Milk can be a particularly annoying thing to spill on the carpet because it goes off so quickly, turning sour and smelling quite pungent.
But don’t worry, there is no need to cry over spilled milk because we have you covered with a step-by-step method to get milk out of your carpet in a couple of minutes.
How To Get Milk Out Of Carpet: Step-by-Step
You might think that milk would be difficult to remove from a carpet due to how easy it can go off and curdle, but this is not actually the case. Milk is essentially a mixture of sugar, fat and protein which makes it quite easy to clean with a household cleaner such as dish soap or even hand soap.
Identify Where The Milk Has Spilled
The first step to removing milk from your carpet is to identify where the milk has spilt.
This will allow you to quickly assess how much milk has been spilt and how much effort it will take to clean up. Milk can splash quite easily so take your time with this part as you don’t want to miss an area – it can end up smelling quite strongly just from a very small amount of milk.
Blot The Area With A Dry Cloth Or Tea Towel
Once you know where the milk has spilt grab a dry cloth or absorbent tea towel and gently blot the area.
Make sure you do this gently as you only want to remove any milk that has not yet curdled or gone off as this will still be in a liquid form. If you apply too much pressure you can actually make the next step more difficult for yourself as you will push any hardened milk deeper into the carpet which will make it harder to remove.
Remove Excess Hardened Milk
Once you’ve got rid of most of the liquid milk you can start to scrape away any excess hardened milk.
Be super careful when scraping any excess as you don’t want to damage the fibres of the carpet. The trick is to apply as little pressure as possible using something like a bread knife, or any other scraper you may have at home.
Once you’ve scraped away any hardened milk that you can then you can use a vacuum to quickly get rid of the bits that you’ve removed.
Use Soap And Water To Remove The Rest
Make up a mixture of cold water with a small amount of dish soap or hand soap as instructed on the packaging to create the cleaning solution.
Once you’ve got your solution then dip the cloth or tea towel into it and wring it out until it becomes damp. Gently rub the spill and rinse the cloth or towel out after with clean water each time.
After a couple of minutes of rubbing the stain you’ll have got most of the milk out, even from within the carpet fibres, which is the best you can do at home.
How Long Does It Take For Milk To Go Off In Carpet?
Milk will curdle after 12 hours if it’s really hot outside or around 24 hours at normal temperatures.
So, when you spill milk on your carpet there’s a good chance that it won’t curdle at all if you clean it up within the first 12 hours – which is plenty of time to even go to a store beforehand to pick up the tools you need.
Since a carpet will typically be at a lower temperature due to being on the floor then it’s more likely that 24 hours will be a good estimate.
How Can You Remove The Smell Of Milk From Carpet?
You may find that the smell of milk might linger around your carpet even after you’ve cleaned using the steps above.
This happens because it is extremely difficult to remove 100% of the milk, and the chances are that there will be a small amount of milk left behind. Due to how strong milk smells even a small amount can create quite a nasty smell but don’t worry, there is an easy way to tackle the smell.
Baking soda is one of the best tools for removing odours from carpet and something that we recommend anybody to keep on hand. Simply sprinkle a generous amount of baking soda on to your carpet and leave it overnight.
In the morning all you need to do is simply vacuum the baking soda away and you’ll be good to go!
Would A Profesional Cleaner Be Able To Remove The Milk Better?
Of course, a professional carpet cleaner would likely be able to remove the entirety of the stain but this would cost a lot more.
If the spill occurred at a time of year where you would normally get a professional clean done anyway then that would be the ideal solution. If not, you can still get most of the milk out of the carpet yourself with a bit of work.
Final Thoughts
Remember, spilling a bit of milk on your carpet isn’t the end of the world.
Not only does it take milk a while to curdle, but its also quite easy to clean up as well. If you have any other questions relating to milk in carpet then don’t hesitate to let us know!