We have a large spot on our carpet… The vomit consisted of a number of organic items, the worst of which was whole milk (there was also some fruit). But the milk seems to be the culprit for the sour odor that is still detectable.
I am afraid the milk, which came up in numerous chunks, was in the process of being digested, and was mixed with the stomach acids. Normal cleaning methods removed everything but the odor.
I did some research online, and found a solution that used an enzyme-based cleaner, and that has worked to some extent. However, the smell is still clearly there. I am sure the stomach acid/milk mixture has seeped into the padding underneath the carpet.
Has anyone found a way to remove this particular vomit problem? I need something that you have actually used yourself. There are a number of ideas listed on the web, including corn starch and dry cleaning fluid, but before I buy 20 different items to try, I thought I’d ask everyone out here first.
The carpet is currently still damp, however I believe the real issue is that the liquid that made its way into the padding. Clearly, using something like corn starch to wick up the moisture would work on normal fluids, but I don’t think it will seep into the padding and remove the organic materials and odor. At this point, I would be ok with finding something that would neutralize the odor, and if I can’t get it completely out of the padding, so be it.
Rent a carpet steamer (I’ve bought a couple–the “good” one was ruined by a friend borrowing, and I can’t find another), and use enzyme stuff with it.
Then, if you have kids or pets, consider eliminating carpet altogether. To me it’s like wearing your socks 24/7 and just cleaning them with a lint roller every now and then.
ETA: If you have no access to anything heavy duty right now, use vinegar or peroxide diluted 1:1 with water and blot with all your might with whatever towelling you have.
In general, this is the best rug/upholstery stain remover I’ve EVER used.
The visible stain is gone, but the smell (unfortunately) is not. I think you make a valid point about the removal of carpet, but this is in a bedroom, and I never really thought about having wooden floors in a bedroom. It would make a lot of sense, though… Especially when something like this happens.
Can you tell me… If I use the vinegar/peroxide method (i assume this is hydrogen peroxide), is this to remove a visible stain, or is it to kill the organic matter that is causing the smell? And once I use the vinegar/peroxide solution, do I need to use soap/water or some other carpet cleaner to remove the odor of the vinegar?
I have done a LOT of work on is spot in the past 24 hours, and it does smell better than D-Day. However, the odor is still there. I think it is currently just polluted with a combination of the enzyme-based carpet cleaner and an oxyclean-powered carpet freshener. It is NOT a good smell, however it doesn’t blow me over like the original… So that is something.
Thank you for the link to that cleaner. It has some great reviews, so it will be worth a try. I hope I can fix this before it arrives in the mail, though… (Unless you know a major retailer that stocks it regularly).
All of the above are viable methods short of ripping the carpet out of the room.
There is carpet padding underneath also, which doesn’t help when doing a surface cleaning.
I must admit to being impressed by the OP’s user name/thread title combo.
Good luck. BTDT.
When my son threw up some similar stuff on our carpet, I got up what I could with water and scrubbing. Then I dumped an entire box of baking soda on area (which in my case was a little smaller than a dinner plate). I left the baking soda there for 24 hours and vacuumed it up the next day. That did the trick for me.
Another vote for baking soda - does the business. My young son threw up on a carpeted stair last week (he waited until he was past the wooden hallway floor), we threw down the bicarb and it completely cleared it up. No stain or smell remains.
Milk doesn’t even need to have been in and out of a child to stink up your car. I remember when I was quite young we had a bottle of milk spill in the footwell of the car on the way back from the supermarket. For as long as we had that car (two or three years), on hot summer days the car would still smell faintly of rotten milk.
Did you dry out the carpeting first, or did you put the baking soda on the carpet while wet? The carpeting is now dry, so I’m happy to dump baking soda on the dry carpet and wait. If I have to dampen the carpet first, fine… But I don’t want to create a baking soda-paste that will clump up and become hard to remove if I don’t have to.
