10 Quick and Effective Ways to Get Mold Out of a Carpet

Mold is one of the most annoying and unsightly messes you’ll have to deal with around your home. It looks nasty, smells bad, and will usually set off people’s allergies. However, mold can also be quite dangerous! Certain varieties can cause serious illness if their spores are inhaled…

One of the most common places you’ll see mold crop up around your home and homestead is in carpet: carpeting in your home, rugs, mats, and more. They tend to get dirty and are the perfect substrate to retain moisture, meaning mold can pop up in a flash.

Lots of folks will throw away moldy carpet or rip it up, but it’s possible to save it with the right approach. I’ll give you 10 methods for doing that below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHDgzwQiOxA

Always Test Before You Commit!

Really quick before we get to the list, you’ve got to be sure to test any of the following solutions, outside of vacuuming, on a piece of carpet that is out of sight.

If you plan on keeping the carpet, especially in a highly visible part of your home, it wouldn’t do to get rid of the mold but then deal with a different kind of unsightly stain or irreversible discoloration.

Make sure before you go all in on getting rid of the mold!

First Things First: Vacuum

Surprisingly enough, vacuuming might be all you need to do to get mold out of your carpet, especially if you’re dealing with fuzzier, fluffier kinds of mold that are easy to remove like chaetomium.

The trick is that you must make sure the mold and its spores don’t get discharged through the exhaust of the vacuum to land somewhere else and start the cycle over again.

For this, I recommend you use a vacuum equipped with a HEPA filter or a similar high-end bag, depending on your type.

If the mold is only in the uppermost fibers of the carpet, this might be all that’s required to eliminate it – in conjunction with plenty of fresh air. Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t reoccur, though.

Steam Clean

If you’re dealing with slightly more stubborn mold varieties that vacuuming proves insufficient to remove, break out the steam cleaner.

These machines use hot water and detergent to lift stains and other debris out of carpet, and most models you can buy at department stores are highly effective.

I’d recommend you vacuum first as detailed above, and then simply set up and use your machine with its detergent according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Thoroughly clean the affected area, making sure to go over it in a north-south then east-west direction to be sure you get it all.

Once that’s done, thoroughly clean the dirty water tank and the intake area on the machine to keep the mold from taking up residence there. Once again, keep an eye on the affected area, and hit it again if it starts to reoccur.

Note that mold that goes all the way down to the backing of the carpet might prove too stubborn to be eliminated with a steam cleaner alone.

Sunlight

If you’re lucky, you might not need anything more than abundant sunlight to eliminate a mold infestation from carpet. Direct, sustained UV will damage and eventually destroy mold, and assuming the carpet isn’t too tall or thick, it will usually prevent it from coming back.

Obviously, all you need to do is place the carpet in direct sunlight and leave it there.

I recommend you give it at least two full days’ worth of sunlight, being extra careful to protect it from rain and dew that forms at dawn and dusk. Bring it back inside overnight if you can, or you might have bigger problems!

It’s free, effortless, and effective, but don’t expect this technique to work if you have carpet with an especially dense pile or if the source of the mold infestation is in the backing, which could protect it from sunlight.

Dish Soap and Water

Dish soap won’t necessarily kill mold, but it will loosen its grip on the fibers in a carpet. Water, as ever, is the universal solvent and cleanser, and a thorough scrubbing with a brush and soapy water might prove enough to bring your carpet back to life.

There’s not much else to it, just use a shot or two of dish soap in a small pail of water and a stiff brush to scrub your carpet in a circular motion, going clockwise and then counterclockwise later.

Carefully rinse the soapy residue away, making sure not to overly flood the area. A quick pass with your steam cleaner will ensure you get everything out.

You know the drill by now: once it’s gone, keep an eye on the spot to make sure it does not return.

And that’s the end of the gentle methods. If you still can’t get rid of the mold or if the stain remains, you’ll need to try some of the following techniques.

Bleach

Bleach is one of the most powerful mold fighters you can get, and is probably in your home right now. It kills mold at the cellular level and does so quickly, assuming the bleach can actually reach it.

