The Bane of Stains: Red Sauce

“On top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese, I lost my poor meatball when somebody sneezed.” Of course, the song doesn’t go into detail about how a sneeze powerful enough to blow a meatball off the table probably splattered a bunch of spaghetti sauce all over the carpet. What a sneeze!

Seriously, though – getting tomato, marinara, or any type of red sauce onto your carpet can have drastic effects. Not only do tomatoes contain tannins that stain carpet, but the oils and pigments added to most red sauces increase the damaging ability.

Quick Removal

As with most spills that threaten to stain, prompt action is important. Remove any excess sauce with a spoon, dull knife, paper plate, or other instrument. Use paper towels to dab the stain from the outer edges inward, to make sure the stain does not get larger. The more time you take to remove the excess, the more time the tannins and pigments have to bond with your fibers, changing the color of your carpet.

Treating the Spill

Do you know what works well in removing red sauces from your dishes? Dish soap. Most dish soaps are designed to break down oils and other ingredients that stain or leave a residue. As such, they do a pretty good job of treating red sauce on your carpet. However, make sure your dish soap does not contain bleach or lanolin, which could stain the carpet even more, and then proceed with the following steps:

1. Mix about a quarter teaspoon of clear dish soap with one quart of water.
2. Use a clean towel or set of paper towels to dab the mixture into the stain.
3. Continue dabbing until no more color is transferring to the towel.
4. Use a spray bottle with water to lightly rinse the area.
5. Use more dry towels to blot the moisture out.
6. Spray the area once more with water.
7. Layer 10 or more paper towels on top of the area, placing a weight on top.
8. Remove the towels once the area is dried.

Depending on your dish soap on hand, that still might not be enough to remove the stain. At that point, grab your hydrogen peroxide, douse a set of paper towels with it, and lightly moisten the fibers using a dabbing motion. Let the hydrogen peroxide sit on the stain for about an hour. If the stain persists, try this procedure one more time.

If the stain is still holding on, it’s time to call the professionals at Preferred Carpet Care. There might be other factors of your dish soap, your hydrogen peroxide, or your red sauce that are getting in the way of full removal. Our expertise and high-end equipment is likely just what you need to remove the stain completely.

Don’t Fear the Sauce

A plate of spaghetti with tomato, marinara, or other red sauce is both a tradition and a favorite for many households, and rightly so – it’s tasty, filling, and comforting. However, the red color typically clashes with most carpet colors. Be that as it may, you don’t need to avoid red sauces for fear of spilling them. If the above methods don’t fully remove the stain, Preferred Carpet Care of Redding is happy to help – and we promise not to sneeze hard enough to move meatballs!