A Spoon Full of Bi Carb
There’s nothing that says smoko in Australia, like a cup of coffee and an Anzac biscuit. I was enjoying just such a break the other day and I began to think. I thought about Anzac biscuits and how they are made. I googled the recipe. Now this was when it occurred to me. You know in this recipe, it called for oats and sugar and butter and various other ingredients. Amongst those ingredients was half a teaspoon of bi-carbonate of soda. Half a teaspoon. I was delighted of course, because before then I’d never really found a use for bi-carb.
I’d seen people put it on their carpets in quantities much greater than half a teaspoon. It seems that the old wives and their tales were working overtime to get people to put bi-carb on their carpets. It doesn’t work as a spot-remover, it doesn’t work to soak up pet urine. It certainly should never be mixed into a paste and smeared on carpets. I’ve seen bi carb bleach carpets and I’ve removed stains leaving nothing but the bleach mark caused by bi carb in home spotting techniques.
So, let’s save bi carb for the Anzac biscuits and let’s use salt and vinegar on our chips and if we spill red wine on our carpets, let’s not pour white wine on top of it. That’s just a waste of wine.
Things that will stain carpets, generally do so because they change the PH of the carpet. The way to fix it is to reverse the chemistry. This can’t be done if the carpet has been dyed by whatever has been spilled or if something we have used in an attempt to clean up a mess has bleached the colour from the carpet.
As a basic rule of thumb, you can use soda water as a general purpose spotter, which will not cause any damage. The quicker you get onto spills the better it is. Remove any lumps or pieces from the spill, douse with soda water and ideally extract with a wet/dry vacuum or dab (do not rub woollen carpets) with a white towel.
Understanding what has occurred is key to successful stain removal. The Chem in Chem-Dry stands for Chemistry as we take a scientific approach to carpet cleaning and stain removal.
Chem-Dry Far North Coast can assist with all of your little accidents and we’d love to do it before you throw the contents of the pantry at it.
