Wine spills happen to the best of us. No matter how careful you are, you will have a small party one day or simply host a few friends over and some red wine gets spilled on your beautiful carpet. It is the risk of loving red wine and it is not without solutions. Red wine stains can be pesky on clothes but on a carpet, it is even more difficult to deal with. You have to know some ways to remove those red wine stains so they do not stick around for too long. If you act quickly, there is no need to fear red wine stains. Make use of the following neat tricks to get rid of red wine stains on your carpet.
For every stain, the first thing to do is blot up the stain immediately. As soon as the wine spills, pick up a rag or paper towel and act fast to blot up as much of the wine as possible before it sets into the carpet. Blot in an up and down motion not rubbing side to side so as not to increase the stain are or help the wine enter deeper into the fibers of the carpet. Also, blot from the edges into the center of the spill to control the affected area.
At some point, blotting will get difficult. Now you should add cold water to the spot and keep blotting. The water helps to dilute the wine and loosen it up for more to come out before moving on to any of the methods below.
Dishwashing liquid and hydrogen peroxide
For light colored carpets, mix dishwashing liquid with hydrogen peroxide. The amount of the mixture will depend on the size of the wine stain. Blot the mixture into the stain with a clean rag working in sections until the entire affected area is covered. Allow the mixture sit for a few minutes to penetrate deep into the carpet fibers. Mix cold water with a little dish soap in a bowl or spray bottle and spray or dab it on the stained area. Blot with a dry cloth or paper towel. Use lukewarm water and blot the area to remove the soapy residue.
The salt trick
The blotting will help but will not get rid of the stain. While the affected area is still wet, cover it liberally in salt. As the salt sits there, the granules will draw the moisture and stain out of the carpet. This will take a few hours. Do not use this treatment over a dried area, wet it if it is too dry. Allow the salt to sit and do its work and leave it there overnight if you are not in a rush. The salt will turn pink in color as it absorbs the stain. Scoop off the salt when the stain is gone or vacuum the carpet.
Vinegar solution
Mix 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and 1 tablespoon of dishwashing liquid into 2 cups of warm water. Combine these ingredients in a big bowl and stir. White vinegar is better because it does not leave a stain of its own. With a clean cloth, dab the mixture on the affected part of the carpet. The mixture will enter into the carpet fiber and loosen up the stain. Use a dry towel to dab the area as you work. Alternate between cold water and the mixture and dab it dry until you have your desired results.
White wine and baking soda
Pour white wine or plain vodka on the stain to lessen the red color. Blot this lightly with a sponge to soak up the color and avoid pressing it deeper into the carpet fibers. Make a paste with three parts water and one part baking soda. Spread this paste over the affected area and cover the area with a clean cloth overnight. Use a heavyweight on the cloth to apply pressure and push the baking soda deeper into the stain for better cleaning. The cloth may get wet so only use a weight that will not be affected by moisture. The baking soda will form clumps and dry after soaking up the stain. Vacuum the area to remove the clumps.
Next day solution
Cleaning up will be more difficult if you did not notice the spill when it happened. The red wine stain would have dried. In this case, you need to pour a lot of hot water on the stain and apply pre-treatment. Apply an oxi product on the stain for 2 hours to 10 hours.
If the above do-it-yourself solutions do not work then your only option might be to call a professional carpet cleaning service like Prestige Specialist Cleaning if you’re in the greater Bristol area. The industrial grade products used by professionals will help to return your carpet back to its former stainless glory and solve your worries.
Wine Glass Red Bordeux Merlot Chianti Stain Spill image by Michael Jastremski for openphoto.net