What to do
in the first minute.

Blot immediately with a white cloth working outside-in, use cold water only, and never scrub. Scrubbing drives pigment into the backing and spreads the ring wider than the original spill. Heat sets wine permanently, sometimes in seconds.

Treat the source, not the surface. Urine passes through carpet into the backing, the pad and sometimes the subfloor. UV inspection maps the true extent, then the affected area is flushed and extracted below the surface at $30 per 3×3 area.

Not usually, if treated cold and quickly. Blot outside-in with a white cloth. Coffee and tea are tannin stains, which set with heat.

Scrape solids with a dull edge, then blot without pressing hard. Oily soil needs solvent chemistry, not water — this is the one category where water first makes it worse.

Let it dry completely, then vacuum thoroughly. This is the one stain where waiting is correct.

Cold water and a white cloth, immediately. Fresh blood responds well when it is treated cold and treated fast — older or heat-set blood is a different conversation, and we will tell you which one you have.

Sometimes. Blot gently without spreading the edges and call before trying anything else.

Remove solids with a dull edge, blot the rest, ventilate the room, and use cool water only.

Bile contains pigments that act as a dye on synthetic fiber. Blot cold immediately and call — the longer it sits the more likely it becomes permanent.

Let it harden fully, then break and lift what you can. The remainder needs controlled heat and absorption — done wrong it spreads and melts synthetic fiber.

Sometimes, if treated before it cures. Do not use acetone remover on carpet without testing.

Often, but it is a different chemistry from ordinary soil and it is worth calling before experimenting. Rust is iron oxide bonded into the fibre, usually from furniture feet, a radiator, or something metal left damp on the carpet. Blot with plain water and a white cloth, then stop.

Let it harden, lift the solids with a dull edge, then blot with cold water and a white cloth working outside-in. Chocolate is three problems at once — cocoa pigment, sugar and fat — which is why one approach rarely lifts all of it and why heat makes it permanently worse.

Treat it as wax with pigment in it. Let it harden fully, break and lift what you can with a dull edge, then stop. What remains needs controlled heat and absorption, and the pigment needs separate treatment from the wax carrying it.

Often, and it depends how long it has been there. Grass is chlorophyll, which behaves like a dye rather than a soil, so it wants treating before it has finished bonding. Blot cold with a white cloth, work outside-in, and call rather than experiment.

Blot immediately with a white cloth and cold water, working from the outside in. Speed matters more than technique here, because the risk is not the sugar — it is whether the drink was artificially coloured.

Sometimes, and this is one of the hardest categories in the trade. Blot cold immediately, do not scrub, and call before trying anything else. The honest answer depends entirely on the dye and the fibre.

Scrape any solids with a dull edge first, then blot without pressing hard. Most cosmetics are oil-based with pigment suspended in them, which is the one category where reaching for water first genuinely makes it worse.

Usually, with the right sequence. Blot what you can with a white cloth, do not press hard, and keep water away from it. This is the clearest case of a stain where the instinct to add water actively works against you.

It can, and it is worth treating quickly. Lift the solids with a dull edge, blot cold, and call. Mustard is one of the everyday kitchen spills most likely to leave something behind.

It depends entirely on the type, and getting that wrong is how a small spill becomes a repair. Water-based emulsion, treated while wet, often responds to blotting with cold water. Anything oil-based, and anything already dry, should be left alone until it has been seen.

Work it out mechanically before adding anything wet. Lift as much as possible with a dull edge, then treat the residue and the colour as two separate problems. Patience does more here than any product.

Remove the solids with a dull edge and a bag, blot the remainder cold, and ventilate the room. Then treat what is left as a sub-surface problem rather than a surface one, because the liquid fraction has already gone down into the backing.

Do not experiment. Photograph it and leave it alone until it can be identified.