The Spotlight: Spaghetti Sauce Stains
We’ve talked about a lot of stains in this newsletter, but spaghetti sauce is a particularly tough one. The natural red dyes of our good friend Mr. Tomato can very quickly stain a carpet. So when tomato sauce gets spilled on your carpet, you need to act fast.
– The Supplies –
Dish washing Detergent (liquid)
Baking Soda
Towels
Spoon
Bowl
Fan
– Let’s Get Cleaning –
Step 1:
Take a spoon and scoop up as much of the sauce as you can. Scoop from the outside edge toward the center of the spill, taking care to not spread the sauce to any new part of the carpet. Make sure you clean off your spoon with each scoop.
Step 2:
Pour a generous amount of baking soda onto the spill and and spritz it with water.* While wearing gloves, work this fully into the carpet. Pour more baking soda on top and let this fully dry on the carpet.
Step 3:
Once the spot is dry, break it up with a clean spoon (if necessary) and vacuum the powder off the spot.
Step 4:
Once you’ve removed as much of the baking soda as you can, it’s time to prepare your cleaning solution. Pour two cups of water into a bowl and mix in one tablespoon of liquid dish washing detergent.* Wet a towel in the solution and wring it until it’s damp. Then use this towel to blot at the spot and get up as much sauce as you can.
Work from the outside edge toward the center, frequently shifting to clean parts of the towel as you go. Repeat this process until no more of the stain transfers up.
You’ll then need to rinse out any remaining detergent in the carpet. Repeatedly spritz the spot with hot water and blot dry until there is no more soap residue. Set a fan on the carpet to speed up the drying process.
This method should remove or significantly lighten your spaghetti sauce spot, but as we said before, it is a tricky stain. If you ever need help cleaning a red sauce out of your carpet, remember that the team here at Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning are stain removal experts.
We combine revolutionary cleaning technology and powerful cleaning products that can erase nearly anything, from spaghetti sauce spills to pet urine spots.
Call us today at 1-877-OXIFRESH or schedule online at www.oxifresh.com!
Thanks to the Stain Buster Team at GoodHousekeeping.com, Catherine Hiles at eHow.com, and J. Johnson at eHow.com for the fantastic tips!
*Before you start using a cleaning solution, always test it on an inconspicuous area of the carpet. You’ll want to be very careful if you have a carpet made of natural fibers. Apply the solution to the carpet, let it dry, and then blot with a clean towel to make sure there’s no color-loss or damage. Spritz the area with water and blot dry to remove any residue
