How To Use Baking Soda To Clean Carpet: Essential Guide 2024

In this article, I will teach you how to use baking soda to clean the carpet. Baking soda can be used to remove different stains off the carpet, from oily and greasy stains to non-greasy ones.

Maintaining carpets in the home is an important chore, the process of maintenance involves cleaning them. An inexpensive cleaning agent you can use is baking soda, with the use of a vacuum cleaner the cleaning process becomes easier.

Using baking soda as a carpet cleaner offers a cheap and effective solution of getting rid of stains from carpets, it also gets rid of the odor and prevents some microbial growth too.

Without further ado, let’s get to work!

What Type Of Stains Can Baking Soda Remove?

Getting different stains out of carpet can be stressful, some stains even require you to get different cleaning solutions before you can remove them. Baking soda comes in handy in removing a wide range of stains.

The common types of carpet stains that can be removed by baking soda are:

Greasy Stains

Greasy stains majorly involve liquid and often leave a slippery surface. An oil droplet is a form of greasy stains, and it can prove stubborn to clean from the carpet.

The high absorbent properties of the baking soda can help in removing greasy stains from the carpet.

Non-Greasy Stains

Carpets often get stained with non-greasy stains like a footprint, dust, dirt than any other type of floor. However, these stains can be easily removed from a carpet even with baking soda.

Pet Stain

For pet lovers, it is not uncommon to have a lot of pet stains on the carpet around. Baking soda can easily get rid of such stains when used effectively.

Odor

It is surprising to know that baking soda can function as a carpet deodorizer by removing odors from the house or those coming from stains in the carpet. Applying baking soda to the carpet and cleaning afterward can give your room a fresh and clean look free from odor.

Check out this video describing the removal of different stains using baking soda

Can Baking Soda Damage My Carpet?

Baking soda cannot damage your carpet fabric, the ingredients making up baking soda do not damage the carpet in any way. Although, the floor beneath the carpet can get damaged if the baking soda added is not completely vacuumed.

Baking soda is a fine particle and it can easily slip through the carpet to the underlay or the floor under the carpet. If the carpet is well vacuumed, the chances of having an accumulation of baking soda under the carpet are reduced greatly.

Another advantage of using baking soda in cleaning a carpet is that it does not give discoloration to your carpet, neither does it contribute to fading of the carpet, instead of baking soda works in giving your carpet a brighter and cleaner look.

Can Baking Soda Damage My Vacuum?

When baking soda is sprinkled on the carpet for cleaning it needs to be vacuumed away. Does baking soda damage the vacuum? Baking soda is a fine particle with a very small size, this size can affect and clog up the filters of the vacuum cleaner.

The filter of the vacuum cleaner is the commonly affected part from using a vacuum cleaner to clear up the baking soda, especially for low-end vacuum cleaner due to inferior filtration. When choosing a household vacuum, this is a factor to consider.

High-end vacuum cleaners often come with detachable cleaners that can be removed and cleaned after using them for cleaning baking soda.

When using baking soda as a cleaning agent, the choice of the vacuum cleaner is also important to avoid damage to the vacuum cleaner.

This short video shows how baking soda can damage a vacuum.

Baking Soda Or Baking Powder

This post describes how to get stains off carpets using baking soda. However, most people can confuse baking powder with baking soda.

Both baking powder and baking soda are commonly used in the household, although with slight differences. The baking powder has a different texture than the baking soda which is made up of fine particles and is also more expensive.

For effective cleaning of your carpet make use of baking soda to clean different kinds of stains from your carpet.

How To Clean The Carpet Using Baking Soda

Baking soda is applied to clean the carpet depending on the type of stain involved. Step-by-step cleaning methods for the different types of stains will be highlighted below.

Cleaning Greasy Stains

Greasy stains may be more difficult to remove from the carpet than other types of stains due to the material of the grease. The following steps offer a guideline on how to go about cleaning this type of stain.

• Clearing The Room: A general requirement before you clean any type of stain from your carpet is to clear the room and give working space. Part of cleaning the room includes you vacuuming your carpet first before adding any cleaning agent.
• Blotting: Removing greasy stains from carpets involves a slightly different process. If you have a greasy stain, you need to try to get as much of those grease out of your carpet as possible, try blotting the carpet by using a soft or paper towel.
  Care must be taken while blotting, as rubbing the grease can add to the stain and spread it around.
• Sprinkle Baking Soda: After blotting, sprinkle baking soda liberally over the stain and allow it to stay overnight or for hours before cleaning. The longer the baking soda is allowed to stay, the more grease it will absorb, you should give sufficient time for this.
• Vacuum: The next step is to vacuum the baking soda. If the stain is still retained, you might need to blot the stain again while using soapy water, do this for a while, allow the carpet to dry a bit before adding baking soda, and repeat the process.
• Repeating The Process: Depending on how tough the stain is, the blotting and vacuuming process can be repeated more than once, while adding baking soda until the stain is gotten rid of completely.
• Blot Dry: After the stain might have been removed, blot the area dry by using a clean towel. Ensure the area is completely left dry.

