Carpets do not necessarily need to be water-washable. Introduce baking soda and vinegar!
Washing carpets has become a summer tradition for many of us. It’s a great way to get things moving in the heat of the holiday season! But as we all know, the summer days can get pretty long, and then suddenly it’s late summer, and the nights are cooling off — which can slow the drying of carpets a bit! So it’s good to remember that Reetta Alastalo, managing director of Koti Puhtaaksi Oy, says that we need to give those carpets a bit of TLC as the weather changes!
– The best situation is if the weather forecast promises warm and rain-free weather, and the temperature does not drop too low at night. The longer you postpone the washing project, the greater the risk that you won’t find suitable carpet washing weather, at least not on your day off, Alastalo says.
Carpets can also be cleaned indoors at home. The familiar household ingredients come to the rescue: baking soda and vinegar.
– The baking soda and vinegar in the dry goods cupboard are also ideal for cleaning carpets. When dry cleaning and stain removal, there is no need to wet the carpet, so you don’t have to worry about drying it either,” Alastalo advises.
Baking soda removes odours, baking soda and vinegar removes stubborn stains. Vinegar softens stains and baking soda cleans and absorbs bad odours. Even the smell from a dirty kitchen drain will go away when you use baking soda.
How to “wash” your carpet with baking soda
- Vacuum your carpet clean of debris and loose food
- Sprinkle a good layer of baking soda on the carpet
- You can brush the powder into the fibres of the carpet! This way it absorbs odours from the deeper layers of the carpet
- Leave the baking soda on for 2-3 hours
- Finally, vacuum the powder off
How to remove stains with baking soda
- Start now! Don’t let the stain soak into the carpet
- Soak up liquid stains immediately, for example on a towel or paper towel
- Apply baking soda to the stain. For grease stains, you can also add salt. For example, Martti says you can treat chocolate stains with a paste made of baking soda and water.
- Gently press the stain with a paper towel
- Allow the baking soda to soak into the stain for several hours
- Vacuum the carpet clean. If the stain does not come off, repeat the treatment
How to remove particularly stubborn stains with baking soda and vinegar
- First pour a small amount of vinegar over the stain
- Sprinkle with baking soda until the stain is covered
- Let the mixture bubble on the carpet until the stain is completely dry
- Vacuum the dried mixture from the carpet
