The Aftermath Way: Removing Blood from Carpet

When you clean blood off the carpet, the eye test may tell you the mess is gone, the hazard removed. But the truth is, blood seeps below the carpet. It soaks into the padding and often seeps into the subflooring. In fact, the affected area expands as it descends through each layers of matting and flooring. If this expansion is not treated, if the partner you choose to clean up and remove potential bloodborne pathogens is not thorough, the lingering bloodborne pathogens can affect your family weeks or even months the initial cleaning.

Watch a video detailing our process

The video below provides insight into the Aftermath process. Specifically, it details how we safely remove and remediate blood as it seeps through flooring.

We go farther and clean deeper because it has always been our goal to set the industry standard. There is no direct governing body regulating this industry, so it is especially important to choose a partner who pays attention to detail on a microscopic level.

Our process leaves nothing to chance

Aftermath leads the industry in proper biohazard remediation. Our 28-point checklist is a guide that ensures we leave an affected area safe. These environmentally-conscious guiding principles also define how we clean and dispose of blood spills in a way that protects a home’s occupants, our employees and anyone who comes in contact with the area in the future.

1. We wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Our employees wear full protective gear when cleaning an affected area. This is in accordance to OSHA’s employee safety and universal precaution guidelines. The PPE protects the employee against bloodborne pathogens and prevents the spread of potential dangers. After each job, the suit is properly disposed of to prevent the spread of biohazards beyond the affected area.

2. Where others may “clean,” we remove

Aftermath assesses every affected area for hazards and removes the visible hazards, like a pooling of blood, first. Then we go deeper to check if the blood seeped underneath to the padding. If affected, we remove padding and properly dispose of the material. We reassess the situation and check whether the sub-floor has been affected.

3. We remove affected sub-floor and solid surfaces

We clean and remove the sub-floor in an affected area. When liquids reach a hard surface, they spread. If the section of sub-floor cannot be removed right away, we mark it off to prevent people in the area from stepping on it and cross-contaminating the surroundings, and remove it later.

4. We remove the rest of the carpet

We remove carpeting in the secondary affected area. These are areas that have been contaminated, often inadvertently, by family members, first responders, or coroners who tracked biohazards from the primary area to the secondary area. As a precaution and to ensure that we eliminate the cross-contamination, we remove all of the carpeting.

5. Prepare for our next call

After a thorough job, Aftermath properly disposes of all waste and disinfects all tools that were used to clean an affected area. This ensures no cross-contamination from one job to the next and protects anyone who comes in contact with our tools between service calls.

We treat every situation with the utmost care

Whether an affected area is small or large, we approach blood cleanup with care and attention. It is impossible to know if blood contains a communicable disease, so it is always imperative that all trace amounts of biological material are removed.

We aim to deliver peace of mind, helping families, friends, and communities know that after Aftermath cleans an affected area, the area no longer poses a threat — today or in the future.