3-Step Homemade Treatment Removing Motor Oil Stains From Your Home's Carpet
If you or someone in your family works on cars a lot, you may have several areas in your home where motor oil is tracked in on a daily basis. Continue reading more and use the following three-step guide for using a homemade treatment to get rid of these stains using ingredients you may already have at your disposal.
Step 1: Sprinkle Baking Soda Over Any Fresh Oil
Before you start cleaning any old stains, look for fresh motor oil on your carpets. These need to be treated before going on to the next steps. If you start scrubbing oil that is still wet, you would only be spreading it around and driving it deeper into the fibers.
Sprinkle an eighth of an inch layer of baking soda over any fresh oil. The baking soda will soak up the majority of the oil and dry it out faster. Leave it on for four hours to ensure the stain has dried completely. Vacuum the area, then go on to the next step.
Step 2: Rub Dish Detergent Into The Stains
Once you have taken care of any fresh oil, you can now tackle the older stains. This step uses grease-cutting dish detergent to break up the oil that is dry and crusty inside the carpet fibers. You will also need a firm bristled scrub brush and cleaning rag for this step.
Apply a half of a teaspoon to end of your scrub brush. Using small, circular motions, work the detergent into the stains. As you finish with one area, blot the carpet with the cleaning rag. This will pull out any oil you have worked out and prevent it from spreading.
Once you have rubbed the detergent into the entire area, let it sit and dry for an hour. Do not vacuum at this point because the detergent works with the stain remover in the next step.
Step 3: Scrub The Carpet With A Homemade Stain Remover
The homemade stain remover in this step uses white distilled vinegar and baking soda to work the rest of the oil out of the carpet. The baking soda also absorbs odors, removing the stale oil smell and leaving the carpet smelling fresher.
You will also need a small bucket and clean, white rag for this step. Do not use a colored rag because the dyes could transfer to the carpet, leaving you with additional stains. Also, spot-test your carpet in a hidden area to make sure the vinegar does not bleach it, especially if you are unsure of the carpet's colorfastness.
In your bucket, combine two cups of warm water, a cup of vinegar, and a quarter of a cup of baking soda. Dip the rag into the cleaning solution and blot the carpet until it is moderately wet.
After you have wet the carpet, use the rag to scrub the stain remover into the fibers. As the oil starts to work its way out, dip the rag back into the solution and wring it out. After you have cleaned the entire area, use a clean rag and a bucket of clean water to rinse the carpet by blotting the stain with clean water.
Once the carpet has completely dried, vacuum the area. Alternatively, you could use a wet-dry vacuum to pull the cleaners and stain out while the carpet is still wet.
After the initial treatment, the above oil removal steps can be used to remove new motor oil stains. However, if the oil has soaked deep-down into the carpet fibers and you cannot get them out, you may want to contact a carpet cleaning business. You can discuss what options they have available for thoroughly cleaning your carpets and getting rid of the motor oil once and for all.