I'm a cleaning expert, here's how to get the worst Christmas stains out of your carpet including red wine and chocolate

12/27/2024 02:39 AM

CELEBRATING Christmas is a joyous experience, but it is often a recipe for mess.

Unfortunately, accidents happen, and spillages such as candle wax, wine, and various foods can sometimes be inevitable.

To help Brits with any pesky spillages across the home cleaning experts at Online Carpets have revealed how to combat some of the most common Christmas stains from candle wax to chocolate.

Candle Wax

The key to getting wax off is to act quickly. The longer you let the wax set into the fibres of the fabric, the tougher the stain will become to remove.

Let the wax cool 

It might be tempting to whip out a stain remover spray and clean the wax up while it's still hot, but it's actually much easier to remove the wax once it hardens. 

You can wait until the wax cools naturally, or grab some ice from the fridge and place it in a zip-lock bag to apply to the spill. If you don't have any ice in the freezer, pretty much anything frozen will do the trick – whether it's a bag of frozen peas or a frozen microwave curry! 

Scrape off as much as you can 

Once the wax has solidified (you'll know it's solid when the colour becomes lighter), scrape off as much of the hardened wax as you can. 

You can do this using something like a butter knife or bank card. If using a butter knife and you have a berber loop carpet, just be careful not to cause any hooks or pulls with the ribbed part of the knife. 

Once you've scraped off as much wax as you can, bin the larger chunks before vacuuming up the remaining smaller bits.

Absorb the remaining wax 

While scraping the wax should get rid of the top layer, there will still be wax left in the lower fibres of your carpet or upholstery. 

To get rid of this, you'll need to heat and transfer the wax onto something else. 

To do this, cover the wax with a paper towel and then a slightly damp fabric towel that you're not too attached to and don't mind ruining. 

Then, grab your iron and steam the spot through the damp fabric towel for around 10 to 15 seconds. The wax will begin to lift through and transfer onto your towels. You may need to do this several times. 

Just be careful not to have the iron up too hot or keep it on the spot for too long, as this could potentially damage the upholstery or carpet – especially if it's a synthetic material. 

If you're trying to remove wax from a more sensitive fabric, such as a velvet couch, and you're not confident about using your iron on it, then you can also use a hair dryer. 

Clean the area

Once you've got as much of the wax off as you can with your towel, you'll want to clean the area. A simple, unscented dish soap and water mixture, or white vinegar and water mix should do the trick.

Repeat! 

Depending on how deep the wax has gone into your fabric, or how big of a stain you had, you might need to rinse and repeat the above steps for best results. 

Just be careful about over-treating your carpet or upholstery on any given day. If it's starting to look a little tired from the cleaning, leave it to fully dry out again before cleaning up any more. 

Chocolate

Scrape it and spray it

We all love an advent calendar – but they can prove problematic if you find some chocolate stains in your carpet or on a sofa.

Start by taking a plastic, or butter knife, and carefully scrape as much as you can off of the surface.

It's handy to keep some paper towels next to you for this, so you can transfer the chocolate from the knife onto the paper towel to avoid applying more to the surface during scraping.

After this, apply some surface cleaner to the area, and gently swipe to lift away any residue.

If the stain is on a carpet, however, use some carpet cleaner to help remove any chocolate stains from the fibres.

Or, try a hydrogen peroxide solution

If the stain is a tough one to remove, try applying some hydrogen peroxide solution – look for a 3% mixture. 

To do this, simply dampen the stain with the solution, cover it with a paper towel, and let it sit for 1 hour. After this time, blot the stain, again working from the outside first.

Hydrogen peroxide is an effective stain remover, but it can sometimes take a few goes. If the stain doesn’t disappear after the first application, repeat the process until the stain starts to vanish.

Red Wine

Use baking soda

An easy way to remove red wine stains from carpets is to use baking soda, and this is a common ingredient you may already find in the kitchen cupboards.

To do this, mix three parts baking soda with one part water to form a thickish paste, and apply it over the area with the spillage. Wait a few hours, and once it has dried, vacuum the paste off the carpet and the red colouring should come with it.

Or, use a steam cleaner

Another way to remove red wine stains from carpets is to use a steam cleaner, and Online Carpets have previously tried this red wine removal hack themselves.

To do this, spritz carpet cleaner over the stain and cover it with a cloth. Then, grab a steamer and steam over the top of the cloth for a few minutes. Afterwards, remove the cloth and clean away any leftover residue.