Cleaning Non-Greasy Stains

This is a common type of carpet stain and also one of the easiest types of stain to be removed.it involves less process than the greasy stain.

• Cleaning And Clearing: Clear the room where the carpet is to be cleaned, also do a general vacuum cleaning to remove other dirt that is present on the surface of the carpet.
• Add Baking Soda: Baking soda should be generously applied to the surface of the stained parts of the carpet.
• Make It Damp: Slightly add hot water preferably using a spray bottle to add the hot water to make the stained area slightly damped. Allow the baking soda to stay in the stained area for some hours. The longer it is allowed to stay the more effective and easier it is for the stain to be removed.
• Vacuum: Vacuum the area after allowing the mixture to stay on the stained area for a couple of hours. For non-greasy stains this process should get the stain removed, but if the stain remains, simply repeat the process.

Removing Odor And Pet Stains

Most pets not only stain the house but also have a distinctive odor that can be awful at times. It is important to get rid of the stains and odor from the house. Baking soda is capable of getting rid of this odor, and this can be done in easy steps.

• Cleaning And Clearing: Apart from cleaning specks of dust off the carpet, pet hair should be removed either by handpicking or using a vacuum designed for removing pet hair.
• Add Baking Soda: Add baking soda liberally to the areas on the carpet whereby the smell is coming from or areas where the pet normally stays.
• Allow It To Stay: Give the baking soda time to stay on the added area, as always, the longer it is allowed to stay the more effective it is in absorbing odor from the carpets. The baking soda gets rid of the odor by neutralizing the odor present in the carpet.
• Vacuum: After allowing the baking soda to sit on the carpet for some hours, vacuum up the baking soda. The odor should have been completely absorbed, if the smell persists, repeat the process of adding baking soda and vacuum.

Here is a video showing the process of removal of odor from the carpet using baking soda

Benefits Of Using Baking Soda For Carpet Cleaning

There are several carpet cleaning agents, but there are also benefits of using baking soda as your cleaning agent for carpet cleaning. Some of these benefits are:

• It is less expensive: Baking soda is commonly used in almost every household, and it is very cheap and easy to obtain. Its inexpensiveness makes it a good option for cleaning.
• It is safe to use: The composition of baking soda is safe enough and does not cause any physical harm. It is also a mild alkali and not aggressive, and does not damage the fabrics of the carpet.
• Removal of odor: Most commercial deodorizers have artificial scents that most times only mask the odor and do not remove it. The scent from commercial deodorizers can trigger allergies either to humans or animals. The baking soda has no such scent and removes odor effortlessly.
• Baking soda is environmentally friendly. It does not have constituents that are harmful to either humans, pets, or the environment. This makes baking soda a preferable option for cleaning.

This video states the benefits of using baking soda to clean a carpet.

Extra Advice

• Although baking soda is effective at removing carpet stains, it does not kill bacteria or disinfect the carpet. If you need to disinfect your carpet, you might consider using a disinfectant or any other cleaning agent that contains a disinfectant.
• Sometimes you can add vinegar to the baking soda to assist in the cleaning process. Especially when dealing with tough stains, vinegar combined with baking soda makes the cleaning process easier.
• While trying to make an effective cleaning solution, some solution does not go with baking soda and could be dangerous. Do not mix baking soda with a solution like rubbing alcohol, bleach, ammonia, and hydrogen peroxide.Baking soda is safe for humans; however, it might not be for your pets. Keep baking soda away from your dog as consuming large portions of baking soda can be harmful. Ensure to vacuum properly as well.

How Far Can The Baking Soda Go?

Removal of stains from carpets depends on the carpet fabric and type of stain. Although baking soda has been tested and proven to assist in removing stains, you may need to go through the process multiple times to get rid of the stain.

This is especially important for tough stains or dried up stains they may require more effort for you to remove them from the carpet completely.

There are often different types of carpet, fur carpets, and other expensive types of carpets, you should check in with a professional carpet cleaner to know if you can use the baking soda on your carpet.

Have you tried cleaning your carpet using baking soda before? What other steps did you take in cleaning the carpet? Kindly share your thoughts by leaving a comment below and remember to share the post to help others.