Removing Wax from Carpets
Archived Q&A and Reviews
Removing wax from a carpet
Jan 2003
We have had a small accident with some candle wax dripping over a table on to carpet. I haven't ventured to touching it yet as I have tried and failed in the past to get hard wax off a pile carpet. Does anyone out there have any secret tricks that work ? The carpet has quite thick pile and the wax seems very stuck on. Please help Thanks Anon
Try covering the designated waxed spot w/newspaper and then running a hot iron over it- move the newspaper and keep ironing until you get the mess up- its worked quite well for our wax mishaps. Good luck! Marian
As the daughter of a parish priest I have spent extensive periods of my childhood getting wax out of carpets! The best (and gentlest) method we found was using a warm iron and brown (parcel) paper. Heat the iron on its lowest setting, unplug and allow to cool, then cover the wax with the paper and iron over it briefly. The wax should melt a little and transfer to the paper like a grease spot. Repeat with a new patch of paper until nothing more transfers. You may be left with a greasy residue on the carpet but that comes out with carpet cleaner. Good luck. Claire
I've had success with removing candle wax from carpet and tablecloths by using a warm iron with a piece of paper towel between iron and wax. break off as much of the wax as you can with a butter knife and vacuum. then use iron (medium heat?) with a paper towel in between to slowly melt and lift wax - wax will stick to paper towel. If there is a lot of wax, it may take a while and a few sheets of paper towels. cynthia
This goes for fabric too: first freeze it - fill a ziplock baggie with ice and lay it on top of the wax and leave it there for a while. This gets it really hard so it doesn't smear or run into the carpet more. Now pull/break/cut/scrape off as much of the wax as you can. Keep re-freezing it if it gets soft. (For fabric, actually put the item in the freezer for a few hours.) Once you have all the wax you can get off the surface, you want to melt it and soak it up with paper towels or newspaper. Lay some folded paper towels or other clean absorbent paper over the wax and blot it with a hot iron, each time replacing with clean paper. Keep doing that till no more wax comes up. If the carpet is nylon, test how hot you can get it before the carpet melts along with the wax! Finally, clean with soap to get the rest of the wax out. Ginger
We had a candle which spilled over to our carpet and we used ice to chip it away. It worked very well and most of the wax is gone. You may also want to check the Hints from Heloise website. tabnand
One thing that works for clothes, and possibly for carpets, is to put down a paper towel and iron it on top of the wax spot. Heat melts wax and capillary action draws it up into paper towel. Low heat is all you need. good luck
the way I get wax of other surfaces is by freezing the wax.If it's on a table I take an ice cube and gently rub it over the the wax or if I don't want the suface to get wet i put the ice cube in a little zip lock bag.The wax comes right off. Never tried it on a rug.Try freezing it and picking up the pieces of wax or have a vacum cleaner ready to go.Good luck! june
Ha! I know this one - put down paper towelling, then a real towel and iron it so that the wax melts and goes into the paper. Also works for tablecloths etc. May need to have several goes if the carpet is thick. fiona
Gather the following tools...
* hair dryer * iron * stack of white absorbant cloths (diapers or paper towels work best) 1. Soften the wax with the hair dyer and get as much out using your fingers. 2. Heat iron to med high if your carpet is wool / low if its synthetic --be very carful with synthetic, you can easily do scorching damage 3. Place a layer of cloth over wax, and use iron to melt area. Cloth will absorb melted wax. Repeat this step with clean cloths until no more wax comes up. 4. Wipe surface of iron clean while it is still warm
good luck. Susannah
I haven't used it, but I notice Undu makes a wax remover now. good luck
In the past I've used wax paper on top of the offending wax on the carpet and a warm iron on top of that. The wax is attracted to the wax paper through the heat of the iron. Hope that helps! naomi
For wax in cloth place brown paper bag over area and then run a hot iron over that. I thilnk it should work the same with a rug. good luck helen
Use a hot iron with brown paper to absorb the wax. I've used ripped-up pieces of brown paper shopping bags to good effect. Just move to a clean part of the sheet often enough that the iron doesn't get too waxy. Good luck. Kate
Caution about using an iron on your carpet: if it's a man-made material, the iron might melt the carpet. Test a small piece first!
