Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Not sure which forum to post this in, as I didn't see anything similar upon searching, so House it is. I had some guests visit on Friday evening. I didn't notice until today that someone (pardon the grossness) threw up red wine on the wall to wall beige carpeting. It's in my sewing area, which I don't use daily, so I just noticed 2-days later.
I haven't yet tried anything. I've long heard that seltzer water & salt can remove a fresh red wine stain, but since this is dry & not just wine would that remedy work?
I was going to scrub it with hot soap/water (just to clean, I'm sure that will do nothing for the stain) & then try OxyClean powder & water & let it soak, but since I live in a rental, it's wall to wall so cannot be replaced & I have had OC eat away clothing fibers before, I'm afraid it could be too strong.
Any suggestions? I'm in this loft 'til April, so have plenty of time to try different cleaning suggestions... as a last resort, I'll just tell the property manager & see if her cleaning crew can tackle it... I was hoping to preserve my security deposit, so that will be if all else fails.
You might want to pick up Bissell's Little Green Machine. While I haven't cleaned up red wine is a long time, but I remember using club soda and I think it worked. I know that it worked on cherry pie stuck in the sofa. However, to be on the safe side, get an LGM. It will be handy for other spills. I also use Spot Shot for cleanups, but I always have to follow up with the Bissell.
I use carpet cleaner liquid and Oxyclean in my carpet cleaner and it works although scrubbing with a brush is needed on tough stains. All of the carpet I cleaned was inexpensive (either poly or nylon) and was not damaged.
Stain Rx (a.k.a. Erado-Sol), is the best stain remover out there. I have been using it on red wine stains since 1969. Just touch it to red wine, iodine, berries (INCLUDING POMEGRANATE), fruit punch, cranberry juice, and the stains disappear in a second. Stains such as mascara, lipstick, blood, balsamic vinegar, vanilla extract and others come out with a little massaging and rinsing. Soak your diamond, gold and platinum jewelry in it for 20 minutes to overnight, you won’t believe it! By the way, the University of California – Davis did a study on red wine stain removal and the #1, ready to use winner was Stain Rx (a.k.a. Erado-Sol). It killed Wine Away which is available everywhere. Go to Ultimate Stain Remover - Stain Rx - Red Wine, Food, Blood, Grass & Fruit Stains to see what else it does.
As far as carpeting and upholstery: I use Stain Rx on carpeting and upholstery all the time and have the method down. First, I vacuum the entire carpet or piece of upholstery being treated. Then I clean the entire carpet or upholstery with my Hoover Steam-Vac, a carpet shampooer is at least as good, plus, I ONLY use warm water - no detergent at all. The Hoover sprays in water and vacuums it out. For the carpet I use the Steam-Vac and on upholstery I use the Steam-Vac attachments to do this. While the carpet or upholstery is still wet from this step, do the following; Depending on the size of the stain, put a “dot” of Stain Rx on your fingertip and rub out one stain at a time. After treating a stain, remove all the soapy residue from that area using the instructions below and go on to the next stain. HERE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART: You have to remove all the soapy residue using the attachments from the Steam-Vac, carpet shampooer or a wet/dry shop vacuum. RINSE OUT ALL OF THE SOAPY RESIDUE USING WATER AND THE VACUUM. If you leave Stain Rx in the area, dust will stick forming a gray spot in a few weeks. If this happens, just add water and remove all of the soapy residue.
You might want to pick up Bissell's Little Green Machine. While I haven't cleaned up red wine is a long time, but I remember using club soda and I think it worked. I know that it worked on cherry pie stuck in the sofa. However, to be on the safe side, get an LGM. It will be handy for other spills. I also use Spot Shot for cleanups, but I always have to follow up with the Bissell.
SXM... Thank you so much, this sounds great. I'm highly annoyed I have to purchase a $80-100 vaccuum steamer to clean 1 stain, but if it will save my deposit, it's a necessity. Having asthma, I normally get a rental without carpeting, so this may be a Craigslist special in a few months.
I'm sans car, so will order online & report back my results in a few weeks. So far, the Bissel site has the cheapest price... $80.
Hate to sound gross, but... I guess I should let the stain sit there until I receive the LGM??? All I could do now is get heavy gloves & a bucket of screaming hot water to saturate it & clean a bit... not sure if any manipulation will imbed the red wine deeper into the fibers? Gee... I had no idea I was so helpless with stain removal... until this accident, I thought I was a bona fide Martha Stewart.
I use carpet cleaner liquid and Oxyclean in my carpet cleaner and it works although scrubbing with a brush is needed on tough stains. All of the carpet I cleaned was inexpensive (either poly or nylon) and was not damaged.
Elena... Thank you, as well, this is very helpful. Today I will order the Bissel LGM recommended above... I guess I may have to try different combos of cleaners to see what happens. Since you've done brush scrubbing & it did no harm, I'll try to clean up the stain first with some Oxy & see what happens... going out to Ace Hardware now to buy a brush suitable to scrub a carpet. This looks like the cheap poly/nylon carpeting, too... gee, I hate wall to wall carpeting, it always looked so horrible to me... now I like it even less.