Also, did you physically scrub the baking soda into the carpet/stained area, or did you just sprinkle it on the carpet?
Thanks for this link… I have read good things about this stuff, and didn’t know where I could get it. I will be taking a trip to Wal-Mart as soon as I can. The entire family is sick, so on top of the fact that my house has turned into an awful smelling vomitorium, we have all been trapped inside with the stench for days.
The good news: the smell has been reduced quite a bit with repeated scrubbings, two seperate treatments of enzyme-based carpet cleaner (Bissell brand), a treatment with resolve carpet cleaner, a treatment with some powdered “carpet fresh”-like product, and a number of “febreeze” sprays. The carpet looks cleaner than ever!
The bad news: when you get close, the smell is still there. I need to find a way to kill it. I’d prefer not to use gasoline, or anything flammable…
Until I hear back from someone. I am going to try the baking soda solution… Sprinkle it dry, out of the box, on the carpet and I’ll let it sit for as long as I can.
The two times I used the baking soda trick, the carpet was still damp, but not too wet. The baking soda clumped up a little, but the vacuum still sucked it up easily. I did not scrub the baking soda in. I just spread it all over the area and kind of spread it around with my hand to make sure it was settled in good. But I didn’t really scrub it in.
As far as the smell, dump a cup or two of coffee grounds on the space where the stain is, and leave it there for several days (maybe weeks). The grounds will absorb the odors and coffee grounds were the only thing that worked when I spilled milk in my truck.
When I had a cat urine and carpet issue, I used Anti Icky Poo. The product recommendation is to inject it through the carpet and into the padding and let it dry. The enzymes and bacteria in the product eat what causes the smell, and continue working when dry.
I like the idea of injecting cleaner into the padding. This is going to sound so stupid, but did you use a syringe of some kind, or just spray the stuff directly onto the carpet, and let the stuff drip/drain into the padding? I am thinking this will be the end game if the baking soda doesn’t work… Taking one of these powerful cleaners, putting it into a syringe and pumping it directly into the padding. It may be the only way to neutralize the smell until we replace the capeting (or move).
I am trying the baking soda solution right now, it is in the carpeting.
I did not re-dampen the carpeting, but I did rub the baking soda in by hand after putting it on the carpet, to get it down as close to the padding as possible. Now, we wait.
As far as the coffee ground solution… I personally love that idea, but my wife hates the smell of coffee. And I shudder to think what would happen if the smells combined. It may ruin my taste of coffee forever, which is simply unacceptable. :eek: This will be the last thing I try if the baking soda doesn’t work, or if the injected cleaner into the padding doesn’t work.
Thanks all for the help and advice…
I think I am going to sprinkle coffee crounds into my car’s carpeting. There are some funky smells in there anyway from the excess moisture problem I had this winter, and I like the smell of coffee.
IIRC there’s a syringe like injector available for purchase with the product. I’m a vet tech so already had a large syringe that did the trick well enough. But I believe the idea is to saturate the pad and get to any flooring under that, too, if the source of the smell got to the wood.
I tossed about 3/4 of a box of baking soda all over the dry carpet, and rubbed the powder into the carpeting the best I could with my hands. I know I got a significant amount down into the carpet fibers, and hopefully a decent amount made it to the carpet backing.
I have left it alone for the past day, and the smell is basically gone. I will sweep up the area tomorrow, but I think the baking soda did the trick in absorbing the odors. I don’t know what impact it had on the nasty milk/stomach acid liquid that made it to the padding, but for now, the odor is gone and that was my biggest concern.
I will still purchase the Kids and Pets and/or the Anti Icky Poo, and inject it into the padding, just to make sure I kill everything that may be able to create an odor (I assume the living bacteria is the problem, and that must be dealt with to finish it once and for all.)
Thanks for your help, one and all. I will only update this is the odor comes back either before or after I syringe the cleaner into the padding.
To me it’s like wearing your socks 24/7 and just cleaning them with a lint roller every now and then.