oil based wood stain

So, my mom's boyfriend just called me. Yesterday he had a can of minwax oil based stain leak onto the carpet. He is not sure of the maount that leaked. I am guessing 8-10 oz. He is not concerned with removing the discoloration, as the carpet is a dark color already. What he is concerned with is the strong smell that gives him a strong headache while driving. He asked what he could do. I said he would need a solvent, but I do not know the proper solvent to use, and if I should use my Bissell LGM or just towels.

The can says to clean with mineral spirits or paint thinner, but I am not sure these are acceptable to use on interior carpet.

Vehicle is a 2003 Ford Explorer.

Thanks in advance!

 

I would mop up as much as possible with some old thirts or terry towels then hit it with laquer thinner. The carpet is ruined at this point anyway so whats there to lose if the laquer thinner does stain the stain :giggle:

I honestly do not beleive it will though. If it did you could also come back and redye that area once you have it cleaned and dry :cig:

 

I guess my biggest worry is a strong solvent destroying the carpet glue/backing.

 

If worse comes to worse go to the salvage yard and find another 03 Explorer to gut, clean and install :drinking2:

 

lol, yeah I guess there's always that!

 

Pete...I would think any solvent whether it be mineral spirits or whatever, if it's strong enough to remove the stain, it would also be strong enough to adversely affect the glue. You are trading one evil for another. Try what Flash suggests with the old shirts and mop up as much as possible (might be too late for that too) and then go at it with an increasing amount of aggressiveness with leaving the mineral spirits till the end. In other words, save the big gun till the end in case it does more harm than good. We'll all be interested in how it turns out...be sure to take icture:and let us know!

 

I don't think I will be attacking this one. Right now I'm jut going to give him advice. If he needs help, I'll help him out for sure.

 

Thinner in a car would smell horrible. I would def. use mineral spirits. If he has a proplem with how it smells now and you used thinner to clean. It would be like sticking your nose to a gallon thinner.

 

Towels (blue shop paper towels) to pull the oil up out of the carpet. I would then scrub the hell out of the area with Dawn blue dish detergent or a citrus based degreaser to try to break up the oil. Next, I would let that area dry.

Best of luck!