An ember flies out of your fireplace before you've had the chance to put the screen up. A slightly inebriated friend misses his ashtray when stubbing out his fag. Maybe you've got rude relatives that think the floor is the ashtray (it does happen, believe me). The kids have been playing with matches. These are just a small number of ways that scorch marks can occur in your expensive floor covering. I don't really care how old or ugly your floor covering is it's still expensive, especially when you have to replace it.

These scenarios can be a right royal pain in the butt. Not only does it look unsightly but it also devalues your home. If you're unfortunate (like me) it will usually happen just before prospective purchasers are coming through or some other time when you're out to impress someone with your superior housekeeping skills.

Ok, it's happened. What are you going to do about it? Well, that depends entirely on the type of carpet and available tools. I rely on the tools at hand, then if it all goes pear shaped I blame them. Yes, I am a poor workman! If I can't blame the tools then I blame the visitors, husband, kids, cats and dogs in that order. I used to blame the pony, but sadly the only one that we ever had small enough to enter the house and almost legitimately incur blame passed away a couple of years ago. I still haven't worked out a way to blame the goldfish or the birds, but I'm working on it.

In the interest of brevity I'll get on with how to fix it. The tools that I find essential are a small pair of scissors, some sand paper (120 is the grade is use in Australia good for rubbing down filled holes in walls) and household bleach.

The first thing I do is take the scissors and clip the top off the burn. If you've a sculptured, plush pile or shag type carpet this is nearly always all that you need to do. A tiny little, very careful snip and the scorch mark is gone.

My mother's house has a full acrylic, very tight and short loop pile carpet. Sandpaper has worked for me on this one. It's a medium blue carpet and my mother's eyesight is not good. Honestly, she just doesn't see the damage when she's done to it. A slight rub with some sandpaper and you can't see the mark at all. It didn't change the colour of the pile and the marks are gone.

If your carpet is white or cream or some very pale shade I still recommend using either of the above methods. However, occasionally a little tan or brown discoloration may remain. I have successfully dipped a cotton bud or cutex tip, you know a stick with cotton wool on the ends, call it what you will, in a bit of household bleach. I've then dabbed the stain with the bleach embedded cotton bud and hey presto, no more stain.

Use these methods at your own risk. I've used them all and they have worked for me. I will not be held responsible for results however as I have no control over how heavily you may use the scissors or sandpaper or how much bleach you use.

Learn more about this author, C Q.
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