Name: Cindy
Message: Hi!
I dyed a rubber-backed rug for my bathroom (navy blue). I ran the rug through the wash cycle again to get rid of any left over dye. It wasn't enough!!! I now have a large blue spot on my bathroom vinyl where the dye was absorbed into the flooring. I have tried straight bleach (left on for several hours)...no change. I asked a person who works for a flooring company and was told that vinyl has a poly topcoat, and that if the dye was accepted into the flooring, there is probably no way to get it out. This flooring is like new and has been well taken care of. Any ideas??? Thanks for your timely response!
Desperate in Alaska

What kind of dye did you use?

 Sorry! I used Rit Dye. Thanks!

I'm sorry, but I don't think I have good news for you. My best advice would be to contact the corporation that manufactures Rit brand dye. There is a toll-free number listed on their contact page: "call 866-794-0800, Monday - Friday, 8:00a.m. - 4:00p.m. EASTERN TIME."

If hours of exposure of the stain to straight chlorine bleach did not do the job, I'm afraid nothing else will, either. I have read of a suggestion to use rubbing alcohol (isopropanol), but hold no particular hope that it would help. The key in this case is probably the fact that vinyl flooring is highly susceptible to damage from chemicals in the rubber backing on rugs. Stains are the usual consequence, but a dangerously slippery spot is another possible result. Perhaps the chemicals from the rubber backing aided the excess dye in getting into the vinyl flooring.

Is your rug synthetic? If so, dyeing it was doomed from the start, because materials such as polyester and acrylic cannot be dyed without extensive boiling, which would destroy the backing. If it's cotton, you might have had better results with a superior sort of dye called fiber reactive dye, such as Procion MX dye, instead of all-purpose dye. All-purpose dye is never very washfast, and is particularly prone to washing out if not applied in extremely hot water. Properly fixed and washed-out fiber reactive dye would not be able to come off the rug, and therefore would have been safe. It does require extensive washing-out afterwards, though, to get rid of excess dye. Fiber reactive dye might have caused problems just as bad if the excess dye were not properly washed out afterwards.