Mix 2 cups of warm water with four tablespoons of vinegar. Spray the water and vinegar solution on the stain and leave to dissolve for 30 minutes. Use the piece of cloth to blot the area gently until the stain gets absorbed into the fabric. If the stain is a little bit tough, scrub gently.
For maximum stain-removing power, you should let the solution of vinegar and baking soda sit on your carpet for about 3 hours.
You'll probably need to let it sit overnight, but the key is to wait until the vinegar has completely dried. As it dries, the smell of the vinegar should dissipate.
Sprinkle baking soda onto wet carpet areas, then let it dry for at least 24 hours. For tough stains, mix 1/4 cup of white vinegar with 2 cups water and pour onto the area before letting it dry for at least 24 hours. This will help remove odors and kill bacteria in your carpet. You may need to do this more than once.
Trust us on this; the vinegar will not remove stains that are embedded in your carpet and may, in fact, harm your carpet fibers. You'll end up with the same dirt you had before, but with the added problem of color fading and changes in carpet texture.
The short answer is that you should not use vinegar for carpet cleaning.
Scrub to disinfect
Combine a DIY solution of 1 part white vinegar + 3 parts water. Scrub your carpet using a soft bristle scrub brush and your vinegar solution to disinfect any problem areas that might be smelly or unsightly.
Mix it with water (and soap, depending on the use), wring a dish towel in the mixture, and you have an all-purpose homemade solution to tackle those spots of neglect. Don't worry about the odor; it's never long lasting since vinegar evaporates once it dries.
'Leave a bowl of vinegar out overnight,' advises Saskia Gregson-Williams, cookbook author and founder of Naturally Sassy. 'In the morning, the vinegar will have absorbed all the unsavory smells and your kitchen will be as fresh as a daisy. '
Less is more with any cleaning product, including vinegar. Use the least amount of vinegar you can get away with to minimize smells. If you use a light hand with the vinegar, the aroma will go away on its own in 30 to 60 minutes, particularly on solid surfaces. If it's on a soft surface, it may take a day or so.
Sponge the stain with club soda or a cloth dipped in warm sudsy water. If possible, prevent soaking the carpet. If a stain remains, add a few drops of ammonia to clear water. Sponge into the stain and blot, using great care with wool, as it is sensitive to ammonia.
To treat your carpet, mix white or apple cider vinegar with warm water in a ratio of one part vinegar to two parts water. Spray your carpet evenly and let it air dry. The strong smell of the vinegar will dissipate as it dries, taking the nasty odor with it.
For synthetic carpets: Mix one cup of white vinegar with two cups of water. For natural fiber carpets: Mix ¼ cup of white vinegar with ¼ cup of water.
Add undiluted vinegar to the spray bottle and spray it straight onto the affected area. Let the vinegar rest on the mold for about an hour before you scrub or rinse it. Letting it sit allows the carpet to completely absorb the vinegar to maximize its effect.
Adding Vinegar to Laundry to Remove Stains
Undiluted vinegar works great as a stain treater for mustard, ketchup, deodorant stains, and grass stains on cotton and everyday clothing. Soak the stain in straight vinegar. Allow it to sit for 10-30 minutes. Wash as normal.
If you smell vinegar for a long time after using it to clean, you might be using too much of it. Aside from diluting the vinegar, you can also cut back on how much you're using. Vinegar is a powerful cleaner on its own, so you may not need to spray as much of it to clean up messes compared to other cleaners.
Inhalation exposure to high concentrations of acetic acid vapors causes irritation of eyes, nose, and throat. People with high occupational exposure can develop conjunctivitis, bronchitis and pharyngitis, and erosion of exposed teeth (incisors and canines).
As the vinegar evaporates, it takes those neutralized molecules with it, leaving behind no scent at all. You don't have to spray vinegar around to reap its deodorizing benefits. Just fill a small, shallow dish, stick it in the corner, and wait. After a few hours, that odor will be long gone.
Neither the residue nor the smell is permanent and both should go away after one wash.
Neutralize the smell Then you're going to want to douse the spot with an enzymatic cleaner or simply make your own cleaning solution by combining (white or apple cider) vinegar and water in a 1:1 ratio. Because the vinegar is acidic, it will neutralize the bacteria in the dog pee, offsetting its odor.
Spraying vinegar and warm water into a carpet is also a great way to remove its stiffness. We recommend mixing ⅔ cup of hot water with ⅓ of white vinegar. Spray and scrub gently until you start seeing results!
The best and most risk-free solution for wool carpet stains is the white vinegar. It is safe and effective. However, if you use distilled vinegar, you might even get better results. Using essential oils for pre-treatment and final refreshment is also a good idea.
White and distilled are types of vinegar. They differ fundamentally in their acetic acid content. White, also known as spirit vinegar, has 5% to 20% acetic acid. This is generally higher as compared to distilled vinegar's 5%-8%.
For those times when you need a little more stain fighting power, add baking soda to dish washing liquid, white vinegar, and warm water. Mix the ingredients in a spray bottle and you're ready to go.