If you or someone else has vomited on a hard-to-clean surface, it's important to understand how to remove streak-free stains and vomit smells from your couch, carpet, mattress, clothing, and car.
Nausea and vomiting are a natural human reaction to poor quality food or large amounts of alcohol consumed. This may be a consequence of poisoning or car sickness. A person cannot always control the release of vomit. All this can easily stain clothes and objects near a person in an apartment or car interior. And if everything is easily removed from smooth surfaces, then the fabric and coatings based on it can absorb vomit.
Cleaning up vomit from the sofa
There is no point in removing the smell before removing the vomit from the upholstery. Cleaning is done quickly so that stomach acid does not have time to absorb into the fabric.
Cleaning procedure:
- Use dry wipes to remove most of the dirt. You can’t rub everything with a wet cloth.
- After removing the solid particles, a liquid mass will remain. Remove with a damp cloth, which should be placed on top of the stain and blotted. We repeat several times, while rinsing the rag and not making rubbing movements. Do not press on the upholstery.
- To eliminate residual stains and neutralize odors, sprinkle the stained area of the sofa with cat litter (it has excellent absorbent properties), or you can also use starch or soda. We wait 5-10 minutes.
- Remove traces of vomit with a special upholstery cleaner or dishwashing detergent.
Complex stains from vomiting sometimes cannot be washed off with simple means. How to remove ingrained and unpleasantly smelling marks without ruining the fabric? There are several proven methods.
General recommendations
The sooner the discharge is removed, the less likely it is that the smell will be firmly absorbed into the upholstery. If someone has vomited on the sofa, the first step is to clean it up using rags or wipes soaked in soapy water. Then you need to assess the extent of the damage and prepare improvised and professional means to remove unpleasant odors. First, it is advisable to try traditional methods, because they have proven themselves and do not pose a danger to the health of household members. You will need the following:
- soapy water;
- ammonia;
- lemon juice;
- potassium permanganate;
- vinegar essence;
- coffee beans;
- Black tea;
- salt;
- hydrogen peroxide.
Before removing the smell, it is necessary to clean the upholstery from stains, if any, otherwise, as a result of a chemical reaction between citric acid, vinegar and dirt, a difficult-to-remove substance is formed that will penetrate even deeper into the fibers. As a result, upholstered furniture may begin to smell even stronger.
Cleaning residual stains
You can wash off a difficult vomit stain using products that can be found in the kitchen of almost any housewife. Home remedies will not damage furniture upholstery.
How to clean upholstery material, what you can try:
- table vinegar;
- soda solution (2 teaspoons per 1 glass of water);
- ethanol;
- lemon juice;
- saline solution (5 teaspoons per 0.5 l).
In rare cases, use a stain remover. Aggressive chemicals can damage the fabric.
Ammonia
Ammonia has a pungent odor that quickly dissipates. Neutralizes other odors. Preparation of cleaning solution: 1 tbsp. a spoonful of ammonia, 2 teaspoons of liquid soap, diluted in 0.5 liters of water. The area emitting an odor is rubbed with a sponge soaked in the solution.
The solution is sprayed with a spray bottle to remove odors from the air. Ventilate the room and do not stay in it for a while.
Old stains
If the mattress is covered in stains and old dirt of unknown origin, the entire surface must be thoroughly cleaned. To do this, prepare a solution with plenty of foam: dilute washing powder, dishwashing detergent or liquid for washing carpets and wet cleaning upholstered furniture in warm water.
If the filler is polyurethane or coconut, use a soft brush and carefully wipe the material around the entire perimeter. If there is another soft filler inside, wash off the dirt with a sponge soaked in foam. After cleaning, blot the fabric with a clean towel and let it air dry.
Vinegar
After cleaning the vomit stain, does the sofa still give off an unpleasant odor? Table vinegar will help cope with this problem. Table salt is suitable, not acetic acid. It contains too much acid.
It is recommended to pour the product into a spray bottle and spray the problem area of upholstered furniture every hour during the day. You shouldn’t wet the fabric of the sofa too much; 3-4 sprays are enough to cover the entire area.
