Under most kitchen sinks lies a bottle of carpet stain remover, whose ingredients are mostly unknown to the average consumer. This is due to the labels that state phrases such as “advanced enzyme formula” and “oxygen activated” and “professional strength.” With the pricing reflecting an advanced formula lying within the plastic bottle. Once one digs a bit deeper than the labels and prices. One finds that the mixture consists of surfactants, fragrances, and oxidizers. All of which can be replicated at home at about $1 a gallon using materials in one’s pantry.
It took me years of experimenting with different homemade carpet cleaners out of curiosity. Before I finally found a formula that worked best for me and became my preferred choice. This homemade carpet cleaner works better than the commercially available products I have purchased over the years. Especially in removing pet stains, coffee stains, and mystery dirt that accumulate on carpets.
Understanding Your Ingredients Before Mixing Anything
DIY Carpet Cleaner
A great DIY carpet cleaner formulation utilizes a few ingredients that perform unique functions. Understanding what each ingredient does makes all the difference between an individual. Who knows how to adapt a formulation to particular stains and one who just uses it blindly.
White Distilled Vinegar
White distilled vinegar is the main ingredient in all DIY carpet cleaners. Its natural acidity allows it to cut through dirt, dissolve mineral buildup, and neutralize a variety of odors. Pet urine odor is one of the most difficult to remove from carpets. But vinegar can do the job quite well. There is no smell left after the carpet dries out completely, which is a question people ask me most frequently.
Baking Soda
Baking soda operates through a different means. This is an alkaline substance that absorbs the freshly spilled liquids from carpet fibers. Provides deodorizing properties without the use of fragrance mask. And produces a fizzing reaction with vinegar. That lifts the moderately tough stains up to the surface level for easy blotting. Applied liberally to carpet surface and left for 30 minutes prior to vacuuming. Baking soda serves as a natural carpet deodorizer without any liquid being applied. And this property of baking soda becomes very handy when deodorizing carpets in the rooms. Where introduction of liquid is undesirable.
Hydrogen Peroxide
The Hydrogen peroxide is the most potent stain remover of all mentioned above. And at the same time, the most dangerous one. Hydrogen peroxide acts as an oxidizing agent; that’s why the “oxygen activated” phrase in commercial product description. Hydrogen peroxide is very efficient against coffee, blood and other stains. Especially the ones that have already been set and cannot be removed with milder solutions. But hydrogen peroxide may bleach both dark-colored and medium-colored carpet, so a test patch should always be done first.
Dish Liquid
Dish liquid provides surfactant activity, breaking the tension of the stain against the carpet fibers. Which allows the cleaner to penetrate into the carpet and dissolve the stain. It’s important to use gentle dish soap and apply it in moderate amounts. Excess amount of soap leaves sticky residues that attract dirt faster than the original stain was doing. Which is one of the most common mistakes in DIY carpet cleaning.
Club Soda
The Club soda is valuable for cleaning carpets because of carbonation. It makes fresh stains to come to the surface for easy blotting. Club soda is particularly effective on fresh wine, juice, and coffee spills. Because it helps lift the liquid before it has a chance to soak into the carpet fibers. Table salt does the same thing for fresh spills it absorbs excess liquid. And prevents it from penetrating further into the carpet.
Essential Oils
Essential oils like lavender, lemon, eucalyptus, peppermint don’t clean carpets at all. The only purpose of essential oils is to give fresh aroma to carpet cleaners and DIY carpet fresheners. For this, 10-15 drops of essential oils per portion are enough. Any larger amount will be too strong and may cause irritation in pets and allergy-sensitive people.
The Core Recipes That Actually Work
The basic carpet cleaning solution to treat stains and refresh the carpet is an even mixture of white vinegar. And warm water kept in a spray bottle. The spray needs to be applied lightly to the stained area and allowed to rest for five to ten minutes. Afterward, blot it using a white cloth. Never use colored cloths as they will impart dye to the damp carpet.
For tough spots, you can increase the strength of the carpet cleaning mixture by using a cup of warm water. A tablespoon of white vinegar, a tablespoon of baking soda, and a few drops of dish soap. It should be shaken because initially, the mixture fizzes. Apply it to the stains and leave it to stay for five minutes. After which remove the stain by blotting it with a cloth. The combination works effectively without leaving any sticky residue.
This strong combination for stubborn stains involves one cup of baking soda. And a half cup of white vinegar that are combined in two quarts of warm water. The baking soda should first be sprinkled on the spot while the other ingredients should be used for spraying. Let the mixture work on the stain until it lifts, and then blot it out. You can add up to ten or fifteen drops of lemon or eucalyptus oil.
Rug Doctor Carpet Cleaning Machines
This carpet shampoo that is made for Rug Doctor Carpet Cleaning Machines and other carpet cleaning machines consists of liquid laundry detergent, such as Liquid Tide which works well; along with the liquid inside of the Tide pods, combined with Oxiclean, Downy Liquid Fabric Softener, and LA’s Totally Awesome Cleaner all mixed with warm water. This machine carpet cleaning solution is estimated to cost about $1 per gallon to create, while on the other hand, a store-bought carpet cleaning concentrate will cost about $20-$30 per bottle. The results achieved through using this machine cleaner include the softness of carpets due to the fabric softener added; an effect that is not possible to obtain with commercial solutions.
