Carpet Stains and How to Remove
Removing Coffee Stains -
We’ve all been there.. You’re enjoying a delicious well needed cup of coffee and it’s ended up on your lovely carpet! Nightmare! Coffee stains are up there with red wine stains for just being an absolute nightmare, and so stubborn to remove! The number one rule with coffee, if you can, is to act quickly, don’t give it the chance to seep in as much as you can.
SO what solutions are there to cleaning coffee stains? Well there’s several…
1. Cold Water
With solutions, start simple first and try cold water. Have some towels handy, preferably a couple of microfibre cloths, one damp and one dry. Sponge the stained area with your damp cloth before blotting it dry with the second. Continue this process and fingers crossed if you’ve acted quickly enough you should have fully removed the stain.
2. Soap
Use a typical house hold soap or detergent like fairy liquid. Rub a small amount into the stain (not too hard to rub the stain in further) and leave this to sit for about an hour if possible and making sure it doesn’t dry. Once time is up, rinse with water and hopefully this will have done the trick for you. Again keep a microfibre cloth hand to blot the area dry after rinsing.
3. Vinegar
Vinegar is every cleaners friend, we basically can use it on everything which is why it’s of course appeared on this list! Mix some white vinegar with water and with a microfibre cloth dip into the solution and scrub until the stain disappears. You may want to add a bit of carpet freshener once dried if you don’t want that fish and chippy smell….
Removing Pet Stains -
We love our little four legged friends, but when you first bring them home there’s bound to be a few accidents, and unfortunately these can lead to stains and bad odours. So here is a great method to help you remove the stains and have your house smelling nice and fresh again.
1. Vinegar (We told you it was popular for cleaning!)
Mix a solution of 50/50 white vinegar and Luke warm water like you would for the coffee stain and if viable empty into a spray bottle. The vinegar will act to neutralise the stain and get rid of all if not the majority of the odour. Make sure you have enough solution to be able to thoroughly soak the pet stained section of carpet. Once you have sprayed the carpet until soaked, use a soft bristled brush to scrub at the pile. A toothbrush is ideal for smaller areas but you will want a larger brush if the pet stain is a bit bigger.
Once your satisfied you’ve scrubbed as much as you can, blot the area with a clean cloth or paper towels. Your carpet should now be looking like nothing ever happened!
Removing Red Wine Stains -
Getting red wine out of carpet is one of the biggest disasters we adults can do, because one.. it stains your carpet, but two, you’ve lost out on a glass of wine! Oh no! Luckily we have a few solutions when it comes to carpet stain removal, in fact, we have 3 options!
1. Baking Soda
After the spillage has happened (cry!) blot the red wine stain with a clean cloth or towel to absorb any excess liquid, then pour a bit of cold water over the stain to help saturated it. We don’t recommend a massive amount, 1/4 of a cup depending on how big the stain is. The water will help dilute the red wine some and help you to blot up more of the stain.
Keep on blotting at the wet stain until your happy that there isn’t much moisture left. This is where the baking soda comes in. Make a paste mixing 1 part water to 3 parts baking soda so you make what looks like a thick cake better substance and generously apply this all over the stained area of your carpet. Leave this to sit for about 20 minutes until it dries out and then simply vacuum the residue from the carpet. This should have effectively removed the stain for you!
2. Vinegar, AGAIN!
Like with the baking soda, make sure to blot the stain first using a cloth or towel to absorb the remaining liquid. Then mix 1 cup of warm water with a tablespoon of WHITE vinegar, it’s been found that vinegar can effectively neutralise the red wine’s pigments. Dip a clean cloth into the solution and begin blotting again and continue this until the red wine stain has dissolved. Leave to air and then give your carpet a spritz of something fresh to avoid the funky vinegar smell in your home!
3. White Wine…. Seriously!
So you obviously are more partial to a red, but fingers crossed you may have a bottle of white wine sitting around somewhere. You may have heard the myth that white wine can help remove red wine stains and it’s absolutely true! It actually neutralises the pigment in the red wine. So… Grab your bottle of white wine and pour it directly onto the red wine stain. Don’t go crazy and pour the entire bottle though, just enough t completely cover the stain will do. Then, like everything else, get blotting. Use a clean damp (with water) cloth and blot away until the red starts to fade. If this red wine is particularly stubborn try adding some salt or baking soda onto of the white wine and let it sit for up to 5 minutes or until the stain seems to have completely faded. Vacuum up the salt and baking soda residue and continue blotting until the stain has gone.
Removing Mud…
The great British weather isn’t always, if mostly that pleasant. However, a bit of rain doesn’t put us off doing what we need to do or where we need to go. We just put on our walking moots and wrap up warmly and head out. It’s great fun, but there’s always one thing that can slightly dampen it and that’s the muddy footprints that your family leave on your carpets as they come in from the damp grassy or muddy puddles. So what to do when you see the mud?
One thing that may sound odd, but trust it it works! Is to let the mud completely dry. If you try to clean up wet mud you’ll find it actually spreads and stains your carpet even more. So when the mud is completely dry you can start the remove. The best way is by using your vacuum, preferably with the nozzle as this can hone in on the mudded area. If you find that any soil is still stuck to the fibres after you’ve vacuumed then you’ll need to scape away the mu to loosen it off. To do this simple grab a spoon or micro brush and gently brush/scrape at the carpet, being careful not to damage your pile. When you see that the mud has loosened vacuum once again and repeat these steps until all the dried mud has been removed.