Ink
A dye carried in a solvent, so it responds to a solvent — and the trade sequence ends somewhere most household advice starts.
Precautions
- Test on an inconspicuous area first
- Ventilate the area
- Never mix with other cleaning products
In detail
Ink is a colourant dissolved or dispersed in a carrier, which is why it behaves unlike a food stain: the mark is not sitting on the fibre, it has been delivered into it by something designed to carry it there. The carpet trade's sequence begins with a non-flammable spot removal solution or dry-cleaning type solvent, then a weak detergent solution, and finally an ammonia solution. Two cautions travel with that. Solvent must never be poured onto the carpet or allowed to reach the backing, where it can damage the latex bonding the primary and secondary backings together. And ammonia carries its own warning in this guidance — used improperly it can cause a colour change, so a hidden area must be tested first. CleaningHQ adds one the trade page does not: an ammonia solution applied where a bleach-based product has been used is the documented route to chloramine gas in a home, and a bathroom or utility area is exactly where both end up. The practical shape of the answer is that ink is worked from the edges inwards on a cloth, patiently, for as long as colour keeps transferring to it.
Sources for this page
Sources
Spot Solver: spot and spill removal procedures
The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) · Trade or professional body
Relied on for: That the sequence for ink is a dry-cleaning type solvent, then a detergent solution, then an ammonia solution, that solvent must not reach the backing because it damages the latex bond, and that ammonia used improperly can cause a colour change so a hidden area must be tested. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — Sprints 5-10 read fifteen entries stain by stain. Sprint 30 enumerated the database from the publisher's own spot-solver sitemap — 296 entries — and read 134 more, chosen by open demand and by soil class rather than alphabetically, plus the generic 'Unknown' entry. 135 of 296 entries now read. Supports the claim as stated.
Hazard Alert — Worker Health and Safety: Mixing Bleach with Other Cleaning Products Can Be Deadly
New Jersey Department of Health, Environmental and Occupational Health Surveillance Program · Government or regulator
Relied on for: That combining an ammonia product with a bleach product releases chloramine gases, and that exposures have arisen from one product being applied where another was already present. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — Page 1, the two case reports and the bleach/ammonia and bleach/acid paragraphs; page 2, the "DANGEROUS CHEMICAL COMBINATIONS — DO NOT MIX" list and the safe-work-practices panel. Supports a wider statement — our claim was widened. The register gained authoritative support for three hazards CleaningHQ had not recorded: bleach with alcohols, hydrogen peroxide with acetic acid, and the sequential-use route evidenced by both case reports. Incompatibility records were added for the first two, and the sequential-exposure wording on the existing bleach-and-acid record now rests on a case report rather than on inference.
Last reviewed by a person on .