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Dallas, TX – Trying to remove gum from carpeting can be a bit of a problem unless you know a few tricks to loosen it up to make the job easier. The first thing you’ll want to do is immediately ban any gum chewing in the house and this is probably a good idea to help you avoid this in the future, but you still have to remove the gum that has somehow found its way into your carpet.

The challenge with gum is that it sticks to the fibers of the carpet very securely and if left for any length of time, it can settle into the pile pretty deeply. The trick with gum, and any stain really, is to act quickly to remove it before it has time to become a permanent fixture.

The first thing you should do it to try and remove as much of it as you can with a clean paper towel. You can usually get a large portion of it off with a little work and this will make getting the rest of it out easier. The next step is to try freezing the remainder of it with a piece of ice. Don’t put the ice cube directly on the carpet as it can soak the fibers as the ice melts and this can cause other problems for you. The best way to do this is to put some ice in a Ziploc bag and lay this on top of the gum and then place a paper towel and book on top of it to weigh it down. Leave the bag in place for an hour and the gum will freeze and be very easy to remove. If it needs a little more coaxing, try using some dish detergent mixed with a little water to loosen up the smaller bits. Repeat this process if needed to get it all out of the carpet.

If the gum has sat on the carpet for a while you may need to get a little more aggressive. To break the bond of the gum to the fibers of the carpet you can use a commercial cleaner, but this can leave harmful chemicals behind and leave an odor as well. Another very popular home solution for this is to try and use a little peanut butter. The oil in the peanut butter will do a great job of breaking the gum loose from the carpet and make it easy to remove the gum. The challenge with adding peanut butter is that if you add too much, or don’t remove it quickly it has the potential to stain your carpet. This needs to be a very quick process of applying a tiny amount of peanut butter and then removing it and the gum from the carpet. Do not let the peanut butter sit on the carpet. Apply it, work it into the carpet to loosen the gum and then remove the gum and blot up the peanut butter. You will have to follow this with a gentle cleaning of dish detergent and warm water to make sure you get all of the peanut butter and any remnants of the gum removed.

If the gum is on a piece of clothing, place the whole garment in the freezer to let the gum freeze. Leave it in there for an hour or so and then you can simply fold the fabric away from the gum to remove it from the garment. Even though gum can be a tough item to remove from carpeting and clothing, with a little work and few tricks you can conquer it.