Carpets are a great addition to homes. They add a unique charm to the house and also offer a great way of lazying around and playing games with friends and family. The more you use them, the higher are chances of your carpet getting stained. By cleaning carpet with baking soda and vinegar, you can make it feel fresh and new.
Can You Use Baking Soda and Vinegar for Carpet Stains?
No matter how hard you try to keep your carpets neat and clean, they are bound to get soiled and stained in the long run. This means you will have to shell out money to get the carpet cleaned or have to bear with a dirty, often stinking, carpet.
Professional services are expensive and a number of targeted cleaning agents are also very expensive. Sometimes, they are also very harsh and may emit toxic fumes and can also lead to discoloration of the carpet.
If you use vinegar alone for cleaning carpet stains, you may find the cleaning practically useless. Vinegar and water together do little to remove tough stains from carpets. Thus, if you try this, you will end up wasting time and effort.
Likewise, baking soda alone may not be able to deal with stains that are harsh and very old. It may also leave a residue on the carpet. Besides, using baking soda alone can involve repeating several steps over and over again, leaving you exhausted while also not guaranteeing 100% results.
However, using baking soda and vinegar for carpet cleaning offers a thorough and less expensive alternative that you must definitely try.
The presence of acetic acid makes vinegar a great disinfectant. This also makes it highly effective in dealing with bacteria and stains present on the carpet. Baking soda, on the other hand, is a great absorbent. It is great at removing stains. It also makes the carpet smell fresh.
When you combine these two, you get a powerful concoction that offers a holistic cleaning solution that doesn’t have many competitors or equals.
Here are a few benefits of using baking soda and vinegar for carpet stains:
- They don’t contain any harmful chemicals and therefore, are safe to use.
- They are known to freshen up the appearance and smell of the carpet, thereby offering a thorough and intensive cleaning experience.
- When used together, the solution is efficient enough to tackle the toughest stains.
- They are much cheaper than most cleaning agents available in the market and this gives them a big edge.
Cleaning Carpet with Baking Soda and Vinegar
Baking soda and vinegar together offer a potent cleaning solution for carpets with stains and spots. However, you need to be careful while using these together because if you aren’t careful, it may lead to an explosion (well, a small one like the ones in chemistry labs in school, but why take a chance anyway?).
It is crucial to take white vinegar in the cleaning solution. This is because it is clear and doesn’t lead to the discoloration of the carpet. Other types of vinegar might have a negative impact on the fabric of the carpet and may leave it discolored.
Follow these steps for a seamless cleaning experience:
- Identify the stain on the carpet and using a spray bottle immerse the stain completely with white vinegar. The idea is to wet the area of the carpet without making it soggy.
- Now add some baking soda over this vinegar-soaked stain. You can simply sprinkle it like you do with talcum powder but make sure you don’t leave out any portions of the stain uncovered.
- There may be some fizzling and sizzling. This is a good sign that the materials have reacted well to each other. There is a small chance of some bubble eruption also. You must either be completely covered while you do this or move away immediately as soon as you see the reaction happening.
- Once this happens, you need to wait. This varies and may sometimes even require you to wait overnight. The idea is to let the vinegar dry out completely, leaving behind no smell.
- Scoop the excess baking soda from the carpet once the vinegar dries out. Now, all there is left to do is to vacuum clean the carpet thoroughly. The stain should have gone!
Sometimes, if the stains are too stubborn or old, you may need to repeat the process. But most stains get removed by this mixture on the very first application.
FAQ’s
There are a number of questions that several people have about cleaning carpets with baking soda and vinegar. Here are a few of them answered for you!
Will Baking Soda Bleach or Stain Carpet?
Baking soda, when used alone, may be ineffective in dealing with stains on your carpet. This is a myth that baking soda ends up staining or bleaching carpets when used by itself.
The most you may get in extreme cases is a white residue (which can also be scooped out). However, the thing about using baking soda alone on a heavily greased or stained carpet is that you won’t get great results.
You can always tackle this by adding an acidic solution to this such as vinegar and together the mixture will make your carpet look brand new.
Read also:
How Often Should You Replace Carpet?
Can You Use Hydrogen Peroxide and Baking Soda for Cleaning Carpet?
Hydrogen peroxide and baking soda together make a good cleaning agent for stained carpets. They can remove tough stains, absorb odors and kill all the bacteria, thereby giving your carpet an almost novel feel.
If you want to clean a highly expensive and exclusive carpet, you should do a patch test to ensure that the mixture doesn’t lead to discoloration of any kind.
For this, apply a small amount of baking soda on a small part of the carpet and then sprinkle it with a diluted mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water. Let it stay and see if it just removes dirt sitting on the carpet or also its color.
If there is no visible damage to the fabric and texture of the carpet, you can be sure that the mixture is safe enough for cleaning your carpet.
Here is how you can use hydrogen peroxide and baking soda for cleaning your carpet:
- Cover the carpet stain with baking soda completely. Leave no part of the stain uncovered.
- Take half a cup of water and mix it with 3% of hydrogen peroxide. Now, pour this mixture into two cups of water and shake well. Transfer it to a spray bottle that makes the application easy.
- If you feel your stain has hardened over time or that it is too stubborn, you can also add a few drops of any regular cleaning agent (the one that you use for dishwashing or washing clothes) into the spray bottle. This will add to the potency. Make sure to shake the bottle well before the application.
- Now spray this liquid over the stain that is already sprinkled with baking soda. Make sure you protect your floor while doing this, else it can get damaged due to the intensity and strength of this cleaning mixture.
- Use a soft brush and spread this mixture to the other parts of the carpet if you are looking for a thorough cleaning. Let the solution sit on the carpet.
- Once you see only specks of baking soda on the carpet, this is an indication that the liquid has soaked completely onto the carpet. All you need to do is to vacuum the carpet effectively. And you are done!
Read also:
4 Easy Hacks How to Get Soda Stains Out of Carpet
The Final Word
If you love spotless carpets and don’t want to spend money on professional cleaning or expensive cleaning agents, you should turn to a mixture of baking soda and vinegar for cleaning your carpet. This is a tried and tested method that is bound to give your carpet a good makeover.
