It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and arguably the messiest too.
From mulled wine spilled as you fall asleep during the Queen’s Speech to a tree that’s reluctant to keep its needles, there are myriad clean-ups that’ll need to happen around the festive period.
If you have a carpet, you’ll be even more wary of the liquids and sticky bits that might become embedded in the fibres.
To ease the pain of cleaning your carpet, Flooring Superstore collaborated with Lisa Evans, spokesperson from MyJobQuote, and Henry Paterson, Senior Operations Executive at Housekeep, to work out how best to keep your carpets looking new regardless.
Remove pine needles from carpet
We all love the smell and look of a real tree, but many with carpets avoid them because of the mess they make.
However, Lisa and Henry have some ideas to pull them off the fibres, including the 2020 accessory of choice – hand sanitiser.
They advise: ‘To clean up pine needles off a carpet, you should apply some dry foam carpet shampoo or hand sanitiser to the area and leave it overnight to loosen the sap adhesive.
‘You should then brush it in the morning to lift up the needles then hoover them up. If there any needles left, you can use duct tape to collect any stragglers.’
Clean glitter off carpets
Glitter is everywhere at Christmas time, and without proper cleaning you’ll probably be finding it around the house well into next year.
According to Lisa and Henry: ‘To remove glitter from your carpet, you should hoover up the glitter with a small shop vac attachment which will help you work deeper into the carpet fibres.
‘For smaller areas, you can use the hose part of the vacuum without any attachments to pick up the smaller glitter pieces.’
This stops the pieces getting caught in the brush portion of your vacuum head, and it going back onto the floor next time you use it.
Remove sticky tape from carpets
In the frenzy of wrapping that it the next few days, there’s bound to be a few stray pieces of sticky tape lying around.
If you find any stragglers stuck on your carpet, the advice is: ‘You should take a paint scraper or plastic knife and gently scrape it across the tape, making sure you avoid removing any carpet fibres. You should continue this process until the majority of the residue is removed.
‘You can then apply WD-40 or a similar solvent to the area and begin the scraping method again until you have removed as much residue as possible. A carpet cleaner should then be added to the carpet and left to dry.’
Get white wine or prosecco stains off carpets
Wine and prosecco are flowing at this time of year – and often spilling too.
Thankfully, you can use all natural ingredients to remove any stains and ensure carpets won’t end up smelling like a wine bar.
Lisa and Henry say: ‘For white wine or prosecco spillages on carpet, you should first try to blot the spillages as quickly as possible with a dry cloth or paper towel.
‘You should then use a mixture of two cups of warm water, one tablespoon of white vinegar and one tablespoon of washing up liquid. Apply a little bit at a time and take a clean white cloth and use a sponging action on the stain until it starts to disappear.’
Remove red or mulled wine stains from carpets
Red wine is truly the enemy of anyone with carpets.
The advice from Lisa and Henry is: ‘There are various ways to remove red wine stains from carpet, although the most popular involves applying and blotting WD-40 on to the carpet to remove the majority of the stain. You should then use a steam cleaner to remove the WD-40.’
The WD-40 works as a solvent – normally used to dissolve rust – that breaks up the particles of the wine. It can be used on everything from candle wax to paint.
Clean carpets after spilling gravy
When it comes to gravy spillages, you ideally want to get to the stain as quickly as possible so it won’t last.
‘One of the best ways to remove gravy from carpet is by gently scraping the gravy,’ say Lisa and Henry.
‘You should then apply a carpet stain remover followed by an absorbent which should be left to dry before wiping up the gravy.’
Get mud and dirt up from your carpet
It’s pretty much the opposite situation when it comes to dirt and mud, with Lisa and Henry saying: ‘Dirt can usually just be vacuumed up from carpet. Fresh mud should be allowed to dry if this is possible, as it’ll be much easier to vacuum up once it’s dried.’
This stops you wetting the dirt and spreading it further, plus it gives you time off post Christmas walk to chill out and forget the muddy footprints you left.
Henry also gave advice on which cleaning products to avoid using on specific flooring types, saying: ‘It’s important when cleaning any flooring to read the labels of your products to check they’re suitable and follow the instructions provided.
‘For homemade remedies, such as bleach and water solutions, white vinegar, or isopropyl alcohol, do a quick online search to check that they’re suitable for your floors.
‘You should also test any products or solutions on a discreet, inconspicuous area first, such as beneath furniture to ensure that it won’t damage your floors.’
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/12/22/how-to-get-gravy-pine-needles-wine-and-more-out-of-your-carpets-13790024/
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