Never has there been a substance so infuriatingly difficult to remove from any sort of fabric as chewing gum. It sticks like napalm to clothes and carpets alike and ends up causing as much damage, not only is it a major eyesore, but trying to remove it will mean you end up damaging the carpet as well. The very nature of gum is that it is chewed for a short period of time before being summarily tossed away. Sadly, the lifespan of the damn thing is longer than its lifespan of its flavour but the following is an overview of useful methods to effectively remove it.
Ice is your best friend when it comes to gum removal, all you need to do to is place some frozen ice cubes into a plastic bag and then gently place the bag of ice directly on top of the gum. Leave the bag for roughly 15 minutes and by this time the gum should have frozen completely thus making totally solid.
With the gum now solid you can quite easily peel it away, you may want to use a blunt tip such as a screwdriver to get a decent amount of leverage underneath the gum and then steadily chisel away. Whilst incredibly simple, this method is guaranteed to work and best of all because there is no cleaning detergents or solutions, you will not have to worry about causing any harm to the carpet. High pressure steam can be used as well to remove a wad of gum, steamers can be rented and will require a special cleaning solution. You will need to persevere with the steamer, aiming the steam at the gum several times in order to have some success.
Canned air is also very effective, it works on the same lines as the steam method but is much cheaper, simply shake the can and spray the air directly on the wad of gum, best of all the gum will freeze instantly and this makes the gum brittle. Next take a hammer to the gum and watch in delight as it shatters into a number of fragments all of which are easily picked up.
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