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Sandra asked: My dog got into salt water taffy and the taffy is now stuck in and on the carpet. It’s a sticky mess. Please help, how do I get it out of the carpet?
Taffy makes a delicious treat, but when it mixes with carpet it quickly loses its charm. Since heat only makes taffy gooier and stickier, it’s important to keep it cold and work quickly to remove it before it spreads further. Here’s how to chill and remove the sticky mess.
You Will Need:
- Ice cubes
- Comb
- Dull knife or spoon
- Carpet cleaner
- Soft cloths
- Water
Steps to Remove the Taffy:
- Begin by rubbing an ice cube over the taffy area. If the water is causing more problems, place the ice cube in a Ziploc bag first. This will allow you to easily chill the area without adding moisture. Chill it until it hardens.
- Next, use a dull knife or spoon to scrape away the hardened taffy.
- Repeat until a majority of the taffy is removed.
- If your carpet is straight cut, a comb can be used to pull the taffy out.
- Keep it thoroughly chilled and place the teeth of the comb under the taffy. Pull the comb upwards to pull the taffy to the surface.
- When the chunks of taffy are removed. The leftover film can be removed with carpet cleaner.
- Moisten a soft cloth with carpet cleaner and blot the stain until it is removed.
- Rinse by blotting with a clean cloth moistened with plain water.
- Allow the area to dry completely.
- If the fibers are stiff, vacuum or comb over the area to restore the original texture.
Additional Tips and Ideas
- If the taffy is on the surface only, you may be able to trim the carpet fibers to remove it.
- Chilling the area with dry ice will make the taffy very brittle. Break it up with a spoon and remove it from the carpet with a dust buster. Exercise caution when using dry ice though, as allowing it to touch bare skin will result in injury.
- Peanut butter can be rubbed over the taffy as well. The oil in the peanut butter acts as a lubricant to assist in removing the sticky goo.
My son had a friend stay the night and he decided he wanted some candy in the middle of the night. He found some peppermint taffy and left the wrapper on the floor. Through the night, he slept on top of it and it really oozed into the fibers. The spot was as big as half of my palm. I tried ice in a bag, a comb, a butter knife, and my fingers. I wasn’t making any progress. I decided to try HAND SANITIZER! I used a little at a time, and it worked. It did not take but a couple of minutes to break it down and it disappeared. I have light color carpet and it did not stain or discolor it. Now I am going to use the steam cleaner to make sure all the sugar is out. The idea came from a time my son got lime green Silly Putty stuck in his royal blue sweat shirt. I looked up on the internet how to get it out and someone said to try hand sanitizer. I thought slightly discolored would be better than lime green. It didn’t take the color out. Please do use caution using this method though. You might try a location not so seen first just in case it does discolor. With all different types of carpets, it may not have the same outcome. Use at your own risk.
We used hot vinegar on our beige sofa to get out pink Laffy Taffy. Worked great!
I had salt water taffy on my sheets. Hot vinegar worked wonders! It took it right out!
Erica,
Does it matter what kind of vinegar you use? I have some on a blanket and I am trying to get it out with the freezer trick, but that is not working. I am going to try white vinegar because I have used that with two dogs and skunks.