Feces Stain Removal And Diarrhea Stain Removal Guide

Feces stain removal and diarrhea stain removal can become necessary when caring for babies, or your sick loved ones or friends, or from our pets who have accidents.

As unpleasant as the topic is, life and sickness unfortunately happen and it is best to learn how to get your home clean from these accidents. Below are instructions for how to remove both feces and diarrhea stains from clothing, upholstery and carpet.

Please note that the sooner you deal with these stains the better, for several reasons.

From a stain removal perspective the faster you deal with the stain, the more likely it is you will be able to remove the stain successfully, without great effort.

Further, you don't want these types of stains to linger in your home, just because it is yucky and you don't want it to get spread around further.

Diarrhea And Feces Stain Removal From Clothing

Step 1: Scrape off any excess feces or diarrhea from the fabric.

Hint: It may be best to dump these contents directly into the toilet.

Also, for large amounts, say, for example, on a baby's clothing, try a technique similar to flushing the contents of a cloth diaper, where you hold the fabric while dipping it in the water and flushing.

You obviously don't let go of the fabric, because you don't want it to clog your drain, but it is a good way of getting rid of large amounts of waste without having to touch it.

Step 2: Run the fabric, inside out, under cold water to flush out as much of the diarrhea or feces as possible.

Hint: Again, because this is kind of gross, you may want to flush the cloth in the toilet as discussed above instead of rinsing into a sink.

If you do need to use a sink for part of your feces stain removal process, make sure you thoroughly disinfect the sink after doing this, so germs are not spread. (Here is an article about sanitizing with bleach for more instructions, if needed.)

Step 3: Pretreat and soak the fabric in warm water with a laundry detergent which contains enzymes. Presoak for at least 30 minutes, or even longer if necessary.

Step 4: Launder in the hottest water the fabric will allow to get out the stain, and either chlorine bleach if the fabric will allow it, or oxygen bleach if not.

Hint: Make sure the stain is gone after washing, but before you place in the dryer or you may set the stain. Repeat if necessary.

Step 5: Disinfect your washing machine before laundering anything else in it.

(If you don't know how to disinfect your machine, check out my article on cleaning your washing machine here.)

Also, if you are trying to get old stains out of diapers you may find this tip about using sunshine to remove cloth diaper stains helpful.

Feces And Diarrhea Stain Removal From Upholstery

Step 1: Scrape off as much of the feces or diarrhea as possible from the upholstery without spreading the stain further.

If this is a diarrhea stain continue to step 2, if feces stain removal only skip to step 4.

Step 2: Place an absorbent, such as cornstarch or baking soda, onto the stains, and let it soak in for approximately 15 minutes.

Step 3: Scrape or vacuum up the absorbent, which has absorbed some of the liquid from the diarrhea.

Hint: Depending on the amount of the diarrhea on the upholstery you may need to repeat this step for complete diarrhea stain removal until no more liquid is absorbed by the baking soda or cornstarch.

Step 4: Mix a solution of two cups cool water, one tablespoon dishwashing liquid, and one tablespoon of white vinegar.

Step 5: Using this solution, sponge the stain from the feces or diarrhea with a clean white cloth.

Step 6: Next, blot at the stain until the liquid is absorbed.

Step 7: Repeat steps 5-6 until the feces stains or diarrhea stains are removed from the upholstery.

Step 8: Now that the stain is removed you should get plain cold water and a new white cloth and sponge the area to remove the cleaning solution, and then blot dry.

Hint: Be sure to get the upholstery only as wet as necessary to remove the stain from the feces or diarrhea.

If this does not completely remove the stain, continue on with the steps below.

Step 9: Apply hydrogen peroxide to the stained area with an eye dropper, and then apply a couple of drops of ammonia.

Before using either the hydrogen peroxide or ammonia test this stain removal method in an inconspicuous area to make sure it does not harm your upholstery.

Step 10: Now that the stain is removed you should get plain cold water and a new white cloth and sponge the area to remove the cleaning solution, and then blot dry.

You can get more information on how to clean upholstery here.

How To Remove A Feces Stain From Carpet

The instructions for feces stain removal and diarrhea stain removal from carpet is the same as for upholstery.

In addition, here are some additional tips for getting diarrhea stains out of a light colored carpet that I provided to a reader.

Finally, check out the before and after pictures for removing these spots with a home carpet cleaner.

Recommended Feces And Diarrhea Stain Removers

Perhaps you don't want to make your own stain remover, but instead want to use something designed to remove diarrhea or feces.

Here are some articles and reviews on this site which discuss how readers have gotten out these tough stains (and odors), along with various products that are designed to remove them:

Totally Toddler Pretreater

Biz & Oxiclean Presoak

Oxiclean: My Secret To Removing Baby Poop

Arm & Hammer Plus Oxiclean Detergent For Diaper Blowout

Baby Oxiclean Soaker

Nature's Miracle Stain & Odor Remover

OdoBan Pet Odor Remover

Many people use pet stain removers for feces stain removal, but which one works best?

Share your pet stain remover review with me here if you've found a great (or not so great) feces stain remover.

In addition, you can share your pet odor stain remover review here if you've found a product that gets rid of the stink and odor caused by feces and diarrhea stains.

Do You Have Any Tips To Share For Diarrhea And Feces Stain Removal?

I'm always looking for more tips and ideas for how to remove stains. You can share your stain removal tip here, for diarrhea stain removal or feces stain removal, or anything else.

Here's a reader tip I got from Mel, who shared how she uses salt for bodily fluid stain removal, including feces, from her laundry.

In addition, if your stain was caused by a pet, you can submit your own tips for how to remove a pet stain from fabric or upholstery here, or submit your own carpet pet stain tip here.

Get Even More Stain And Spot Removal Help Here

Are you a stain magnet like me? If so, check out the A to Z Stain Removal Guide which gives directions for how to remove over 100 types of stains from all kinds of surfaces.

In addition, here are some other stain removal guide pages you may need, if you need this one on poop stains!

Third photo by tiffanywashko

Related Pages You May Enjoy

A-Z Guide: Instructions For Removing Over 100 Types Of Stains

Go From Feces Stain Removal & Diarrhea Stain Removal Guide To Home Page

CAUTION: This website is provided for informational purposes only. It is provided as is, without warranties or guarantees. Some stains and messes just won't come out, and are permanent. Further, some cleaning methods can harm your item, so if what you want to clean or launder is sentimental or expensive call a professional. See disclaimer of liability for more information.