Holiday Clean Up Tips

To help you with your post-celebratory holiday clean up we will be releasing a short series of clean up tips to get your home back to its original condition.

Removing Carpet Stains

Can you guess what the most common holiday spill is? If you guessed wine, you’d be right.

But did you know all you needed was some baking soda, dish soap and water to remediate this most common and stubborn of stains?

How to Remove Red Wine Stains from Carpet

1. Blot up as much as possible with clean napkins, rags or a towel without rubbing back and forth to avoid spreading and to prevent carpet fiber tears.
2. Sprinkle baking soda over the stained area and agitate it gently with a spoon.
3. Vacuum the area containing the baking soda and repeat steps 1-3 as needed.
4. Create a mixture of two cups of water and add 1 tablespoon of dish soap. Apply this soap based mixture to the stained area, agitate it and allow it to sit for at least 1 to 2 minutes.
5. Blot up the mixture and flush with clean water again without rubbing back and forth to avoid spreading and to prevent carpet fiber tears. Alternatively you may blot up the mixture and finish with hydrogen peroxide. But be careful! Hydrogen peroxide is a bleaching agent which means it will also remove color from your carpet.

How to Remove Sugar Based Soda from Carpet

1. Blot up as much as possible with clean napkins, rags or a towel without rubbing back and forth to avoid spreading and to prevent carpet fiber tears.
2. Create a mixture of two cups of water and add 1 tablespoon of dish soap and a tablespoon of distilled white vinegar into a spray bottle.
3. Spray the stain and blot up the area.
4. Repeat until spot odor is removed.

How to Remove Other Drink Stains from Carpet

For all other drink spills, use a general carpet cleaning formula. Try our “do it yourself” spot cleaning recipe:

1. Add 1/4 tablespoon of dish soap to 1 cup of water in a spray bottle.
2. Spray the spot, but don’t soak the area.
3. Blot up the area without rubbing back and forth to avoid spreading and to prevent carpet fiber tears.
4. Continue until the stain is lifted.

How to Remove Grease from Carpet

Ammonia can react poorly with natural and nylon fibers. Pretest a small non-noticeable area to see if ammonia has any negative effects on your carpet. Once you know that treating your carpet with ammonia will not adversely affect your carpet proceed with the following steps.

1. Sprinkle baking soda around the grease spot and use a spoon to agitate the baking soda into the spot. The baking soda should clump and discolor as the grease is absorbed.Vacuum up the baking soda and repeat this step until it no longer clumps.
2. Next, mix a solution of 12 ounces of water and 3 ounces of ammonia. Using a spray bottle, spray the spot but don’t soak it.
3. Agitate the spot with a spoon and use a clean, white towel to blot it dry.
4. Repeat this step until as much of the grease as possible has been removed.
5. Flush the spot with clean, cold water and blot up as much of the excess water as possible.
6. Finally, mix a solution of 4 ounces of vinegar with 12 ounces of water. Leave the solution on the carpet for at least one minute before blotting up as much of it as possible.
7. Let the area dry completely before walking on it.

Getting Professional Cleanup Help

At Mr. and Mrs. Restore, we have a team of environmental professionals specializing in odor identification. Should you or someone you know need assistance, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us directly at (833) 379-6691 or via email using our online contact form.