Although it’s often prescribed specifically for hard, non-porous surfaces, it can certainly do the job on soft and absorbent materials like carpet.

But of course, bleach has a major drawback in that it will completely obliterate colors.

This means it’s only useful as a last-ditch effort for decontaminating utility carpet like a doormat or saving carpet which is otherwise in good shape and worth keeping, or ones that are already pure white.

All you need to do is pour a little bit of bleach mixed 50/50 with water on the mold and then gently work it in with a stiff brush.

That should take care of it. If it doesn’t, you must take great care to avoid using any other cleaner which might react with bleach to form dangerous gasses! Rinse the area thoroughly with water or steam clean and then try again.

Vinegar

Vinegar is a strong acid, too strong for most kinds of mold to withstand. Use specialized cleaning vinegar containing 6% acetic acid or standard grocery store white vinegar, which is only slightly weaker.

Vacuum or scrape away what mold you can, then pour it directly on the affected area. Leave it there for at least 30 minutes, then soak out what you can with cloths or paper towels, or steam clean to remove.

Reapply if necessary, and as ever, keep an eye on the area you treated to make sure the mold does not return.

Baking Soda

Baking soda takes the opposite route from vinegar to eradicate mold, being strongly alkaline. Left in contact with mold, it will denature its proteins and destroy it.

To use, mix up a runny paste of baking soda with water, then work it into the affected area of your carpet using a gloved finger or a stiff brush.

Leave it on for a couple of hours, then try to remove the excess using damp cloths or paper towels. As before, a quick pass with your steam cleaner will get all of the residue in one go.

Baking soda can definitely work, and it tends to be gentle on carpet, but it isn’t the strongest option for eliminating stubborn or severe mold infestation.

Hydrogen Peroxide

This ubiquitous medicine cabinet staple can do double duty as a mold eliminator. It releases lots of oxygen which can disrupt the life cycle of mold and loosen it from the underlying material.

It’s easy to use, too. Just pour it on, wait for the bubbling to completely stop, or about 15 minutes, then remove the excess with a cloth or steam cleaner. Take care because hydrogen peroxide might discolor or bleach more delicate fabric.

Lemon Juice

A strong acid with proven germ-fighting capabilities, and certainly the best smelling option on our list, fresh lemon juice can kill mold if left in contact with it long enough.

It also tends to be reasonably safe for most dyes and fabrics, though you are wise to test it like we talked about above.

Remove as much mold as you can by vacuuming or scrubbing, and once the debris is cleared away pour the lemon juice directly on the infested spot of your carpet.

Use a stiff brush to really work it in there, and keep adding lemon juice until the affected area is wet but not soaking wet.

Leave it for at least 30 minutes, then remove by blotting and using fresh water.

Mold Killer Solution

Sometimes it’s best to skip all the DIY and improvised solutions and go straight to a laboratory-proven one.

There are many kinds of mold killers, mold stain removers, and combination products out there on the market, and many of them work quite well.

Lots of them are even intended for use on carpets, either with hand tools or in steam cleaners or specialized carpet cleaning machines.

Often these chemicals will contain ingredients that are specially formulated to utterly destroy all components of mold and neutralize their spores, making them your best bet for remediation of a serious infestation, like what usually occurs after flooding or a major spill.

Because they’re all different, you’ll need to refer to and follow the manufacturer’s instructions and do it to the letter. Also, under no conditions should you ever mix these chemicals with anything else, especially bleach!

Whatever Method You Use, Dry Thoroughly

One last thing: whatever method you use above, ensure that you dry the area you’ve treated with extreme thoroughness.

If it’s a rug, take it outside and lay it on a dry spot to completely dry out in the sun, flipping it over periodically. If it’s carpet installed inside your home or somewhere else, pull out all the excess moisture you can and then put a fan on it.

If you leave moisture in the carpet or in the backing, it’s highly likely the mold will come back. Even a single, live spore is enough to cause an outbreak in time!