5 Common Carpet Stains And How To Clean Them
It is inevitable that your carpets are going to get spilled on. No one is perfect. Add kids and pets to the mix, and the chances that your carpets are going to take a beating go way up. Over time, if not treated properly, a buildup of stains can make a carpet look ugly and worn out, even if it's relatively new. Below are five common carpet stains and how you can go about cleaning them should you encounter them.
Kool-Aid. To get rid of those vibrant Kool-Aid stains, try a mixture of vinegar, dish soap and water in a spray bottle. Use 1/4 cup white vinegar, 1 tablespoon of dish soap and fill the rest with water. Spray the area and let it soak for around ten minutes and then blot dry with a clean towel. Always conduct a blot test on a small area of carpet before treating the larger area to make sure your cleaning solution isn't going to do more harm than good.
Pet stains. It's not always possible to train the dog or the cat to be 100 per cent reliable with their bathroom habits. Pet stains happen and when they do, it's good to know you can get rid of them with the right ingredients. The best way to treat a pet stain is to simply blot it out. If the stain has already dried by the time you get to it, moisten it with water before attempting to blot it out or you risk further ingraining it into the fibres.
Coffee Stains. The first step to removing a coffee stain is to blot the area dry. A mixture of vinegar, water and dish soap should then be applied via a spray bottle, in the same ratio as that used for Kool-Aid spills. There are also certain coffee stain removal products that can be found at places like Walmart, which are designed especially to treat coffee stains without damaging the carpet. It's always better, however, to go all-natural when you can.
Blood. Cuts and scrapes happen and the aftermath sometimes end up staining the carpet. The most important thing about treating a blood stain is to get at it as fast as possible. To get blood out of a carpet, you will need cold water, rather than hot water. Heat causes blood to coagulate and ingrain itself into the carpet fibres. To clean out blood you will need about 2 tablespoons of liquid dish soap with great fighting power mixed with water in spray bottle.
Ink. Ink stains are perhaps the most insidious stains you can have to deal with because ink is designed especially to stain and to penetrate in the very pores of the fibres. You are going to want to dampen a cloth with rubbing alcohol, and dab the ink out. Do not rub, or scrub at the ink or you will just end up doing more damage.
If you live somewhere long enough, you, one of your guests, one of your pets or one of your kids will spill something and stain your carpet. A white carpet will never stay perfectly white forever, but if you keep in mind the above five stains and their respective treatment methods, you should be able to minimize the amount of damage done to your carpets by these common stains.