Melted crayon in carpet
June 2002
Can anyone offer advice about removing melted crayon (black) from a carpet (white)? According to the box, the crayon is washable. I'll try just about anything. too embarassed to sign
Try a product called ''Goo Gone''. You can get it at Walgreen's and maybe Andronico's and Safeway. It's an oily orange smelling stuff and it works quite well. I've used it to get out melted silly putty, crayons, gum and other messes. Debby W
You might try layering paper towels over the melted crayon and then ironing over the towels. The iron will melt the crayon and the towels will absorb the melted crayon. You may have to repeat this several times. Good luck. sw
Look at Crayola's website: http://www.crayola.com/canwehelp/staintips/stain.cfm They give fantastic information for stain removal for every type of crayon and marker from different fabrics and surfaces. We had accidentally left a red crayon in a pocket and then washed the clothes in warm or hot water. Red marks on everything! We followed their advice using WD-40 and dish detergent in the steps they gave and it worked like a charm. We were amazed. Good luck. Linda
http://www.crayola.com/canwehelp/staintips/stain.cfm
Crayola has the website above with stain removal tips for all their products. It's been years (pre-internet!)since I called them for tips on cleaning my white cotton sweater that got washed and dried (!) with a crayon. Sally
I sympathize - once we managed to leave crayons in the sun, to melt on the carpet of a vacation rental! We ended up calling the 800 number on the Crayon box! The solution involved using WD-40. Apparently there is another method involving piles of paper towels, and ironing on top, but this doesn't always work for colored crayons on light carpet. If you go to the crayola.com website, and click on the crayon marked ''helpful information'', you can find instructions for removing all kinds of crayons (regular, glitter, etc) from all kinds of surfaces.
How to remove Regular Crayons from carpet and upholstery: Materials: Sponge Paper towels Dull knife or metal spoon WD-40. (car part lubricant) Liquid dishwashing detergent Small stiff bristle brush Procedure Scrape excess crayon off with a dull-edge knife or metal spoon. Spray with WD-40 and let stand a few minutes. With a small, stiff bristle brush work crayon stain and wipe with paper towels. Respray with WD-40 and apply liquid dishwashing detergent on the sprayed area; work in with the brush and wipe stain away with a damp sponge. If stain remains, repeat the procedure. For another method, apply Energine) cleaning fluid as directed on the container.
Good luck! Natasha
Wax drawings on picture window
March 2005
My daughter decided to make happy faces on our large picture window using two candles as her instruments. We are left with residue of candle wax that I can't seem to get off. I have tried windex, baby wipes and even using my fingernail to scrape. It does seem to respond to the scraping, but there is so much of it that I honestly don't have the time to sit there all day and work on it. Not to mention I am a bit concerned about damaging the glass. I had thought a razor blade or exacto knife might work, but again don't want to do any harm to the window. Does anyone have any ideas for me? I was hoping for some kind of solvent that might break down the wax..... Any input is much appreciated. julie
I use single-edged safety razor blades all the time to clean paint off windows so it should work well with wax. Just make sure they are brand new, with no nicks, and they won't scratch your windows. Buy the holder for them - under 5 dollars at the hardware store. Then lay the sharp edge of the razor blade on the glass at a slight angle and scrape off in a smooth motion, wipe on paper towels, repeat as necessary.
In the past, I have used a blow dryer to melt the wax, and then a paper towel to wipe it up. Hope it works for you! Trish
A razor blade won't hurt the glass as long as you keep the whole length of the edge in contact with the glass (and not just the corner of the blade). It will be fast and effective. Use a brand new razor blade and preferably a holder--they are inexpensive at the hardware store. David
Newspaper with iron behind it. Be sure the window doesn't start out really cold. If necessary, give the window a good wiping with a hot wet cloth first to warm it up (so no cracking with the iron). The hot iron will melt the wax onto the newspaper. This will still take a little while, but should be much cleaner/quicker than scraping. Melt little bits onto the paper, then shift around to fresh pieces of paper, shifting as often as you feel necessary. anon