We all know the feeling of finding that sticky situation: chewed up gum in your carpet. Between the everyday demands of daily life, gum seems to make its way into the trickiest places. It’s not always easy to clean, trust us, we know.

If you drag some gum into your home you’re in for some trouble. Fresh gum, dried gum, any gum is a huge pain for anyone. Especially when that gum is rubbed deep into your carpets. If you are desperate for foraging minty gum out of your once beloved carpet, you’re in the right place!

Method #1 for How to Get Gum Out of Carpet – Freezing the Gum:

Freeze the Gum

Find some ice cubes – we suggest three or four – and place them in a zip lock plastic bag. Then, place that on top of the gum. The point of this is to harden the gum. 

Scrape Up The Hardened Gum

Once the chewing gum is hard, it’ll be easier to remove the bulk of the gum from the carpet. Use a scraping tool, like a butter knife, once the gum is hard to scrape the gum out of the carpet. Try to avoid using a sharp knife to avoid damaging the carpet. A rigid comb or something with bristles can loosen the gum as well. 

Apply Carpet Cleaning Solution

Once you feel you’ve removed most of the gum, get some carpet-cleaning solution. Rub the solution on the remains of the gum stain. Let it sit for a minute or so. 

Dry and Extract

Find a paper towel or dry rag and place it on top of the stain. Let it soak up the solution. Dab the gum stain until dry! If there is still gum left over, add a little more liquid solution and dab until dry. 

Once you’ve removed the gum, rinse and extract (or soak it up with a towel) the spot with cool water to remove as much of the carpet cleaning solution as you can. This will prevent re-soiling of the area.

Method #2 – Use a Hairdryer to Remove Gum from Carpet: 

Heat Gum With a Hairdryer

Warm temperatures can work when ice doesn’t What’s the best way to apply heat to a nasty gum stain? You got it, a hairdryer.

Turn on the hair dryer and point it directly on the gum stain. Make sure to keep an eye on that nasty gum stain as you don’t want it melting into the carpet fibers. 

Scrape

Once the gum begins to soften and loosen, use a scraping tool to remove the gum. Repeat this process over and over until you’ve gotten most of the gum out of the carpet. 

Rinse and Extract

Then, grab some carpet cleaning solution and rub it into the gum stain. Use a dry towel to blot it dry. As mentioned in method 1, rinse the treated area to remove any remaining carpet cleaning solution such as to avoid future re-soiling of the area.

Method #3 – Use Goo Gone or Another Solvent to Get Gum Out of Carpet: 

If you’ve tried all the above and that pesky, good for nothing gum won’t come out of your carpet you’re still in luck. We’ve got some more tricks up our sleeves. If you’ve come to this method as a last resort that means you’ve got a serious gum problem. Serious gum stains require serious attention.

Apply Goo Gone or Other Solvent

Firstly, you will need Goo Gone or a similar solvent, a fingernail brush (or any small brush that could act as a substitute), and some carpet cleaning solution. If you don’t have Goo Gone you can try to use white vinegar as a substitute.

Apply a decent amount of Goo Gone to the gum using a rag. Beware that certain solvents (like acetone) can eat away at the backing of the carpet, so you want to make sure to treat the fibers with a rag and not to saturate the spot. Let the solution work for a little while or at least until you see some changes in the gum texture. This will make it easier to use your small brush to remove the gum.

Agitate The Gum and Solvent

Grab the small brush and begin agitating the gum spot. Try to move in the same direction repeatedly – right to left or left to right – to begin removing the stain. 

If need be, add more Goo Gone / Solvent to the stain and repeat scrubbing and massaging. Use a dry towel to blot the excess liquid if you need. Keep on repeating this process until you feel you’ve removed the majority of the gum stain. 

Apply Carpet Cleaning Solution

Now, use carpet cleaning solution and apply it to the stained area. This will begin to clean the affected area. If there are still little specs of gum, use tweezers to remove them. You can even apply a basic carpet cleaning solution if there is any left over stain.

Rinse and Extract

Find a clean sponge and rinse it with cool water. Apply it to the stain and gently wash until you feel the stain is no longer an eye sore. Alternately, use carpet extractor to rinse and extract.

Dry the area after with a towel and you’re all set! 

Call in the Professionals

If you’re still struggling with removing gum from your carpet, it may be time to call in the professionals. At MSS Cleaning, we routinely remove gum from carpet including at large scale! We clean not just residential but also commercial carpets, so we’re no strangers to gum in carpet and can certainly help you with your gum issues if you’re located in or around Denver, CO.