The red wine spill is something that most homeowners fear the most. There you are enjoying a nice glass of delicious red wine when it falls out of your hand or sloshes over the side of your glass and onto your carpet or light colored sofa. Before you start to panic, you should know that a red wine stain does not mean the end of your furniture or carpets. There a few easy steps that can be taken to get that carpet looking new again. It is more than possible to clean red wine from carpet.
Your carpets should be cleaned by a professional at least once a year. A homeowner should also take a few steps to clean up any spots that appear on a weekly basis. Before you buy a commercial cleaner you should always try the less toxic do it yourself solutions that you can make at home.
As with any spill a red wine carpet stain should be work on the minute that it hits your carpet. If you wait a long time before attempting to clean the spots, they will be almost impossible to remove at a later time. Using a wet cloth, you will need to pat the area so that the wine can be absorbed in the cloth. Never rub at a stain. This will only help to push the stain deeper into the fibers or cause it to get bigger with each movement. You want to pat the stain until no more of it can be lifted by the cloth.
If you have a spill you can erase the red wine from carpet by chasing the spill with white wine. Simply fill a glass of white wine and empty it directly onto the stain. A glass of white wine will make the red wine to disappear from your carpets completely.
When white wine is no available, you can make a solution of water and dish soap and place it in a spray bottle. Spray a small amount onto the red wine stain but make sure that you do not soak the area of the spill. You just want to release enough of the soapy mixture to get the stain removed. Using a new clean towel, gently daub at the spill until you have completely deleted the stain.
Another great solution that you can make at home is a mixture of dish soap and hydrogen peroxide. Apply this new mix to the stains carpet. Use only a small mixture of this solution because it will begin to lose its power to clean very quickly.
You will need to make another batch if you should have a stain at a later time. You can find a lot of red wine stain removing instructions online but you will want to be careful when using them. Many of these tips have no proof that they actually work and you could end up destroying the very carpet or sofa that you were trying to save.
Before vacuuming the rug, make sure that the carpet is completely dry. If a stain is still in the carpet, running the vacuum over the area may cause it to spread.
Besides the home remedies, you can find many stain removing products on the market. You can find specific products that will clean and remove any spill including red wine. These cleaners can clean you carpets and sofa but you should only buy and use them if the home remedies fail to get the job done. Many of these products are high in toxicity so you will want to avoid them for as long as you can. This is especially true for homes that have kids or pets in the residence.
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