How to Get Silly Putty out of Carpet

Silly putty and carpet fibers have a special way of bonding, in that they get stuck together. It’s super sticky and when you try to pull it out, lots of it remains stuck on the pile while only the upper portion stretches out.

When silly putty sticks to a carpet, you have a certain timeframe in which to get it out. Otherwise, it may dry, which would be another absolute nightmare!

This gets you wondering: how could I possibly get silly putty out of my carpet?

Well, it could be easy if you follow the few simple steps listed below. Let’s take a look at them:

What You’ll Need:

The first thing that you need to do when getting it out is to gather all your supplies. For this guide, it’s going to be the following:

• Ice cubes – lots of them!
• Laundry detergent (zero bleach) or a nail polish remover
• If you can’t find the above two items, then go with rubbing alcohol
• Some cotton balls and a clean cloth
• A dull knife or a spoon

Step-by-step Method for Removing Silly Putty from Carpet or Rugs

Step 1: Apply ice cubes (placed into a clear plastic bag) onto the silly putty

You first need to place ice cubes into a clear plastic bag, so that when the ice melts, it doesn’t react with the mess on the carpet.

Then splay the bagged ice-cubes onto the silly putty to freeze it into a solid mass, which can be scraped off.

You also need to keep changing the ice regularly so that it doesn’t get watery or flowey. Just make sure that it remains solid throughout, so that the silly putty can adequately freeze.

It will take somewhere around 2-3 hours to get the solid consistency that you want.

(Pro tip: make sure that the ice in the plastic bag covers the entire silly putty stain. If all of it doesn’t chill uniformly, you’ll just have a mess on your hands later.)

Step 2: Gently scrape off the frozen silly putty with a dull knife or spoon

The next step involves carefully scraping the frozen putty off your carpet or rug.

For this, you’ll need the dull knife or spoon. Just use either of these things to break the silly putty’s hold on the carpet fibers. It’s delicate work that requires a lot of patience.

When the putty breaks, you’ll end up with little pieces that can be easily removed from the carpet.

Important: Remember not to use any sharp objects to do this, or you’ll end up destroying the pile of your rug.

Step 3: Clean the stain with gentle detergent, cotton balls and absorb the excess with a clean cloth

Now, you need to clean up the leftover stain to make your area rug/carpet seem as pristine as possible. You’ll need laundry detergent and cotton balls for that.

Here’s a pro tip: make sure that your detergent has zero bleach. Even then, patch-test a bit of the water-detergent mixture on a corner of your carpet to make sure that it doesn’t make the colors bleed.

After that, soak as many cotton balls as you need to cover the silly putty stain in this mixture and put them over it for approximately twenty minutes.

You need to make sure that the detergent has soaked in properly before you remove the cotton balls.

Then, use the clean cloth and dab at this stain to blot up any excess solution.

This will help loosen up the putty particles even more, so that you can pick them off by hand or a vacuum cleaner, if you see fit.

(Pro tip: If you don’t have laundry detergent, you can just use nail polish remover as an alternative. You’ll need to patch test it, of course, to make sure that it won’t ruin your carpet. Otherwise, the rest of the process is quite the same.)

Step 4: Dab it dry with a clean cloth

The final step is all about dabbing the whole patch dry. It’s a simple, if not time-consuming process.

It’ll require you to sit and keep blotting the wet area with a dry cloth until all the moisture is gone.

Let the patch air dry, and if the stain is still showing, then you need to repeat the detergent/nail polish remover step (step 3) until it fades away as much as possible.

If the stain still persists after all this, then you can call in the professional carpet cleaners to help you out. They’ll definitely drag you out of this pickle and help you get your rug or carpet back in shape.