Removing Thermoplastic from Carpet With a Grocery Bag

[Sean Moore]

Whenever someone drops an iron it's a tragedy. I've known about this forever but maybe someone doesn't. I have done this on nylon, polyester and olefin carpets, never on a wool piece. I don't think I would want to.

As long as the iron didn't sit on the carpet long enough to melt the fibers you have a chance to avoid a patch.

Keep a thick brown paper bag in your stuff, the thicker the better. Chinese restaurants tend to have the best, thickest bags for takeout and delivery.

Cut the flat sides of the bag off, the rest is mostly trash unless you're running short of bag near the end. Discard any printing.

Physically remove whatever adhesive you can without damaging the fibers.

Set your iron to 1.5 or so, low heat.

Put the iron directly on the paper bag (no tray) and put it on the thermoplastic. The heat causes the glue to wick into the bag. A little dabbing motion tends to help when you have almost all of it out. Keep an eye out so you don't reverse the pile.

You will normally have to do this multiple times so I always start near one corner of the paper and work my way around it. I like to hold the bag in addition to holding the iron.

As the adhesive comes off your iron it will tend to slide more on the bag, be careful moving sideways.

[rusty baker]

Good tip, Sean. Another reason for the Kool Glide.

[Daris Mulkin]

That works for candle wax also.

Daris

[kylenelson]

I've known about this trick for awhile but I've never got to try it out yet. The last repair I did was a stain that was barely visible to the naked eye...but the wanted a patch. The koolglide was a lifesaver.

[Peter Kodner]

Good tip! I would think white paper towel or white cotton towel would be effective as well. Carpet fibers do not absorb moisture well so paper and other organic fiber will generally remove nay liquid on them by capillary action action. Liquefying the hot melt will allow this to work. I always use non-printed paper towel or undyed cloth to prevent any color bleeding.