detergent powder in two cups of warm water. Dilute well and put the solution in a water spray.
Liberally spray the area on the entire stain and wait for at least five minutes to take off much of the stains. After that, dab each strand with another round of soap solution. Rinse with warm water in between and totally rinse off with a sponge or soft cloth. Repeat the process and when it is all clear, dry it off with a vacuum.
How to get slime out of the carpet with water
Sure you could probably take off small slime residues with water but it cannot really do the trick at once and on its own. The best aid for water is adding at least 2 parts of white vinegar. Make sure that you only use warm water.
Warm water is a potent cleaner because the heat breaks down the slime into smaller chunks. With a soft-bristled brush, you can scrape off the slime off the carpet. Dab the stain with a dry cloth or sponge. If the warm water does not work its magic, maybe it is time to add white vinegar or baking soda.
How to get slime out of the carpet that has dried
You can easily scrape off a dried slime from the carpet but that will not promise a residue-free carpet after. When scraping the dried slime off is not enough, you have to enforce any of the interventions we covered here to break down the dried slime into smaller chunks which you could clean off using damp cloth and sponge.
Vacuuming can also be a good intervention but only after you have done one of the interventions that we mentioned here. The ‘breaking the slime down into smaller parts’ is essential because as we have mentioned, some residues of the dried slime just cannot be taken off by scraping that easily.
Use hydrogen peroxide
This one is an all-around cleaning solution mostly for countertops, wood furniture, clothes, and also carpets. To do this, mix hydrogen peroxide with one-half water in a water spray. Spray the solution on the stained area and just leave it there for 5-10mins.
The chemicals in the solution directly attack the stains by breaking them down into small parts which you could easily take off with cloth or sponge. Now, hydrogen peroxide is strong and it might bleach the fabric. As such, this compound should only be sprayed in dark-colored rugs or carpets.
Use citrus solvent
Unlike strong chemical cleaners, a citrus solvent is gentler and will not cause damage to your carpet. Make sure that you always use gloves when using this and best try it on the unwanted fabric before spraying it in your carpet.
First, use a vacuum to scrape off the big slime particles. For the next step, mix a bottle of citrus solvent on a bucket of water. Generously apply the solution in the stained area using a sponge and then rinse the strands with water. Repeat the process until no residues are seen.
Will WD40 get slime out of the carpet?
Thanks to effective ads, WD40 is perceived to be this one-application, all-around magic carpet cleaner but truth be told, it should not even be anywhere near carpets or fabric for that matter. Yes, WD40 will clean any stain in under seven minutes but it is a compound made of strong oils. So while it removes the slime stains, expect to see a more permanent problem: oil stains.
Instead of the sense of achievement of cleaning the slime stain all by yourself, you will find yourself calling a professional carpet cleaner to remove the oil stain from the WD40 or go for the more practical choice of letting go of that carpet entirely and buy a new one.
How do you get putty slime out of the carpet?
Like slime, putty is also stretchy and gooey, making it hard to take off. Luckily, there are three ways to take the putty slime out of the carpet.
Detergent powder.
The go-to solution is always detergent powder. Dilute the detergent powder in two cups of warm water. Use bleach-free detergent only or you may risk your carpet to permanent damage. Use a soft cloth to apply the solution or water spray.
Let the solution soak the stained area for twenty minutes. It is best that you cover the sprayed area with a dry cloth for that span of time. After this, remove the residues with a dry cloth.
Ice bag.
The amount of ice needed depends on the stained area. Just make sure that there is enough ice in the bag to cover the stain. Now, place the ice bag over the stain and wait for the slime to harden into one large chunk. The strain here comes with making sure that the ice is replaced when they meet.
Overall, the ice bag should be there for at least four hours. The last part is to scrape off the putty using a spoon or dull knife. You can use a dry cloth for the smaller chunks later.
Nail polish remover
This is not a popular choice, but it has its own tricks. Acetone works like rubbing alcohol. Cover the stained area with acetone and immediately rinse off it using a damp cloth or cotton balls. Repeat the process until all of the slime chunks are off the carpet. Dry it off with a cloth or vacuum it off.
Can rub alcohol ruin the carpet?
No. Rubbing alcohol will not ruin the carpet material and the color of the carpet. It is a gentle cleaning solution and it is actually recommended as a quick-fix carpet cleaner. All you have to do is dab the stained area with rubbing alcohol and just leave it there for 15-30 minutes. After this, just rinse it off with a dry cloth and repeat the process until all of the stains are removed.
Bonus
Kids are overactive and you might find yourself cleaning off more than the carpet for slime. You might also want to know how to get slime out of bedsheets and the couch so, in this section, we will give you a heads-up to what you can do.
How do you get slime out of bed sheets?
Getting slime out of bed sheets is a two-way process. First, you have to pre-treat the stained area with a detergent and warm water solution. Massage the stained part with the solution and carefully dab it off with a damp cloth. Wait for it to dry and then proceed to the next process.
For sure, most of the slime is now off the fabric but you will still need to top the residue with ice cubes after having it dry. Leave the ice cubes there for 30-45 minutes. After the chunks free, scrape it off with a cloth
How do you get dried slime out of the couch?
Basically, you can do this in the same way dried slime is taken off from carpets but veer away from strong cleaning solutions with a bleaching effect like hydrogen peroxide and citrus solvent. For couches, you can only use neutral cleaners like white vinegar if the couch is not made of leather, silk, or velvety fabric.
The default slime cleaners for the couch would be liquid soap or detergent diluted in water or a bit of a citrus solvent or a baking soda in warm water. Couches are more straightforward to clean than carpets and sometimes, uncalculated risks on the type of cleaner that you will use will leave permanent damage.
As is the case, we recommend that you try your choice of couch cleaner to whisk off the slime on similar materials as that of the couch surface to prevent entirely damaging your couch.
Conclusion
To conclude, slime should not be a cause of worry until it sticks to any of the interior fixtures in your home. But then again, you cannot just completely prevent kids from making them because well, they are sources of kids’ joy. So when slime ‘unfortunately’ sticks to either carpet, couch, or sheets, you will need to master some slime interventions so that you can work on it immediately when they are left somewhere inside the home again.
Fortunately, there is a myriad of things that you can do on your own to address this slime problem and we have narrowed the most accessible solutions that you can explore and try immediately.
