Get Wax Out of Carpet

Oops!

You spilled some wax, and it's not even your carpet. Whether from burning candles or making your own lip balm, getting wax on the rug is a major bummer. Plus it means someone's going to be pretty ticked at you, and you definitely won't be getting your deposit back.

Maybe you've tried scraping, soaking, or even cutting out the offending wax stain. But I'm here to show you a much faster, simpler, gentler way to treat your wax-soaked fibers.

And yeah, this works with your clothes too!

Step 1 Gather your Weapons

To tackle this wax, we need some serious artillery!

• Paper towel
• Iron

Well, that's it actually.

Comments

[guystock]

This really really works. Takes some time and some paper towels. I found that rocking the iron and pressing down as you do it. And keep repeating until the paper towel comes up clean with no wax color! I would never have guessed that this would work. When I hollored to my wife....iron and paper towel, she said "say what?"

[zmarriner]

Amazing! Saved me and my carpet.

[Saskiaguineapigs]

i tried this and it burnt my carpet now all the carpet is hard.

[fgolly]

Yay! It worked. I used a clean old towel on mine though. You can't even tell where the wax was.....awesome!

[juliebayless]

This worked IN PART on our carpet, but ours is a deeper pile (about an inch thick) so I think there was just too much wax too deep down to get it all out this way. I finally poured some boiling water over the waxy part and quickly blotted it up with an old towel. That worked great; can't see any more wax, or feel it. I was worried the boiling water might fuse the carpet fibers, but it didn't. Still, I'm thinking it was good to at least start with the paper towel/iron method, since it was a pretty heavy wax spill.

[rcowgirl_6]

Works good but be careful because the heat ruins the backing of the carpet. Use a plain old ice cube and pull it off. Rub wax with ice cube and pick up chunk of wax, boom done. Works good to get gum out of stuff too.

[copycatfilms]

I let the wax completely harden on my carpet and tried to pick it out. It DID NOT WORK at all. I couldn't pick out anything. Ironing on low with a paper towel is the way to go. You might be onto something re: gum though. :)

[copycatfilms]

Thank you thank you!! I spilled a lot of wax on the carpet of my apartment that I'm about to move out of and I thought there was no saving it. Two really large 3D chunks of wax -- about 5 paper towels later they were completely gone! Amazed. Thanks for the tip about the fibers too. My carpet looks a lot like the one in the picture & I set my travel iron to "blends" which is pretty close to "low" on the dial and it worked perfect. Thanks again!

[hayleycory]

This was awesome !! Worked perfectly .... you just have to keep ironing it on new bits of kitchen towel until the wax doesnt come through the paper anymore ... thanks for the tip .. super easy and now we'll get our bond back x x

[violetkitty]

i did this and it was a lot of wax cause i had one of those jar warmers and i spilt it and it was all over the carpet and the furnature but thankfully to you i got it out but i destroyed my moms iron but oh well

[jmakuchinstructables]

Yes, warmth and paper towel are simply the best for this. Scrape off what you can, then iron or blow-dry with towel. If you are still struggling, wax gets weak and crumbly with ammonia. After confirming that your subject can handle ammonia on a less visible part, you can get the last bits off with it. Windex has a little ammonia, and I prefer it. Household ammonia works better - but the fumes are nast, and it does a number on unprotected hands.

[sync32]

this ible just saved me a ton, i dropped a green candle onto my deep pile carpet, after 2 weeks of scrubbing with all kinds of carpet cleaner this trick just fixed everything in 10 minutes

[big-jamie]

ive got and had wax on a camping chair for about 6 months now, and this may have just saved my chair lol

[midnite76]

you have just saved my life!!!!   got wax on my deep pile carpet, it was a huge patch.....then you came to my rescue!!!!     "A BIG THANK YOU"   ;o)

[lemonie]

It's a classic. How many sheets of paper did it take? L

[scoochmaroo]

Just one!

[lemonie]

Top! My instructable was on a totally different level, as the wax has really soaked-in, not "surface" at all. 1 sheet is good going. L

[scoochmaroo]

Yeah, I saw yours was the only one we had. It looked pretty intense!