Post-Winter Tips: At Home Winter Stain Clean-up

2/27/2019 (Permalink)

Don't let snowy or dirty boots stain your floors this winter

I'm sure everyone has run into the issues of tracking winter dirt inside, just take a look at your door mat. As the snow melts and freezes your floors attract more dirt, mud, salt and water. 

Although many stains are better off to be removed right away, mud stains should be taken care of after waiting until the mud dries. Trying to clean mud right away causes the mess to spread, giving you a bigger and tougher stain to clean in the end. Drying the mud with a fan can speed up the process of removal. Cleanipedia gives us tips on how we can effectively remove mud stains and keep our carpet clean this season.

1. Start off by using a vacuum hose to pick up the dry pieces of mud. This will get all of the excess crumbles out of the way to keep from smearing them across the floor. Move the hose gently across the area to ensure that you’re not pressing the dirt deeper into the carpet. 
2. There will most likely be some pieces of mud still stuck to the fibers of the carpet after using the vacuum. These remnants left over will need to be removed by scraping them out of the carpet using a gentle object, such as a spoon.
3. Once you’ve scraped the dirt out, run the vacuum hose back over the area to pick up the remainder of the particles. If there are still particles left over, continue to scrape and vacuum until all dirt remnants have been removed.
4. Now that all of the extra mud has been removed from the carpet, there is usually still a stain to be seen unfortunately. There are multiple different methods and removal products to help clean the stain, but even a simple warm water and laundry detergent mixture can do the trick. (Always make sure to try using the solution on a small, unseen portion of carpet first to test it out before applying it to a large area.)
5. Once you have your mixture put together, soak the sponge into the solution and gently dab the area until the stain is completely covered and faded. Let the area dry naturally to see the outcome.