Quick Steps for Getting Wax Out of Carpet

We absolutely love having candles lit while we’re home. They smell good, look nice and can even help relieve stress. So really, what’s not to love about them? Well as great as we think candles are, they do come with a fair share of risks, including a wax spill. But there’s another risk that can be easy to forget about because it doesn’t happen that often. For anyone who has been through it, they know getting wax off carpet can be difficult, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s something you don’t ever think about until it happens to you. One second you’re enjoying a quiet evening at home with a lit candle on the coffee table when next thing you know, you see that candle’s hot wax has been slowly dripping on to your carpet.

Step One: Scrape

Step one in our guide on ‘How to Get Wax Out of Carpet’ requires something you should already have in your kitchen – a spoon. Any ole’ metal spoon will do. You could also get away with using a butter knife, but we’ve come to find that knives and carpets don’t always end up getting along, so to be safe, let’s stick with a spoon. Once you’ve got your spoon, start scraping away at the dried wax. This may not chip away all the wax, but it will help you begin the process to get wax out of carpet.

Step Two: Vacuum

No matter the size of the wax spill, that scraping and chipping always creates a mess, which leads us to our favorite step in how to get candle wax out of carpet – vacuuming! You don’t need a specialized vacuum, any upright, stick, or even a hand vacuum will do. In fact, since the wax spill is likely pretty small, a hand vacuum is probably the perfect vacuum for the job. It’s a good idea to go over the area a few times just to make sure you get all the dried wax pieces.

Step Three: Spray

A wax stain is somewhat similar to a grease stain, that’s why for this third step we recommend pretreating the wax spill with our Tough Stain Pretreat for Carpet & Upholstery spray. This formula is our best grease dissolver, so when looking for solutions for how to remove wax from carpet, you’ll want this on your side. To use, first test a small area of your carpet for colorfastness. Once you’re in the clear, spray evenly and generously over the wax. It goes to work right away, so you can move on to the next step after letting it sit for as little as three minutes!

Step Four: Clean

The fourth and final step is where you really attack that wax stain on carpet. You can use your portable carpet cleaner or an upright carpet cleaner We do recommend an upright for getting wax out of carpet because these machines will agitate the wax more, helping you remove more of the stain. Once you’ve picked the carpet cleaner you want to use, grab your formula and fill your machine with formula and warm water. You can use water as warm as 140 degrees Fahrenheit. The warmer the better, because when you’re working on getting wax out of carpet, the warm water will help melt and remove the wax. Once your machine is filled and ready, make a few wet and then a few dry passes over the stain until it’s gone!

But Wait There’s More!

We wanted to give you a bonus tip. When we asked BISSELL chemists how to get wax off carpet, one of the first things they mentioned was ice. Ice is good to use if the wax is not quite as dry as you’d like it to be but also isn’t completely melted, liquid, hot wax. When you put an ice cube or two on the wax, it will cool it off quickly, hardening the wax so you can get to removing it quicker.

And that’s all it takes to get candle wax out of your carpet! It really is that easy.