And Now for a New Episode of: Spot or Stain?

There’s a dark blot on your carpet. The million dollar question is “Is it a spot or a stain?” When it comes to stuff on a carpet, these terms are not interchangeable.

A spot is a bit of dirt or something that can simply be removed, and a stain is a spot with some type of dye in it that adheres to the carpet fiber.

A Spot

A spot is just a temporary nuisance, while a stain is an eerily malevolent presence on your carpet.

A Stain

Stains are made when something that has a dye in it comes in contact with the carpet. Carpet fibers are themselves dyed, but somewhat unevenly. If you take a microscopic look at a carpet fiber, you’ll see that there are gaps in the dye on the fiber. While not visible overall in the sea of fibers that make up a carpet, these gaps are the perfect place for that red wine you spilled to adhere to. Once those gaps are dyed with that red color, it’ll take a professional with the right mix of tricks in his bag to try to get it out. Sometimes, the stain is permanent.