Did you know you can also use baking soda to clean your carpet?
Baking soda is a chemical powder that bonds with a wide range of compounds and neutralizes foul odors.
What Stains Can Baking Soda Clean?
Baking soda works well in cleaning a variety of stains. Some of the most common are:
- Blood
- Urine
- Ink
- Grass
- Vomit
- Dirt
- Grease
- Wine
Baking soda’s chemical properties enable it to form a bond with just about any substance, making stains easier to remove as a result.
When the stain gets neutralized with the proper application of baking soda, it is far easier to remove because it’s no longer bound to the carpet.
Powder vs. Mixture
Now the question is whether you should apply baking soda by itself or mix it with something else. It depends on the severity of the stain. Baking soda by itself absorbs light stains, but things that go deeper into the carpet need extra help.
Creating a paste of water and baking soda lets the cleaning solution make its way deeper into the carpet fibers.
You can also use white vinegar as a solvent. It creates a foam that lifts stubborn stains and isn’t difficult to remove.
Generally, two broad types of stains exist: greasy and non-greasy.
Greasy stains are the ones that have a moist, underlying residue. To get these stains out of the carpet, you first need to blot the area dry with a paper towel and sprinkle dry baking soda on it for a few hours.
Non-greasy stains lack this residue. To make baking soda effective for these kinds of stains, sprinkle it on top, then pour hot water. Heat loosens molecules that have bonded together and allows stains to come up more easily with the vacuum cleaner. For best results with this method, leave the baking soda on overnight.
How to Apply Baking Soda
The sooner you get to your carpet stain with baking soda, the more successful you’ll be at cleaning up. First, if it’s a liquid stain, you should use paper towels to blot up as much of it as you can. Then, sprinkle baking soda over the area and allow it to work over the course of half an hour. Deeper stains may take longer.
To remove, you should use a vacuum cleaner. You probably will need to change the bag and filter afterward, depending on how much baking soda you put down. Set your vacuum cleaner to the lowest height possible.
Other Tips for Cleaning Your Carpet
Baking soda removes odors in a room and carpet.
Treating your carpet regularly with baking soda can do wonders for the carpet’s freshness and appearance.
Once every two weeks or whenever you change your vacuum cleaner bag, try sprinkling some baking soda inside the bag.
You can also add other scents to the mix if you want a specific smell. Walking into a room whose carpet smells of fresh cinnamon, for example, can make guests feel particularly welcome.
Also, if you have a dark-colored carpet, be aware that baking soda might leave a discolored patch.
For tougher stains consider using a home carpet cleaner. We recently did a post with carpet cleaner reviews of the top machines of 2021.
So Why is Baking Soda Effective in the First Place?
Baking soda is an amphoteric compound, which means that it reacts with both acidic and alkaline substances. This property makes baking soda useful when placed on carpet stains because it makes them more able to be dissolved in hot water. Water itself is known as the universal solvent, but a little baking soda helps as well.
Baking soda also has abrasive properties. Putting a little of it on a scrub brush can make the scrub brush more effective than it would be otherwise.
Finally, baking soda is made of non-toxic chemicals, unlike many commercial cleaners. Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate, a mineral compound occurring frequently in nature.
Conclusion
Keeping a few boxes of baking soda around does more than making your fridge smell great or help with baking.
