How to get mud out of rugs

With winter weather, and what seems like a permanent rainy season in the UK, it can be difficult to stay out of the mud when you head outdoors. Whilst this won’t bother most people, it becomes frustrating when that mud then gets traipsed through your clean house and across your rugs. But every problem is fixable so avoid shouting at guests and your children for their muddy footprints by knowing that you have the ultimate mud stain removal plan in place already:

Step 1: Be Patient

The first thing when it comes to clearing up mud is to remember that it’s infinitely easy to remove the mud once it has fully dried. If you must, you can pick up the largest chunks that aren’t ingrained in the rug yet but hold off touching the rest of the stain until it’s had time to dry properly. You can speed this up by blotting the stain, but remember if you rub the mud at all you will only make the stain worse.

Remember, if you decorate your home in a pet-friendly way then there’s always a chance you can avoid these inevitable accidents. There’s no guarantee on this, but by creating an animal area near the entry of your house, it can be avoidable.

Step 2: Vacuum

There will be initial surface dirt, as well as the mud which is deeper into the rug and causing the stain. Surface dirt will be relatively simple to remove so all you’ll need to do is thoroughly vacuum the area first. This means making sure you move the vacuum slowly over the area in multiple directions, multiple times. The more you do this, the more surface dirt you will be able to remove. This is the least labour intensive part of the clean-up so make sure you’re extra thorough to save yourself time later on.

Step 3: Use a Detergent

The final stage is to start blotting the mud stain with a washing up liquid and warm water solution. Keep the mixture relatively weak and alternate between blotting with that and with just plain warm water as this will help you remove the maximum amount of dirt. You should start to see most of the remaining stain disappear relatively quickly from this.

Once you’ve finished, make sure you use a fresh towel to blot the area dry. If you scrub it at this stage, then you will still risk damaging the rug slightly and will upset the pile of the rug. Then it’s just a case of next time making sure that all your guests remove their shoes before they venture over your nice, clean rug! 

Disclaimer:  Although these tips are tried and tested, they may not remove every stain from every rug and carpet. If you are in any doubt then call up a professional carpet cleaner for advice. Rugs Direct takes no responsiibility for trying any of our ideas