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So how do I get a red wine stain out of a carpet, it has been their for ages and keep staring at me to do something. I have tried salt and bicarb and that white wine thing seems like just a waste of wine and I am not convinced that will work either.

this isnt really advice but if its a natural fibre such as wool you might be done for! maybe try lemon as a bleach? or perhaps if you soak it so it returns to a 'wine-like' state you could try salt again? just an idea.

But... isn't salt a morderant (sp?) and therefore likely to fix the stain?


I'll look it up in one of my books of cleaning tips (but I am in bed now and I can't be ar$ed going down stairs just now ) I'll try to remember tomorrow

for as long as i can remember i have chucked salt on red wine stains on tablecloths etc and it seems to do the trick? i know what you mean though cos u use it to fix dyes dontcha? but it apparently soaks up the liquid, which also makes sense.

*nod, nod*

I'm not sure how well the white wine trick will work on a dried in stain, but on a fresh spillage it is like magic. The one time I tried it on a dried in stain (bird poo on a silk lampshade - silly bird flew into the conservatory and couldn't get out so panicked, you should have seen the mess!!) it worked reasonably well, you could still see a mark but it took 90% of the stain colour out, so I woud highly recommend giving it a try... as much as it breaks my heart to waste wine, but have a straw ready and if it doesn't work you can suck it out of the carpet!?

Kim and Aggie's cleaning bible has no tips for removing dried in wine.... OH dear....

They do say not to use bar soap on red wine on clothes but use biological powder to break up the tannin (which is a protien?) Don't know if that helps you

They also have a method for unremovable stains of how to patch up your carpet - Using a plate as a template. Use a craft knife to cut out the section with the stain, then cut out another section from somewhere like under the sofa and use heavy duty double sided sticky tape to stick the new pieces in place, then use a nail brush to 'tease' the fibres out, tho hide the incision.


My solution is to have laminate floors and only drink white wine

White wine works - when used immediately, salt may well have sealed the dye from the grape if it's a wool carpet, also it could make the fibre rough (did when I used it on blood stains). Bio washing powder may well work, in luke warm water.


If all else fails
move the furniture around or cover with a rug so you can't see it

Fizzy mineral water certainly does it if its new. Don't know about dried in though.

That didn't help, did it?

Have you tried hair spray? I once spilled red wine on a cream carpet and sprayed hair spray on it and it came out really well!

I don't know if this will help (as I haven't tried it myself) but found this on a site called How to get rid of stuff.com - posted by a patty s.
1/2 cup of hydrogen peroxide and a bit of regular washing up liquid.
Make a solution in a spray bottle and apply directly to the stain.
Watch as the combination of soap and hydrogen turns the red wine stain clear immediately!!
It doesn't however actually remove wine from the carpet or clothing, but removes the colour from the wine making the stain invisible and has successfully worked on tea and coffee stains.
If you don't have a carpet shampooer to go over it with afterwards, make sure that you blot the area with a towel and spot clean and blot it again(repeat as necessary depending on age of stain)

When a friend of mine threw red wine over my brand new carpet, I immediately soaked it with cold water to stop it drying out then cleaned it with the vax and it came out perfectly. A bit late now for your problem but a trick for next time.

If you don't have a carpet cleaner then you can use newspaper or towels to absorb the liquid but you need to keep diluting and dabbing until the colour comes out.

Zoe

Thomzo wrote:When a friend of mine threw red wine over my brand new carpet...

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

I've been reading this old Mrs Beeton's book over the last few days & one tip she gives for dried old wine stains on silk is to pop a milk soaked cloth over the stain... leave until the area is soaked with milk & then blot..... once the wine stain is out, wash again using soda to remove the milk...... well, it's cheaper than using wine....

it may seem a waste but Ive always used white wine and it works wonderfully well, not sure if it works with old stains but its brilliant with fairly recently spilled red wine, we managed to get the stain on a nearly white carpet my mum emptied nearly half a bottle of red wine on OK but it did take nearly a bottle of white wine which we tamped in with white tea towels and then tamped off with kitchen roll, vaxed afterwards to get any residual stickiness out and honestly you wouldnt know there had ever been a stain there.