November has arrived along with festive parties, family gatherings and holiday celebrations. If you frequently host family and friends for seasonal traditions, you know that food and drinks are going to be the stars of the show.
However, with all your guests chatting amongst one another and little ones running around, spilling food and drink on your plush (most often lightly colored) carpet is inevitable. And what stain is infamously worse than all the rest? Red wine.
When red wine attacks, time is of the essence; the sooner you can treat the stain, the better. Before you have time to gather your arsenal of cleaning products, take water and blot the carpeting around the edges of the wine stain. This will help prevent the stain from spreading and by keeping the stain wet, you have a better chance at avoiding irreversible damage.
A tried and true method of removing wine stains from carpet is by using household products hydrogen peroxide and banking soda. After you’ve blotted up as much of the wine as possible (blot, never wipe or scrub) spray hydrogen peroxide over the stain, followed by a hefty coating of baking soda. After completely covering the stained area, let the products do their magic for two to three minutes. A final rinse with water should remove the stain, or at least have a majority of the dark tint removed, allowing your regular carpet cleaners to successfully finish the job.
If you don’t have hydrogen peroxide or baking soda on hand, head to your cocktail bar and grab a can of club soda. When poured over the stain, the carbonation from the soda will help lift the wine from the carpet and the salt acts as a buffer to prevent the stain from setting.
Where there is red wine, there’s often white, so if all else fails, turn to white wine to get rid of that pesky stain. While two wrongs rarely make a right, this is an exception to the rule. The particles in white wine counteract with those in red, making it easier to remove the original stain. Similar to the baking soda, hydrogen peroxide method, blot the stain and remove any remaining blemishes with regular carpet cleaning solutions.
If you’re really worried, our best recommendations are keeping your wine drinkers in the kitchen where laminate and tile floors are much more forgiving when it comes to spills and stains. And for those unavoidable carpeted areas, think about purchasing temporary area rugs that can be conveniently removed once the New Year rolls around.
For more floor cleaning solutions and other flooring tips, visit our website at www.uniqueflooringsandiego.com or contact a flooring specialist today at 760-945-0010.
-
2 mins
