Candles smell heavenly and add a soft, flickering glow to your home. When you burn candles, you’re eventually going to spill some wax onto your carpet or hardwood floors. Don’t worry! Use these three easy tips to clean wax spills from your floors and forget it ever happened.

Removing Wax Spills from Carpet

It’s not impossible to clean wax from carpet. If you act quickly after the spill occurs, you can clean it up before it permanently damages the carpet. Before attempting any of the following methods, gather the following items:

• White towels
• Iron
• Butter knife
• Scissors
• Spoon
• Ice
• Heavy duty carpet cleaner

Wrap some ice cubes in a white towel and gently apply it to the wax to harden it. Don’t apply too much pressure since this will push the wax deeper into the carpet fibers. When the wax is hardened, gently scrape away as much wax as possible with the butter knife. Gentle is the key word, as vigorous scraping will fray the carpet fibers. If you notice frayed fibers, use the scissors to trim them away.

The second step to clean wax from carpet is to plug in an iron to remove any remaining wax that seeped into the carpet. Turn the iron to the “high” setting. While it’s heating, dampen a white towel, fold it in two, and place it over the spill. Place the iron on the towel for up to 10 seconds. Continue this process with fresh towels until no more wax is removed.

The third of the tips to clean wax spills is to apply a heavy-duty carpet cleaner. Use the back of the spoon to really push the cleaner into the carpet. Follow the instructions on the packaging for approximate times to let the cleaner sit. Repeat this process as necessary to remove all traces of the wax.

Use this quick and handy tip to clean up wax on floors without carpet, such as hardwood, tile or linoleum:

Gently scrape up hardened wax with a plastic tool such as a spatula or old credit card, so as not to scratch the flooring. Use a hair dryer on a medium setting to melt the remaining wax. Wipe away soft wax with a damp cloth.

You can clean up wax on floors in no time with these three easy tips. If you’d rather let the professionals handle it, click the link on our website to make an appointment today!