Removing Egg Stains
By Steve Gillman
There are a couple types of stains caused by eggs. There are
the raw egg spills which only become stains if you don't clean
them up right away, and then there are the ones from greasy cooked-egg
accidents. The latter are best addressed using the instructions
on the following page: Grease
Carpet Stains. Removing egg stains from raw eggs is covered
below.
First, as mentioned, there may not be a stain to remove if
you catch the spill right away. This is particularly true if
it is just egg white that dripped onto a rug or carpet. Use a
spoon to scoop up what you can, then wet and blot up the rest
using water and a clean white cotton cloth or white paper towels.
A wet/dry vacuum cleaner make it even easier, because you can
quickly flush the spot with water and extract it over and over.
If you suspect that some egg remains you can neutralize any
odors and further clean out the proteins using clear household
ammonia. Add a tablespoon to a half-cup of water and apply it
a little at a time and sucking it out with that wet/dry vac after
each application (or blot it up with a clean cloth).
A few drops of Dawn (Joy works well too) in a cup of water
makes a good cleaning solution for the final cleanup i you really
want to be thorough. Apply the mixture, working it into the fibers
gently and blotting it up with plain white (undyed) paper towels
or a clean white cotton cloth. Repeat until you have used up
your solution.
If the egg has dried in the carpet before you discovered it,
try scraping out as much as you can using the edge of a spoon
or a dull knife. Then follow the procedure above to remove egg
stains that remain.
Drying the carpet quickly afterward is always a good idea.
Lay a small stack of plain white paper towels over the wet area
and weigh them down with a pan or or something that will not
cause its own staining if it gets wet. Once the moisture has
been mostly soaked up, a fan blowing over the area will finish
the process.
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