How To Clean Your Carpet With Baking Soda

How To Deodorize Your Rug Naturally with Baking Soda

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Whether you lot have wall-to-wall rug or simply a few area rugs, your carpets take a beating over fourth dimension. You walk on them daily, spill on them, and vacuum them less often than you probably should. Plus, more than other surfaces in your business firm, like your walls or floors, carpets are porous. They're fabricated of fibers, with lots of nooks and crannies between the weaves or pile, meaning there are lots of spots to absorb odors.

Additionally, smoke is a tough aroma — mayhap it's a habit, or y'all've burned something in the oven, or had a fire (this just happened to us recently when our fireplace dramatically malfunctioned!). Pets are another one. I hateful, I dearest dogs, but some breeds have a pretty distinctive smell that but those fur-baby daddies and mommies tin can love.

You tin spot-clean a carpet for stains or steam-clean it for disinfection, but if your carpeting is in otherwise good shape and you're just noticing a persistent smell in the room, you might want to deodorize it. And fortunately, you may already take the tool you lot need in your pantry!

Why Use Baking Soda On Your Carpet

Baking soda is a proven odor absorber, plus it's cheap and all-natural. "Baking soda'southward particles get deep down into the carpet, past the signal you can't even see, all the way to the base to absorb and neutralize odors. The particles tin can and then be lifted out with a vacuum, leaving you with a carpet that smells like, well, nothing!" says Dr. Steven A. Bolkan, director of research & development at Church & Dwight (Arm & Hammer's parent company).

Another advantage of baking soda for deodorizing? It's a dry deodorizer, versus some of the sprays that practise the aforementioned, and so you don't have to worry most over-saturating your carpet (or other upholstery) and potentially getting water stains, generating mold and bacteria (if it doesn't dry out), or alluring dirt if someone in your household steps on the carpeting before information technology's dry. And, deodorizing with baking soda is super easy. Here'south how to practise information technology.

How To Deodorize Your Rug Naturally with Baking Soda

What You'll Demand

One box of blistering soda
Vacuum

Instructions

Move your piece of furniture: Articulate any furniture off the carpet to access the whole surface area. Vacuum the carpet to remove any dirt, debris, or pet fur. (Practice non take this opportunity to spot-clean, because y'all want the carpet to be dry for the adjacent step.)
Add the blistering soda: Sprinkle baking soda liberally all over the carpet —either correct from the box or using a fine-mesh sieve. If you have a deep-pile rug, sprinkle small sections at a time, and so work the baking soda into the carpet with your fingers before moving on to the next section.
Let it sit: Look a few hours or ideally overnight for the blistering soda to absorb the odors.
Vacuum: Vacuum up the baking soda.
Replace your piece of furniture: Put everything back where it belongs and you're washed!

Notes

Wait to do this project right until before bedtime, or another time when you don't expect foot traffic in the room, as information technology takes some time.
If the odor persists, repeat the process. "Baking soda does have a saturation point where it has absorbed all of the odor information technology can, although it really takes a lot of odor to get to that point. For peculiarly stinky areas, do the aforementioned routine twice to get out more of the olfactory property," says Bolkan.

(Paradigm credit: The Kitchn)

Ayn-Monique Klahre

Correspondent

Ayn-Monique is a lifestyle editor and author who'southward worked for Good Housekeeping, Woman'due south Twenty-four hours, FamilyFun and more. She loves lattes, jogging and hanging out at the playground with her married man and daughters.

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