Carpets are expensive and they are a long-term investment. If you are someone who has kids in the house or if you host a lot of guests, getting the carpet ruined could be one if your worst nightmares. No matter how exquisite and expensive a carpet is, it is extremely difficult to clean them especially when there are tough stains involved. They are not something that you can roll and dump into a laundry machine for a spin, nor can you scrub them with harsh washing products and tools.
One of the biggest threats to carpets used inside homes is food stains especially red stains. Red food color stains such as those found in beverages and other edibles are extremely stubborn to get rid of. The worst part is that you cannot use very harsh cleaning agents on carpets as they can ruin the delicate microfibers for good. If you are stuck with a similar situation and do not know how to get rid of red drink stains from the carpet, here are a few hacks to help you.
Things That You Should Keep Handy
Make sure you have a supply of a few important things at hand for your carpet emergencies. You will need a few white or light colored sheets of cloth for blotting, a mild liquid dishwashing detergent, a carpet cleaner, white vinegar, water and a vacuum cleaner. It is wise to keep a stock of cloth sheets especially if you have kids in the house or if you have people consuming beverages in your house regularly since that makes your carpet more vulnerable.
What to Do if a Red Drink Spills Over the Carpet?
In an event of a drink spilling over your carpet, the sooner you react, the better. The first thing that you will need to do is to take the clean white sheets of cloth and put it on the area where the drink has spilt to blot as much of the content as possible. While blotting be careful not to press the cloth too hard or scrub the carpet as it will end up setting the drink deeper in the carpet. Ideally, work from outside towards the center so that you can keep the liquid from spreading to a larger area.
Next, take a cup of water and mix about ½ table spoon of a mild dishwashing liquid in the water to prepare a cleaning solution. It is not a good idea to use very strong laundry detergents and cleaning agents as they can ruin the carpet and it is very difficult to get their residue particles off the carpet. Moreover, most strong cleaning agents have strong fragrances which can hard to get rid of.
Once you have the cleaning solution prepared, use a white cloth and gently apply it on the carpet. The red stains on the white cloth will indicate how much of the stain has been absorbed by the cloth. In case you feel that the stain has still not been removed, make another solution using 2 parts water and 1 part white vinegar. Take another sheet of white cloth and repeat the step as you did with the previous cleaning solution. Use a carpet cleaner only if the stain still exists and strictly follow the instruction on the product while doing so.
Once the stain is completely gone Use another clean white cloth to apply water to the carpet so that it can be rinsed. Once rinsed let the carpet dry, finally, use a vacuum cleaner over the carpet so that it sucks away in residual particles and refreshes the micro fibers.