Ironic thing is I just purchased $1K in carpets to cover the entire first floor of the loft because I'm so clumsy... wanted to have espresso spills on my carpeting, then discard it, rather than the WTW. Didn't factor in people loosing lunch in the upstairs loft area & I don't bring food/drink there, so of course, it's the only carpeting not covered by area rugs. Maybe I'll buy a velvet rope or caution tape to cordon off the upstairs... does Ace carry that, too?
Thanks again, you're both dolls for replying so quickly!
Haakee... Checked the website from which you cut & pasted & it says it cannot be used on rayon/acetate (I'm sure the rug is nylon/acetate/poly) but colorfast fabrics for wine stains... so it can't be used.
It states restaurants normally use this product for wine stains, in tableclothes, I'd imagine... most restaurants I've been in don't have carpeting. But, thanks for the effort... I'm assuming you don't work for the company/distributor??
Update... Just came back from Ace. They sold me a small carpet cleaning brush, $4 & Folex Instant Carpet Spot Remover (including removal of red wine, coffee, blood, rust), which states it's excellent for upholstery, $8 for 32oz spray bottle. He said he used it at Home Depot to remove spots from everything, including oil from carpeting remnants.
He told me to completely saturate the spot with cleaner, let it sit for a few minutes, massage it a bit with fingers/brush & wipe up with white paper towels/cloth. The directions say it doesn't need rinsing, also. I'm thinking I need to wash the (pardon the grossness, again) throw up from the spot first (it's about 12 sq in of dried food/wine), but he said just let the chemicals do the work. Folex can be used in a carpet cleaning machine, too... diluted with 4-6 parts water to 1 part Folex, which is why I'm asking... of course, I'll just test 1 small spot first before doing the whole stain.
He said it may save me from having to rent/buy a steamer, so I'll give it a try. Before I do, I thought I'd post this once again to see if anyone thought I should try hot water/brush and/or soap first, to dislodge the dried food/wine in the carpeting?
FABULOUS UPDATE: This Folex works amazingly well! In fact, the results are so good & it's so fast (cleans completely in seconds), I stopped after 2 test spots to load my camera... I don't think anyone will believe this if they don't see before/after pics.
I did what Ace Hardware suggested & didn't scrub with water/soap first. With dry paper towels, I pulled off as much surface crust as I could & was pleased to see that was the majority of the stain... which was close to black. (Well, at least I can thank the party spewer for eating beforehand... maybe that saved too much damage of the carpeting.) I sprayed a section about 4 sq in, waited 10-seconds & could see it disappearing, took the small brush & rubbed it very gently twice & saw the stain completely disappear... I then took dry, white paper towels & it blotted up gray & wine color from the rug (mostly gray, although there is no gray stain... odd). I then did another 4 sq in area with the same results. The carpet looks slightly darker than the light beige of the overall carpet, but that may be because it's slightly wet from chemicals.
I stopped to let it dry a bit to see if I need to go over that same area again & also, to load the camera so I can have pics for myself. I'll treat the whole stain bit by bit tonight the same way, let air dry overnight, then check the color in daylight. If it's darker, I'll do a test spot again & rework the whole area the same way. If it remains darker still, I may as well do a once over again, then buy the Bissel steamer as a last resort to save $100+, once I add in S&H & cleaners. I'll be so overjoyed if all I need to spend is the $12 + roll of paper towels.
I'm also going to treat a few missed spots with this stuff, which were already on the carpeting when I moved in... the property mngr said the carpet was pro cleaned... I don't disbelieve her, but it is amazingly filthy for a 1-yr old carpet... brand new white socks are black within 15-min & there are plenty of missed dark spots. She may not remember the spots were there before me... so I'll spruce it up a bit.
Just wanted to give some feedback as it might save others time, hassle & money in the longrun. This is a really cheap wall to wall & it didn't ruin, so I'm very pleased. Glad I wandered into Ace for the brush suggested above (I was going to buy the Bissel if they had it... glad they don't carry that brand), otherwise I'd have just tried soap/water, probably with iffy results. Thank you all again. If anyone wants to see the results, I'd be happy to post pics in a couple of days.
Tues Update: Carpet looks very good, better than expected. Strange thing is since the beige carpeting has a nap, the stain is still slightly obvious if brushed one way, but not when brushed another. So, I'll do another couple of passes with the Ace cleaner to see if it clears up.
But, I've still a problem. There are no fumes at all with the cleaner, which is great. Problem is the smell from the stain is horrendous when near the rug. It's not faint, it's very obvious... I noticed it initially while vacuuming over it... when I got close to the carpet it made me cringe. Perhaps it means I'll be needing the steam cleaner after all... but, in an attempt to keep costs low, can anyone recommend a product for removing odors alone, which could be used on nylon/poly carpeting & won't restain the carpet? At this point, I don't care what the product smells like... orangy, which I dislike, lemony, flowery, even chemically... it's better than what I've got.
Thanks again. Overall, I'm thrilled with the results... will be even moreso once the odor has cleared.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Best for red wine stain removal.
