I just dropped my baggie of rockbottom onto my off white carpet!!!! It is all over.

Does anybody know what to do? I don't want to touch it with anything until I hear from you all. Do you think the vacuum will take it all up?

Yikes - my husband is a chemist in the carpet industry - I'll call him and check if he has any ideas and get back to you!

Thank you, thank you!

OK, here's what Brian said:
1. Use your regular vacuum hose without any attachment to suck up as much as you can out of the carpet. Work the carpet fibers apart as you can with your fingers to get as deep as possible with just the hose. The care here is not to work the minerals furhter into the carpet, but lift as much out of the carpet as possible.
2. If there is any residue left use PLAIN WATER to soak the area and vac that up with a wet/dry vac. Take great care to get as much moisture out of the carpet as you can.
3. If there is still any residue you could use a mild soap (he stressed do NOT use any makeup remover cream or other creamy soap - just a mild clear soap) and work that into the carpet, suck that up with the wet/dry vac again and then rinse VERY well with clear water 3-5 times to be sure to get every bit of soap out of the carpet fibers. Any soap left in the carpet will attract dirt to the area over time because surfactants (I'm not sure if I spelled that right!)(aka soaps) attract dirt to themselves, that's how they work.

Hope that helps!

Thanks so much! I shall get to work trying it. Unfortunately, I don't have a wet/dry vac though, but I'll try the regular vacuum and see how that goes and then try water.

Thanks Therese! I'll let you know how it goes.

oh no melissa!! thats a bad one to drop eh?

and hey, a chemist in the carpet industry??!! how handy is that?!

hope you get it cleaned up!

It worked, Therese! Please tell Brian THANK YOU!

I used the regular vacuum then used hot water to dab at it.

Voila! Gone! I took pics of the stages, but my cf card reader has stopped working..just now Drat!

Turns out just 3 pins on the cf reader were bent. I straightened them and it's working again...shoo!

You can see where the baggie landed.


Post vacuum.


Post water. Although it looks like there is still some there in the picture. In person, it looks completely gone. Hmmm...

Melissa, you have WAY too much fun with your digital camera

YAY! I'm glad that worked for you.
I'll let Brian know (again) that "he da man!"

Yes, it is handy having a chemist in the house -kids' math and science homework - no problem in this house! And being in the commercial carpet industry, we get GREAT "trial run" carpet here at the house - super treated for high traffic areas (like airports and post offices and schools) so it never wears out and doesn't stain, either! the only reason to take it up is to change the color!

Plus, his company is VERY much into recycling, which I appreciate on a personal level. That's one of his primary goals in the lab actually - to figure out how to recycle existing carpet backing and other post-use materials and formulate new carpet backing in the most environmentally friendly way. He's got a few patents (YES I admit I am proud!) and he won a global award a few years back for using recyled PVB from auto windshields in developing a new carpet backing. Apparently people had been using the glass from the windshields, but not the plastic that's in between the layers of glass that makes it so it doesn't shatter on impact. So, he found a way to use it!

quote:

Originally posted by girl_geek:
Melissa, you have WAY too much fun with your digital camera

LOL Yes, I do!

Therese - how exciting!

Therese, kudos to Brian! It's always good to hear about environmentally friendly companies too!!

Melissa - white carpet with kids? You're either ridiculously brave, or a little crazy, or maybe a little of both!! Glad it came up though!

quote:

Originally posted by cinseven13:
Melissa - white carpet with kids? You're either ridiculously brave, or a little crazy, or maybe a little of both!! Glad it came up though!

Yeah, I know...I think I am crazy. Heck, I know I am

The white carpet is in both bedrooms. Only rules are no food and no shoes on it It is holding up quite well, but it is only a year old.

Sheesh, Melissa, between you and Jen (missing sealant thread) I have had a few good chuckles today. Nice detective work there noticing the baggie outline and your proof of no more rockbottom in the carpet photos would make a good vacuum commercial.
I happen to be wearing rockbottom today as a crease color and liner. Kathy

Therese, nice to hear Brian is helping take care of our environment in his line of work and a brainiac, too.
My son worked for a paint company for many years as a chemist and they were pretty good about recycling and getting safer formulas on the market.
Kathy

thats neat!

ill make sure i post next time i have carpet issues. i have 3 little kids ... there are LOTS of carpet issues in thise house

We always remove our shoes in the house, and do at other people's houses whether they ask us to or not. (Don't worry, I always wear clean socks or bring a pair of slippers if it's cold!) I'd feel awful if I tracked icky stuff on someone's carpet!!

New rule for that white carpet - no carrying baggies of makeup!!

quote:

Originally posted by cinseven13:
New rule for that white carpet - no carrying baggies of makeup!!

LOL, but I wasn't carrying it anywhere I was sitting and it jumped out of my hand. And I didn't even get a decent look out of it, so all that trouble for nothing!

Holy cow, how totally cool is this forum??? Drop your makeup, voila, here comes a carpet chemist! Where else could that happen???

This is the coolest FAQ question... I think I should make a blog posting of this!!!

With your permission, of course- Therese!!!

I've done this before, too! I am just the clumsiest person- I've actually gotten makeup on the ceiling. Yes, the ceiling.