Preparing for a Cleaning Inspection

Posted on: 15 April 2015

Are you guilty of spilling your early morning cup of tea or coffee while still half asleep? Maybe you have kids who just love to knock your mug over? Tea and coffee stains are an inevitable part of family life, but stains on your carpet just don't look welcoming and can age your décor. Get rid of them while they're still fresh using the following stain removal tips:

Tea & Coffee

Remove fresh tea and coffee stains as follows:

1. Use an absorbent cloth to dab the stain and remove as much tea or coffee as you can. Microfibre cloths work well for soaking up liquid and are easy to wring out, so large spillages can be tackled with a single cloth.
2. Combine 300g of bicarbonate of soda with a few drops of cold water to create a paste. This natural stain remover fizzes when wet and works by loosening and absorbing the stain.
3. Spread the bicarbonate of soda paste over the stained area of your carpet and allow it dry before vacuuming up the residue. The stain should be gone and no one will ever know it was there in the first place.

Milk

What if you also spill milk that was intended for your tea or coffee? Milk has a nasty sour smell when it's left to dry into a carpet, and you won't want guests smelling sour milk as soon as they walk into your home. Remove milk stains as follows:

1. Dab the spilled milk with an absorbent cloth to remove as much as possible from the carpet.
2. Fill a spray bottle with neat distilled vinegar, which is a natural disinfectant, and gently rub it into the stain with a cloth. Rubbing the vinegar in will loosen the satin, but don't rub too hard or you may damage the carpet fibres.
3. Cover the milk stain with soda crystals and allow to completely dry before vacuuming over the stain. Soda crystals absorb the stain in the same way bicarbonate of soda does, but they're also a powerful odour neutraliser.

These tips are ideal for fresh stains and can help you keep your carpet looking like new, but older stains are more stubborn. If you notice a stain too late or move into a home with a stained carpet, call in a carpet cleaning professional. They will assess the stain and can either spot clean the stained area or freshen up your entire carpet.