Charcoal Burns in Carpet

FrostyAlphaWolf

So move-out day is coming up in a couple months at my apartment, and after looking around I think the biggest problem we're going to have to take care of is a couple of charcoal burns (from a hookah) on the carpet.

One is mostly just on the surface so I was thinking it could maybe be shaved off, if there's some sort of carpet shaver tool, or maybe even steamed out when we clean the carpets.

The other one, though, is sunken in pretty well; it looks like whenever we dropped the charcoal we let it sit there for a few seconds while we scrambled to get something to grab it with. The carpet is kind of seared into a solid circle about half a cm deep.

Is there any kind of cleanser or anything that can maybe break it up? I think with the more intense burn even a carpet cleaning isn't going to take care of it by itself, due to the fact that the carpet is actually burned. Any suggestions are helpful.

NODe

The fibres are probably melted, so no amount of cleaner will break it up.
Someone that knows what they're doing might be able to patch the spot, but that won't work as well if the carpet isn't pretty new and easy to match.

tinwhiskers

FrostyAlphaWolf wrote: »

So move-out day is coming up in a couple months at my apartment, and after looking around I think the biggest problem we're going to have to take care of is a couple of charcoal burns (from a hookah) on the carpet.

One is mostly just on the surface so I was thinking it could maybe be shaved off, if there's some sort of carpet shaver tool, or maybe even steamed out when we clean the carpets.

The other one, though, is sunken in pretty well; it looks like whenever we dropped the charcoal we let it sit there for a few seconds while we scrambled to get something to grab it with. The carpet is kind of seared into a solid circle about half a cm deep.

Is there any kind of cleanser or anything that can maybe break it up? I think with the more intense burn even a carpet cleaning isn't going to take care of it by itself, due to the fact that the carpet is actually burned. Any suggestions are helpful.

I think you are pretty much SOL. Just take the hit to your security deposit for them to "fix" it(they won't actually do shit), and put something under your hookah from now on.

Tag

What color carpet? I had a friend who managed to somehow dye over a stain in his rug. It wasn't perfect, but it was hard enough to see that it was missed in the apt. inspection and he still got his full security check back.

firewaterword

Funny, I had this exact same situation a few years back!

Used a pair of pliers to pull the melted bits out of the carpet. Obviously left a bit of a bald spot, but looked a hell of a lot better than burnt ass carpet! And we got our deposit back, probably because it wasn't noticed, so it was kind of a crap shoot I guess!

I'm not going to outright recommending this, but it worked for me so...

illig

you can try trimming the melted pieces, and then shaving some of the carpet in an inconspicuous area (in closet, or whatever) and then gluing the shaved pieces into the melted hole.... it won't be perfect, but it'll look better than the hole itself, and might pass inspection if the apartment is not in brand new shape otherwise

FrostyAlphaWolf

Thanks for the tips so far.

I'll see if I can trim it down to at least be less noticeable. I think the apartment is 5 years old or so, and the carpet is kind of worn down so I may not have much to work with but it's worth a shot. It's kind of a light-beige color so I doubt there's any kind of dye or coloring that would help out.

Any suggestions on what I could use to try and trim/cut the mark? I may check Home Depot later to see if there's some kind of hand held shaver or something, but outside of that I have no clue.

Tag

For trimming, you could try that side-burn trimming thing that flips out the back of most electric razors.

When my friend dyed the carpet I'm pretty sure he just used normal hair dye since it only needed to last a little bit in theory :P His carpet was a brown that worked out pretty well for that but I don't really know hair dyes that well.

useless4

For the one you want to steam clean --- if your cleaner has a water only setting use that for like ten straight minutes. Then use WOOLITE laundry detergent.

It's not a "real" fix because stains appear back in like two weeks but it does the most amazing job of hiding stains on a light carpet.