How to get candle wax out of carpet in 5 easy steps 

Cosy season is well and truly upon us, with shorter days, colder temperatures, and a layer of orange leaves on the ground. 

However, if there’s one other that’s abundantly clear - it’s that the air has changed, as Brits across the country light cosy-scented candles in their homes. In fact, previous reports have found that many candle businesses make around 50% of their annual sales in September-December. 

While there’s arguably nothing better at this time of year than the aroma of spiced pumpkin filling your home, we at Online Carpets know how easy it can be to accidentally knock a candle over onto carpets, couches, and other upholstery. 

Knowing how to clean candle wax out of your carpet, and keep your carpets clean, is a must for anyone who loves to entertain, especially in wintertime when candles are used more than ever. 

If you, or one of your guests, has spilled candle wax on your carpet, couch, or any other upholstery, and you’re not sure what to do, check out our removal tips below. 

Chances are, you’ll already have everything you need in the house. 

What you’ll need 

• An iron or hair dryer 
• Plastic sandwich bag (or similar) 
• Ice cubes, or something frozen like peas or other veg
• Fabric towel 
• Paper towels
• A butter knife or bank card 
• Vacuum cleaner 

5 easy steps for how to remove candle wax from carpet, couches and other upholstery 

The key to getting spilled candle wax off of carpets or upholstery is to act quickly. The longer you let the spilled candle wax set into the fibres of the fabric, the tougher the stain will become to remove. 

Don’t fret about running to the shop to buy an upholstery cleaner. You’ll already have everything you need to remove the stain at home. Check out our 5 easy steps below:

1. Let the wax cool 

It might be tempting to whip out a stain remover spray and clean the spilled candle wax up while it’s still hot, but it’s actually much easier to remove the wax once it hardens. 

You can wait until the wax cools naturally, or grab some ice from the fridge and place it in a zip-lock bag. If you don’t have any ice in the freezer, pretty much anything frozen will do the trick - whether it’s a bag of frozen peas or a frozen microwave curry! 

2. Scrape off as much as you can 

Once the spilled candle wax has solidified (you’ll know it’s solid when the colour becomes lighter), scrape off as much of the hardened wax as you can. 

You can do this using something like a butter knife or bank card. If using a butter knife and you have a berber loop carpet, just be careful not to cause any hooks or pulls with the ribbed part of the knife. 

Once you’ve scraped off as much wax as you can, bin the larger chunks before vacuuming up the remaining smaller bits.

3. Absorb the remaining spilled candle wax 

While scraping the wax should get rid of the top layer, there will still be wax left in the lower fibres of your carpet or upholstery. 

To get rid of this, you’ll need to heat and transfer the wax onto something else. 

To do this, cover the wax with a paper towel and then a slightly damp fabric towel that you’re not too attached to and don’t mind ruining!

Then, grab your iron and steam the spot through the damp fabric towel for around 10 to 15 seconds. The wax will begin to lift through and transfer onto your towels. You may need to do this several times. 

Just be careful not to have the iron up too hot or keep it on the spot for too long, as this could potentially damage the upholstery or carpet - especially if it’s a synthetic material. 

If you’re trying to remove spilled candle wax from a more sensitive fabric, such as a velvet couch, and you’re not confident about using your iron on it, then you can also use a hair dryer. 

4. Clean the area

Once you’ve got as much of the spilled candle wax off as you can with your towel, you’ll want to clean the area. A simple, unscented dish soap and water mixture, or white vinegar and water mix should do the trick.

5. Repeat! 

Depending on how deep the wax has gone into your fabric, or how big of a stain you had, you might need to rinse and repeat the above steps for best results. 

Just be careful about over-treating your carpet or upholstery on any given day. If it’s starting to look a little tired from the cleaning, leave it to fully dry out again before cleaning up any more. 

Got other tough household stains? 

Household stains might be super common, but that doesn’t make them any less frustrating, especially if you’ve just fitted a new carpet. 

Check out our other advice blogs on household cleaning to ensure you always know your plan of action when life happens: 

• How to clean laminate flooring 
• How to get rid of pollen out of carpet 
• How to get chocolate out of carpet 
• How to clean pet mess out of carpet