Getting Red Wine Out of Your Carpet and Rugs

The first thing you want to do is extract as much of the wine from your carpet as possible. For this you can either use a shop vac or, if you don’t own one, a clean stack of paper towels. With the shop vac you just place the head of the hose over the area and let the vac do the work. If you are using paper towels you want to place the stack over the area and place a weight over it.Let it set for at least 20 minutes and replace with a clean stack if necessary and as often as necessary until the spot is nearly dried.

After you’ve extracted as much as you can you can begin the stain treatment. For this step there are a few options you can choose from. One options, as crazy as it may sound, is to use more wine. But rather than red you would use white wine.

The white wine will actually help dilute the coloring from the red wine. This can actually be done as part of the initial extraction process. Just pour some white wine over the area and extract it with the shop vac.

Club soda is another great item that can help you with red wine. The carbonation and salt content aid in lifting the stain from your carpet fibers. Once again you would pour this over the area and then extract with the vac.

Salt can also be used to help extraction since it naturally absorbs liquids. After the initial extraction pour some salt over the area and let it set while you retrieve your stain remover or mix your stain fighting solution. When you are ready to use whatever stain solution you’ve chosen then just vac up the salt and you’re good to go.

To treat the area you can use either an over the counter spot cleaner or you may choose to mix your own with some other household items. To mix your own you can combine one cup of hydrogen peroxide with either one teaspoon of carpet shampoo or mild dish soap. Apply the solution to the area and blot with a sponge or clean towel.

The second most important part of stain removal is to blot and not to rub. Never, ever rub a stain. This will only push the stain further into your carpet and cause an even bigger problem for you.

So the steps would be to apply the solution, blot the area, rinse with water, and then extract. Simply repeat these steps until the stain is gone. When you are done cleaning the area remember to give it one final rinse and extraction. This will keep you from getting residue build up from the cleaning agents.

Act quickly, and never rub at the stain. Remembering these two items and following the cleaning steps should result in the successful removal of wine from your carpet.