To remove chewing gum from carpet, you can use your hair dryer. Just heat the gum, being careful not to melt any carpet fibers. Then you can use a piece of plastic wrap or a plastic bag to lift the softened gum away. Allow it to stick to the plastic, and pull it up. This will often get most of the gum.

For the remaining chewing gum, apply Extra Strength Ben Gay, or another muscle rub containing methly salicylate. Use plastic or a rag to pull more gum out, repeating the process if necessary. Once you completely remove the chewing gum from the carpet, clean the spot with a mild detergent solution (a few drops of dishsoap in a cup of warm water). Rinse the area with warm water and dry quickly, first by blotting up any water, then with a fan, if you have one.

Commercial Carpet Stain Removers

Some of the common carpet stain removers will remove chewing gum from carpet. Goo Gone, in particular, works well. First pull out as much gum as you can, then heat what remains. Apply the Goo Gone, using a brush or the edge

Always thoroughly rinse the spot afterwards. Use water and a shop-vac if you can, or just rinse and blot with a white cotton cloth repeatedly. It's important not to leave cleaning solvent in your carpet for too long, so extract it quickly and completely.

Dry the area as fast as you can. If there is any stain left deep down in the carpet, from dyes in the gum, fast-drying will prevent it from wicking back up to the surface.

If you can't remove the chewing gum from the carpet using either of the two methods here, don't worry. Any carpet cleaner with a truck-mount hot water extraction unit (a steam cleaner) can get it out easily. Even old gum will usually come out with the hot water and powerful suction of a good carpet cleaning machine.

Steve Gillman worked in the carpet cleaning industry for years. For more carpet-care information, and specific stain-by-stain removal instructions, visit http://www.HowToRemoveCarpetStains.com

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