Fabric softener
An excellent way to combat odors is conditioner, which is used when rinsing clothes. It does a good job of removing odors left by pets and vomit.
You can clean the sofa from the smell like this: add a whole cap of conditioner to 0.5 liters of clean water. After thorough stirring, wipe away traces of vomiting with the solution. Additionally, you can spray a product diluted with water in the room if the smell has also spread throughout it.
Recommended professional products
Special products for eliminating unpleasant odors, including vomiting, are often recommended to be purchased at pet stores. The reason is that animal waste products have a more specific, pungent and difficult to remove odor than that of humans. For this reason, the effect after using these drugs is often faster and longer lasting.
If the vomit was removed quickly and the smell remains slight, you can use ordinary furniture or car interior care products. When choosing a product to eliminate the smell of vomit, there are several features to consider:
- the proportions of the drug must strictly comply with the description in the instructions;
- the preparation must contain alkalis;
- Strongly active formulations are recommended for use in the absence of children and pets;
- You should avoid products with a pronounced aroma, since they mask unpleasant odors more than neutralize them.
Let's summarize: in order to prevent the smell of vomit from spreading throughout your apartment or car, you must try to eliminate the consequences as quickly as possible. To do this, housewives often use the products they have on hand. You can purchase special formulations to eliminate unpleasant odors in the store. In all cases, it is important to follow the proportions and other recommendations for use in order to achieve long-term results.
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Important to remember
Cleaning the sofa from vomit and eliminating bad odors is not a difficult task. The main thing is to know in what order, what is better to clean.
Tips for effective, furniture-friendly cleaning:
- Cleaning of stains is carried out from the edge to the center of the stain, without pressing, circular movements.
- Before cleaning a large area of your sofa, test the product in an inconspicuous area. If it doesn't fit, then you won't ruin the furniture.
- For pure synthetic upholstery, it is advisable to use non-concentrated alkaline solutions. Acidic ones are not allowed.
- It is better to clean cotton and linen upholstery with acidic rather than alkaline compounds.
- After applying any neutralizing agents, the area is washed with water.
- A single application does not always bring results. Application must be repeated.
DIY homemade stain and odor removers are more eco-friendly than store-bought ones. This should be taken into account, especially if there are small children and animals in the house. Homemade methods cope with their task no worse than purchased products.
How to remove the smell of vomit using detergent, detailed instructions
Many people have encountered the problem of the unpleasant smell of vomit coming from the carpet. This especially often affects those who have small children or pets. In this article we will tell you several simple and affordable ways to get rid of odor using improvised means that every housewife can find at home. Of course, first you need to remove the vomit itself from the surface of the carpet and only then begin to eliminate the fetid odor using the following methods:
1 Using laundry detergent to get rid of vomit smell. To begin, stain the carpet by lightly moistening it with water. At the same time, you should not use too hot water - this way you will not only significantly intensify the smell, but also help it absorb into the carpet pile even deeper. Also, make sure that the water does not spread beyond the stain, making it even larger. Next, you need to apply washing powder to the carpet, diluted with a small amount of water to a paste. If the carpet is white, then it would be a good idea to add hydrogen peroxide to the powder; with a colored carpet it is better not to carry out such experiments. Distribute the resulting mixture onto the surface of the stain using a soft-bristled brush and lightly rub it in the direction of the pile until soap foam forms. Try to rub towards the center of the stain so that its area does not become even larger. Then you will need to use a washing vacuum cleaner to get rid of excess moisture or dry the surface with a dry towel.
2 The second method will take much longer, and you should change the towel to a dry one as it gets wet. On the dried stain, you need to apply a small amount of water again and rub with a brush, so that the remaining soap suds will come to the surface. Most likely, you will not get rid of it in one go; you will need to repeat everything again and again until all the powder is washed away. The process is quite lengthy, but do not neglect it - the remaining soap solution can harden and make the stain slightly lighter than the entire carpet, making it look unkempt. Then you need to dry the carpet again using a vacuum cleaner or towels; to speed up the drying process, open all windows and doors or turn on the heating appliances if it is cold outside. Evaluate the work done - if the result does not satisfy you, use other methods described below.
