wax on rug

[TCS]

i have an area rug in my shop with melted wax on it. Was curious if there is anyway to remove it. Olefin face fibers.

[rugslayer]

Crank up the heat Ralph! There is a place for chemicals, but good heat is a great option! The old iron and cotton towel trick work OK, but olefin is subject to melting. Your machine should be more than adequate, but be cautious and charge for you efforts!

[Classicboss]

Hi Mark, I use a hair dryer, set it to hot setting and keep it 2 to three inches above the face fiber, use a white unbleached cotton, terry towel... as the wax melts blot it to the towel... do not rub it will cause the wax to spread and fall deeper into fibers, It may take some time but I find it to be a safe wax removal method. Crank the heat up an the machine when done and extract any remaining deep embedded wax. hope this helps, and good luck.

[Jason Whaley]

The iron and towel is the same way I do it but the hairdryer trick sounds cool too although I have never heard of it before.

[LisaWagner]

Same steps when it's wool ... heat and something to absorb the wax into - a cut up brown paper bag works great (it absorbs and also is agood barrier for the heat). Towel works - cotton not paper.

Before you even begin melting it - take a bit of a stiff hand brush and see what wax you can crumble off and remove first - just be careful it is wool. I'll use some tweezers or a metal comb (a rug tool) to break away some pieces.

The hair dryer though - good idea. I've always used a steam iron but it makes sense the dryer would work on hot.

Send a photo!
Lisa

[Willy P]

Remove excess. Put kettle on.Pour boiling water over wax. Extract with open hose cuff.



And don't work so darn hard !

[TCS]

thanks guys. I ended up using a heat gun on low (being very careful of course) and a cotton towel. Came out great.

[rugslayer]

Great ideas. The boiling water kettle is unique, Willy, but would undoubtedly work. Now, if I can find the wife's hair dryer...she can get a new one for Christmas!

[Willy P]

Great ideas. The boiling water kettle is unique, Willy, but would undoubtedly work. Now, if I can find the wife's hair dryer...she can get a new one for Christmas!

I've got a ton of "cheap tricks" that work very well. Maybe I'll start a thread......

[LisaWagner]

If the rug was WOOL - do NOT use the boiling water, it would bleed the dyes.

Just want to make sure no one tries that and ruins a rug. Makes sense it would work on olefin.

Lisa

[Classicboss]

Great ideas. The boiling water kettle is unique, Willy, but would undoubtedly work. Now, if I can find the wife's hair dryer...she can get a new one for Christmas!

Yep My wife was PO'd when I took her hair dryer to use... had to buy her a more expensive one to make it up to her LOL... that was over 10 years ago... I had to remove literally hundreds of candle wax drips and spots from a church carpet... it really worked fast too, so I have been using that method ever since, it beats over wetting the carpet and delaminating the backing.