7 Carpet Cleaning Tips for Red Wine Stains
Red wine is one of the most common stains needing to be removed from carpets.
As wonderful as it is to grab yourself a glass after a long day at work, your day could be made much worse if you end up spilling your best Merlot where you can’t drink it!
Here are seven carpet cleaning tips we can provide to ensure your carpet is as stainless and devoid of red wine (or any other liquid spills that may happen) as possible.
Tip 1: Don’t Panic
Panicking in the event you’ve gone and made a spill, no matter how big or small it is, will only make things worse.
Panic is what causes people to do all of the wrong things to get rid of a red wine stain or other liquid spill without leaving evidence behind.
That being said, you should follow the next tip as soon as a spill does occur. After all, it’s a spillage at first; it’s not a stain yet.
Tip 2: Act Fast
The sooner you deal with a spillage of any kind, whether it’s red wine or any other liquid, the less likely it will show up on the carpet.
This is a very different piece of advice than panicking; panic, like we said, won’t help anyone and will only make your spill situation even worse. Acting quickly, however, will help your situation out for the better.
Tip 3: Don’t Scrub Hard on the Stain
Scrubbing directly onto and into the stain in the carpet will only aggravate the stain and then blend it into the weaves of fabric your carpet is made out of.
What you should do instead is grab a clean white towel or a kitchen roll of paper towel. When you have your towel in hand, press it down and firmly on the spillage. Let your towel soak up the liquid.
Tip 4: Do Be Patient When Blotting
You will not be able to remove a stain by simply scrubbing at it and then walking away.
You need to instead follow tip 3 and continue blotting and replacing the towel or kitchen roll you’re using to blot. This does take a few minutes, but it is worth the extra patience.
You should also see if very much of the stain is being transferred to the towel or kitchen roll you’re using and replace it with a clean one as often as needed.
Tip 5: Don’t Over-Wet the Spot
You may feel a refreshed sense of panic when, after blotting for a few minutes, you can see no more colour is being transferred.
Resist the temptation to scrub or rub at the stain though; don’t grab a stain removal product from the closet either! What you need to do instead is dab a clean towel with a small amount of water and continue to blot the stain for a few more minutes.
Getting the stain over-wet, either with scrubbing hard into the spot or with a stain removal product, may leave behind a pretty nasty colour change!
Tip 6: Leave the Towel Overnight
After you’ve finished blotting with the clean towel, place another clean and dry towel over top of the stain and weigh it down with something reasonably heavy.
Leave this towel to weigh down for several hours and go back to what you were doing before (and refilling your glass of wine, or whatever drink you were sipping at, if quite a bit was spilled).
Leaving the towel overnight will help further diminish the likelihood of a red wine stain or other liquid spill showing up.
Tip 7: Do Call a Professional if Necessary
If you’ve followed the above tips on how exactly to properly remove a stain, you’ve assessed the one you’ve cleaned up and any colour remains, then now is a good time to give your local carpet cleaning company a call.
Stains from red wine are one of the most common cleanups we’re equipped to handle.
You did your best to get rid of the stain (or your worst; we’re not sure really!). Now let us handle the rest.
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