How to Get Marker Out of Carpet in 5 Ways

Dropping a marker on a carpet can leave an obvious and unfortunate stain. Marker stains can be hard to remove since the ink dries up immediately. But with some useful products and a little effort, you can remove the stain. So, how to get marker out of carpet?

The good news is that you can take care of marker stains with the things you can easily find in a home, such as rubbing alcohol and hair spray. If they don't work, you can also use hand sanitizer, nail polish remover, and hydrogen peroxide. You won't have to hire any professional carpet cleaning company for it.

However, the bad news is that you'll have to put in a lot of effort and require a lot of cotton balls to remove the marker stains. Keep reading this article to learn how you can get marker stains out of your carpet in detail. We'll also discuss some best practices you should follow when dealing with marker stains. So, let's dive in!

How to Get Marker Out of Carpet

As we have mentioned, getting rid of marker stains from your carpet may seem harder than getting rid of other stuff, as it gets dry pretty fast. The inclusion of binding mediums, color pigments, and dyes make it an extra challenge. And while that's true, there are still plenty of household items you can use to remove marker stains from your carpet.

Here are the most commonly available items to use for removing marker from carpet. Take note that if you struggle with these methods you can learn how to get ink out of carpet, too, which has a similar chemical makeup to marker.

Removing Marker From Carpet With Rubbing Alcohol

One of the most powerful substances for dealing with dried stains is alcohol. And if you got rubbing alcohol sitting in your cabinetry, it can be just the thing you need to remove marker stains from your carpet.

The alcohol content in most rubbing alcohol bottles is between 50% - 90% with 70% being the most common. As a general rule of thumb, the higher the amount of alcohol, the faster it'll work at removing the stains. Make sure that the rubbing alcohol you plan to use doesn't have any color additives, as that can further stain the carpet.

You can find that information on the label. But if you're still unsure, you can test it out first by pouring it on a small invisible area of your carpet and checking if it causes any discoloration.

Rubbing alcohol is a pretty runny solution by nature, and it can get deeply embedded into your carpet fibers. So, proceed with caution when you're pouring it onto the carpet, and use only a little of it at a time.

Now, let the rubbing alcohol sit for a few minutes and work its magic in dissolving the stain. After that, blot the stained area with a cotton ball. Keep changing the balls until you get rid of the stain. If you don't have cotton balls, you can also use a sponge.

How to Get Marker Off Carpet With Hair Spray

The alcohol in the hair spray can do a great job of cleaning the dried ink of the marker and help you remove the stain. However, when using a hair spray to remove stains from your carpet, make sure that it's oil-free. Otherwise, the oil in the hair spray can damage the carpet.

To start removing the stain, shake the can of hair spray vigorously and spray it on the stained area. Let the spray sit for a while so that the alcohol can dissolve the ink. Then, take a cotton ball and gently blot the stained area.

The ink should start to transfer from the carpet to the cotton ball. Use a clean cotton ball each time to get rid of the stain, and use as many of them as you need until the marker stains completely disappear from your carpet.

Get Marker Out of Carpet With Hand Sanitizer

Hand sanitizer is a common household ingredient found in every house, especially post-pandemic. A hand sanitizer contains a great amount of alcohol, which is the key ingredient in removing marker stains.

Thankfully, hand sanitizer is not a runny solution, and your carpet fibers will hold it. You won't have to worry about it going deep into the carpet fibers and damaging your carpet as long as you don't pour a crazy amount of it.

The process of using a hand sanitizer is pretty much the same as using hair spray. The only difference is that instead of spraying from a can, you'll be directly pouring it from the bottle. Then, let it sit for a few minutes and blot the stained area with cotton balls until you completely remove the stain.

The number of times you'd have to repeat the process depends on the intensity of the stain. One pointer for you is that hand sanitizers have a fast evaporation period. So, don't let it sit for too long, and be gentle when you dab the stained area with a cotton ball to avoid any discoloration. Just realize, repeated blotting is critical in how to get marker out of carpet, so expect to do it many more times than just once.

Cleaning Marker Out of Carpet With Nail Polish Remover

Nail polish removers have an organic solvent called acetone, which makes them ideal for removing marker stains from carpets. It's effective in removing glue from carpet, too. Even if you're dealing with stains from a permanent marker, a nail polish remover will do the job.

The acetone in a nail polish remover combines with the ink molecules of the carpet and turns the dried ink into liquid. There's no need to let nail polish removers settle as they work almost instantaneously, as we've seen in our mascara carpet stain removal discussion.

Moreover, nail polish removers are quite runny. Keep this in mind when you use it to remove nail polish off your walls, too. Because it's runny, you should place a piece of cloth around the stained area in your carpet to keep the stain from spreading. Only place a few drops of the nail polish remover over the area with stains. After that, follow the rest of the steps as usual until you get rid of them.

Get Marker Stains Out of Carpet With Hydrogen Peroxide

It's a versatile chemical compound that can be used for a wide range of things. You can use it as an antiseptic and obviously to get rid of marker stains from the carpet as well. This is how to get dry erase marker out of carpet among other types of markers.

It's an oxygen-based bleaching agent that can break down the ink molecules left by the marker. As hydrogen peroxide works by bleaching, it can lighten the color of dark-colored carpets. It's recommended that you only use it for white or other light-colored carpets.

Also, make sure you use 3% hydrogen peroxide when dealing with marker stains. If you want to know for sure whether it's safe to use on your carpet or not, you can pour a little bit of it on a small area of your carpet and see if it lightens the color. If it doesn't, you can use it to remove the marker stains.

Pour a few drops of hydrogen peroxide on the stained areas in your carpet and let it sit for a while. You can add a spray nozzle to have better control over the amount of hydrogen peroxide you're applying. After that, follow the usual steps and dab the stained area with cotton balls until the stains disappear.

If you've used hydrogen peroxide and you see that it's not working at all, it could be because you've transferred it to a clear bottle. Remember that hydrogen peroxide is sensitive to light, and putting it in a transparent bottle becomes ineffective.

What to Avoid When Removing Marker Stains From Carpet

There are some tips you should keep in mind to have an easier time when you're dealing with marker stains. Here they are:

Avoid Bleach

Bleach is a great substance for taking care of stains and washing your whites. But when you're dealing with a carpet stain, remember that it can cause discoloration in your carpet.

While bleach is powerful enough to remove the stain, it'll also most likely lighten the areas in your carpet where you applied it. Using bleach could also damage the carpet fibers and degrade the overall quality of the carpet.

Avoid Dish Detergent

Normally, dish detergent does an excellent job of removing stains from a carpet. But as a marker stain dries up quickly and isn't water-soluble, using dish detergent will be ineffective for it.

Using a dish detergent is useless and can also make the marker stains worse by releasing the pigments in them. So, avoid using dish detergent on a marker stain if you don't want it to spread any further.

Wear Gloves

You should wear gloves when dealing with a marker stain for two reasons. The first one is to prevent yourself from issues related to the chemicals you're using to alleviate the stains.

Second, the pigments in ink can transfer to your hands and then to your clothes and other parts of the carpet when you start removing the stain. So, you can avoid all of that by wearing gloves and keeping an eye on them and switching them out when needed.

That’s How to Get Marker Out of Carpet!

All the methods mentioned in this article are highly effective at removing marker stains from your carpet. Use the one you have available in your home, and that should be enough to remove the stain.

Getting rid of marker stains from carpet surely takes more work than getting rid of other stuff because you're dealing with dried ink here. But hopefully, now you know how to get marker out of carpet after reading this article.

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