To make an all-natural carpet cleaner that is free from chemicals and odors as well as free from any colors which may be problematic for sensitive individuals, you will need to combine white vinegar with water equally, no other components are required. There should be no essential oil, no dishwashing liquid, no softener; this product is child and pet-friendly, hypoallergenic and suitable for use in any household with allergies.
Stain Specific Treatments for the Hardest Problems
Stains from coffee will easily be removed using hydrogen peroxide which should be applied directly on the stain and allowed to remain on it for about ten minutes after which it can be blotted off. Stains that are still fresh can first have the excess liquid absorbed using a white cloth before application of the vinegar and dish soap solution.
Red wine stains need immediate blotting in order to absorb as much fluid as possible before proceeding to the solution application. The pre treatment with either club soda or white vinegar stops the stain from spreading during the preparation of a cold water solution combined with a detergent or hydrogen peroxide. Applying the solution, letting it sit, blotting it, and repeating the process will effectively remove red wine stains. For those that survived the initial treatment attempt, soaking them with a mixture of cold water and hydrogen peroxide, leaving it overnight, and brushing and vacuuming it the next day should help.
Stains From Pets
The stains from pets, as well as pet odor, consist of two different issues visible staining and urine odor beneath it; however, most carpet stain removers can treat only one of these issues. In case of an accident caused by pets, the following mixture of baking soda, white vinegar, and essential oil could help. The solution should be sprayed directly on the stained area, allowed to fizz for several minutes, blotted dry, and then covered with a baking soda powder, left for ten minutes or more to absorb odor, and vacuumed.
Stains resulting from oil such as grease stains, or makeup, should be dealt with using baking soda as the first remedy. The soda should be sprinkled on the stain and left to absorb the oil for ten minutes after which it can be vacuumed off before applying any liquid solution. Applying a liquid cleaner to an oil based stain can push the oil deeper into the carpet fibers, making the stain even harder to remove.
In the case of blood stains, cold water and not warm water should be used since warm water fixes protein stains permanently. Hydrogen peroxide should be applied to blood stains and the stains blotted but not scrubbed. In the case of year old stains of any kind, it must be noted that there is no homemade carpet stain remover solution that will do the trick.
Carpet Fiber Identification, Patch Testing, and Application Technique
It is very important to determine the fiber content of the carpet before preparing any homemade cleaning solution. The fiber content can be found on the back of the carpet. If the carpet is made of wool, then a solution of water and vinegar in equal proportions is required, but never a solution of pure vinegar or hydrogen peroxide for wool carpets, since the fibers will disintegrate. Synthetically made carpet such as nylon or polyester are not affected by the formula of any homemade carpet cleaner. Oriental rug and area rug surfaces have to be tested for colorfastness in an inconspicuous area.
Vacuuming
Vacuuming before and after using any homemade carpet cleaning solution is recommended. Before vacuuming before applying the cleaning solution ensures removal of all dust particles on the carpet and prevents them from turning into mud once the carpet becomes wet. It is also advisable to vacuum after drying to get rid of baking soda and dried particles on the carpet surface. Remove all furniture before starting with the carpet cleaning.
Never rub; always blot. Rubbing will cause the stain to spread across the carpet fiber instead of removing it. Always move from outside to inside the stain in order not to spread the stain further. In case of machine application with either the shampooer formula or the Rug Doctor formula, simply apply according to the machine instructions, as the formula will do the chemical cleaning while the machine will do the mechanical part of the cleaning.
Ensure that you open your windows and fans in order to facilitate the drying process. Even in the case of the all-natural carpet cleaner recipe, you need to make sure that the carpet is thoroughly dried, since otherwise there will be moisture retention beneath the carpet fiber, causing the formation of mildew.
Important Safety Tip
Never mix bleach with vinegar. The mixture will produce deadly chlorine gas. Bleach should not be included in any carpet cleaner recipe at all.
When DIY Carpet Cleaning Reaches Its Limit
The homemade carpet cleaner is quite effective for most cleaning and stain removal jobs. It does have some limitations that should be pointed out.
When large scale water damage occurs in carpeting, the solution is to get it extracted and dried out; the concern being the wetness in the floor below carpet, not the surface stains. Mold or mildew growth on carpets which requires a stronger cleaning agent than the regular do-it-yourself solution. Carpet odors which resist all carpet deodorizer recipes may imply problems that need to be taken care of from beneath the carpet itself; such as urine from pets having soaked into the subfloor carpet pads or mold growth in the structure that DIY surface treatment cannot fix. Antiques rugs and oriental rugs surfaces which have considerable value need to be cleaned by a carpet cleaner, not a homemade solution, however carefully done. Renovated carpet cleaning where dust particles of the construction work have been thoroughly embedded into carpeting need to be cleaned using industrial carpet cleaners.
For those cases, the best course of action is to use professional carpet cleaning services utilizing safe and environmentally-friendly solutions wherever the household needs it or industrial carpet extraction machines for the deep build-up which DIY carpet stain removers can never remove from the surface.
Conclusion
An easy carpet cleaner made using white vinegar, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, mild dish soap, and water will take care of almost all your carpet cleaning needs effectively, economically, and without any synthetic ingredients common to commercial carpet cleaners available in stores. It does not matter what formula you use as the right one will vary according to the kind of stain, type of carpet fiber involved, or whether it is a freshly spilled substance or an older stain; however, the key ingredients remain the same, the cost will still be around $1 per gallon, and it always gives reliable results regardless of whether it is pet stain, coffee, or dirt in high traffic areas.
