A carpet in the house is both good and bad. It is cozy, but if there is a child in the family, then you can’t do without problems. Children love to play on the carpet, especially babies who have barely learned to walk. And those who are older often not only play with some toy, but even mold something from plasticine here, sometimes dropping the craft, accidentally stepping on it.
In this case, a red, blue or other color stain remains on the cozy item. Small or large, it doesn't matter. The item is ruined. Is it possible to help restore its original attractive appearance? Let's figure out what needs to be done first, without resorting to dry cleaning services?
First, pull yourself together and don't yell at your child. Second, turn on your computer and search for reliable methods. There are many. Your head may spin from all the advice and suggestions. This is because carpets are different, and the methods for cleaning them at home may not be the same. In order to avoid any difficulties in choosing a cleaning method in the future, we would like to inform you that they are divided into two categories: cleaning powders and liquids with a chemical composition and folk remedies.
Chemical products contain aggressive substances such as alkali and acids. They can damage the product. But folk remedies for removing plasticine from a carpet at home are more gentle. Using them, housewives do not have to worry about the object of their care being damaged.
The most reliable, proven and quite safe methods are considered to be folk remedies. Let's consider the simplest ones that do not require much effort to quickly remove plasticine from the carpet. Agree that they are always at hand: table salt, vinegar, soda, laundry soap, washing powder.
Now let's move on to specifics.
Content
We scrub the stain using available means.
Salt, vinegar and washing powder – every housewife has them at home. If she notices in time that her child has made a mistake and smeared the carpet with plasticine, she should start doing simple actions without wasting time.
- wet a cloth, dip it in a salt shaker where fine table salt is stored, apply it to the stain, and after 5-8 minutes rinse with water.
- If this does not help, then mix 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of washing powder and 1 teaspoon of vinegar in a bowl. Wait until the mixture dries, shake it off and try to rub off the stain.
It is even easier to prepare a soap solution. Its preparation: add about 30 g of laundry soap to half a glass of water, beat this mixture, and then apply it to the damaged area with a sponge. After 5-10 minutes, rinse with water.
Didn't help? How else can you try to quickly clean plasticine from a carpet at home?
Using low and high temperatures.
- We act with cold. In winter, you can bring some snow from the street and sprinkle it on the object of action. After some time, the carpet fibers on the stain will harden, and you can safely, but very carefully, scrape off the unnecessary with a knife or spatula. Or take a piece of ice (from the street or from the refrigerator), rub the problem area with it and carefully scrape off the rest with a sharp object.
A good way to clean play dough from carpet is to use low temperatures. - We apply heat. For this we need a regular iron. We heat it up, put a sheet of white paper on the stain and “iron” this place.
The hot method is absolutely not suitable for carpets that are made on an adhesive base.
Important! The main thing is that the stain is fresh and small in size.
If you have tried all the simple methods of removing plasticine from the carpet at home, you can resort to the following tactics.
Rough cleaning
It is labor-intensive and will require some physical effort. Using a knife, remove the largest pieces of plasticine from the pile, and then use a brush to remove the remaining plasticine from the carpet.
Car interior cleaning products.
If you have a car in your family, then there is a special product with which a motorist takes care of his four-wheeled friend. This is what will work for trying to clean the carpet from plasticine at home.
Alcohol and Solvent.
In order to quickly remove plasticine from a carpet at home, you can look in the refrigerator. A good housewife always has a bottle of vodka hidden there. This method gives positive results, unless, of course, the stain is old. You need to take a small rag, cotton pad or sponge, wet them, and rub the source of unforeseen troubles until you get the result. Any solvent, such as gasoline, white spirit or acetone, will also help clean the stain from the carpet.
Don't forget! We recommend that you open the window slightly and put on rubber gloves before this procedure.
We remove greasy stains.
But now the desired goal has been achieved, and there is no plasticine left on the carpet. But sometimes the joy is premature, because a greasy stain is in plain sight. How to deal with it?
Take ammonia, a rag or a cotton pad, wet it with it and carefully “go over” the desired area.
Rub a cotton pad or sponge with laundry soap and treat the item.
Gasoline or kerosene is our third option. We act in the same way as when working with ammonia.
Mix a few drops of dishwashing liquid with water until a thick foam forms, rub in thoroughly, and then rinse with water.
Baking soda is one of the simplest but most reliable methods. Tested by the author in practice. It helps without problems if there is nothing else at hand.
Those who want to use the advice given in this article on how to clean plasticine from a carpet at home should remember a few simple rules.
When using alcohol, gasoline, or car cleaner for cleaning, always ventilate the room. It is also advisable to remove children and pets from the room for a while.
Carpets come in different varieties: coarse wool, high and low pile, nylon and others. This should always be taken into account, and not try products right away. Stains also come in different varieties – fresh and old. Fresh ones are easy to clean, but old ones sometimes require some effort. After the procedure, the cozy item will be damp. It should be dried on the loggia or balcony, and if it is large, an ordinary hair dryer will do.
Of course, it is not easy to remove plasticine from a carpet at home. But there is no need to panic and regret that you allowed your child to play on it. After all, he is the main thing in your home, and not some product, although very beautiful, useful, bringing a calm, good mood and a sense of security to the family.
Pull yourself together, calm down. There are no hopeless situations. Turn on your computer and read this article carefully, choose the appropriate option. Then proceed to action, but do not rush, carefully following the instructions. You will certainly succeed. And in order not to get confused next time, the old-fashioned way, write down the recommendations in a notebook. Then the housewife will not have to waste time, money and energy on a trip to the dry cleaner.