Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with cleaning and stain

how can I clean this couch?

helios — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 11:54:31 -0800

My landlord just bought a brand new sofa (this beige model) for my apartment, and I seem to have ruined it already by letting my friend sleep on it for a few days using dark-colored sheets. The area under the head/pillow is now slightly darker than the rest of the sofa; it looks as if it's always slightly wet. The cover can be dry-cleaned but will be expensive; what are the chances of it working? Are there any easier/less expensive alternatives?

How to remove dye stains from hardwood?

Felicity Rilke — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 09:38:45 -0800

Ho do I remove confetti and streamer stains from hardwood floors? We held an election party last night complete with streamers and that metallic confetti which shoots out of poppers. Some of the streamers and confetti sat in pools of alcohol all night and today I am faced with candy-coloured marks all over my light-coloured hardwood. What's the best way to get rid of them (or, at the very least, fade them so they're less noticeable). I don't want to ruin the floors with my experimentation.

How do I clean the blood stain from my hardwood floors?

gemmy — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 22:06:55 -0800

I cut my foot pretty severely on a broken glass, and now it looks like someone slaughtered a pig on my hardwood floor. How do I get the blood stains out? While cleaning this afternoon, I accidentally broke a glass, overbalanced, and stepped on some of the shards with my bare feet... I'm absolutely fine now, it's not even that painful, but I bled pretty profusely from two cuts on my foot for a little while. Once I had patched myself up (and finished lamenting my own stupidity), I tried to clean up. Unfortunately, I live in an old building where the lacquer topcoat for the hardwood floors is all scuffed up, and in places almost gone, so now it looks like my blood kind of soaked into the wood itself. I did my best to clean it (cold water, murphy's oil soap), but it still looks really bad - like something out of a CSI episode.

I have been Googling for cleaning tips, but most everything is how to clean blood from clothing and sofas and things, or places recommending exactly what I did to no effect. Does anyone have experience cleaning blood off wood? Is there something I can do to at least make it less red, so its not so obvious? Would some hydrogen peroxide or bleach help, or do I risk an even bigger stain? Thanks, Hive Mind!!!

Odd bathroom condensation/ectoplasm stains.

_sirmissalot_ — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 12:48:22 -0800

In colder weather, while taking a shower, water eventually condenses on our bathroom walls (even with the exhaust fan on). The odd thing, which I cannot figure out, is that a faint yellowish substance appears from nowhere and runs down the wall. I wouldn't notice this on the semi-gloss lavender paint, but it pools on the white wainscotting below. It's an old house but was painted a few years ago and the paint seems clean on the surface. I've wiped down the walls, but it doesn't seem to help. What is the yellow stuff? P.S. There is no odor to the yellowish substance (almost an orange) and it easily wipes off when still wet.

Laundry woes

sanitycheck — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 23:54:07 -0800

LaundryFilter: Help me get rid of a mystery green stain! My new khakis, worn only once, came out of the washer with a mysterious green stain on the leg. I am pretty sure the stain wasn't on the pants when they went into the wash, but nothing else that was in the washer (all light-coloured stuff) came out stained. Unfortunately, my boyfriend put the pants in the dryer before he noticed, so the stain is good and baked in now. I've tried treating with generic stain remover and repeated washings in cold water, to no avail.

The pants are 97% cotton, 3% spandex and are a light beige colour. Help!?

How do you remove silicone based lube from fabric?

pieoverdone — Mon, 08 Nov 2004 14:24:57 -0800

How do you remove silicone based lube from clothing/sheets/cotton based material? Traditional stain removers have not helped. Ammonia was suggested, but I've no clue what that would entail doing and whether everything I owned was destined to smell like that forever.

Collar Stains

jasper411 — Fri, 20 Aug 2004 11:34:03 -0800

Clothing stain filter: In addition to t-shirts, I have a number of shirts with a regular collar (non-button down). After I wear them for a while, EVERY ONE of them gets this little kind of brownish stain at in the front where the collar comes to a point. It looks kind of like rust. These stains are *really* hard to remove, and resistant to most stain removers. There are no similar stains anywhere on the shirt.

But my question is - what the heck is that stain? Where does it come from? Is it just me? Or is this a problem that all people who wear shirts with collars deal with but never talk about? Is this a message from the gods that I should only wear t shirts or only dark colored collared shirts?

BTW most of my shirts are wrinkle free cotton/poly blends, and they usually have one of those clear plastic collar stay things inside the material to keep the collar straight and pointy.