How to Remove Candle Wax from Carpet

There is nothing like purchasing a new candle.  It will light up any room in your home, you will fall in love with its serene scent and admire how it makes you feel when you are trying to relax after a hard day of work.  The only downside is when the wax spills.  It is a rather common problem, but do not let a little wax deter you from this slice of heaven.  You will find some great instructions here on how to remove candle wax from carpet so in the case of an emergency you will know exactly what to do!

 

Your Materials

 

When the wax comes dripping, have your materials ready to go.  You will need paper towels and an electric iron to remove wax from carpet.  The best towel recommendations are to use white towels since the heat may cause the dye from the towels to run onto the carpet which would be a graver problem than a little wax on the carpet.

 

Pre-Cleaning Instructions

 

Once you have your materials ready, you will have to do a little pre cleaning which will help you a lot before getting down and dirty.  Depending on how much wax you have spilled, try to pick out any larger pieces of dried wax that you can.  Pick out any excess wax that you can with either a brush, comb or your with your hands.  However, please be careful not to unravel the pile of wax or cause damage to the carpet fibers while extracting the additional wax.

 

Liquefy and Absorb the Wax

 

Your first step is to pre heat the electric iron on the lowest setting.  While the iron is heating, place the paper towel over the wax.  Then place the hot iron over the paper towel which will help to slowly liquefy the wax.  As the wax liquefies, the paper towel prevents the carpet from burning and to absorb the wax.  Do not be afraid to press down harder on the iron, just make sure that you do not turn up the heat as you do not want to cause any damage to the carpet fibers or set the paper on fire.  This may take a few minutes but be patient. 

 

Protecting Your Carpet

 

As the paper towel absorbs the wax, make sure that you are not pulling on any of the loops or fibers of the carpet, especially in carpets like Berber as you can easily ruin the rug.  Continually change the paper towel as the wax continues to absorb.  The size of the spill will determine how many paper towels are necessary. 

 

Once you have absorbed the most amount of wax possible, the stain should be almost completely removed.  If there still is some residue left, you can go back to the beginning, by carefully extracting any left over residue.  By placing an ice cube over the residue, this may help to further harden the wax and make picking it out much easier. 

 

Professional Help

 

After following these instructions your carpet should be as good as new.  However, if the spill was severe, eliminating the entire stain may be very difficult if not impossible. The type of carpet may also influence the difficulty of removing the wax.  If this is the case, then leave it to the professionals to remove the wax stain.