# Entire house spattered with blood – quickest way to clean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 26, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entire-house-spattered-with-blood-quickest-way-to-clean/431311 "2007-12-26T20:31:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entire-house-spattered-with-blood-quickest-way-to-clean/431311/1 "2007-12-26T20:31:11Z")
With the exception of Tarantino-esque overtones, this is exactly what it sounds like. Blood is everywhere, and we need to clean as quickly as possible. Over the holiday our not-so-graceful cat (Ash, who apparently let the Deadites get the upper hand) had something of an incident. I’ll say…an incident requiring eleven stitches (happy holidays!). Ever the stoic (he _is_ Ash, after all), he didn’t let his injury keep him from his morning rounds. Before we woke up and noticed something was wrong, he’d done a Family Circus “Billy’s Path” walk (oh com’on, you may hate to admit it but you got the reference) through every room in the house. Every. Room. Ten rooms plus halls—leaving bloody paw prints everywhere he went. He’s all stitched up and recovering in a narcotics-induced haze. The house? Well, that’s another story. Between shuttling him between the vet and shuffling between holiday commitments, we’ve barely had time to appreciate the Amityville-inspired décor. Most of the floors are wood, but the kitchen and a hallway are ceramic tile. Guests are a-coming. Guests without the same sense of humor and less than Goth tastes in furnishings. Guests that are known as … in-laws. But what do I know from cleaning up blood spills? The Wolfe isn’t answering the phone. The whole house needs to be scrubbed—and fast. Will normal PineSol do the trick, or will we be better off heeding Madison Avenue’s advice and getting something with enzymes, oxygen, magnetic beads or ancient Chinese secrets? PineSol _seems_ to work on small areas, but it takes some scrubbing and I’d really hate to do the floors then find out I need to do them all over again—especially when time is of the essence. Even if we do get all the blood we see on the surface, do we need to worry about, oh, I don’t know, bear attacks? Ok, Colbert aside, do we need to do any type of deeper cleaning to get rid of the blood scent, or are visiting dogs and assorted wildlife not likely to notice? Are we setting ourselves up for a CSI episode? Lastly, now that there’s so much blood, how do we keep the house from becoming possessed? Thanks, Rhythm ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entire-house-spattered-with-blood-quickest-way-to-clean/431311/2 "2007-12-26T20:37:19Z")
[Nature’s Miracle](http://www.drugstore.com/qxp144737_333181_sespider/natures_miracle/stain_and_odor_remover.htm) is an enzyme based stain remover that works well with blood, and comes in a handy one gallon size, available at most large pet supply stores. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entire-house-spattered-with-blood-quickest-way-to-clean/431311/3 "2007-12-26T20:48:55Z")
Oh geeze… this sure is feeding my paranoia. From the linked Web site: > [@](#): > > 1. Always use Stain & Odor remover first! Other cleaners and detergents may fail and chemically “set” stains that will then be impossible to remove. Does this apply to blood? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entire-house-spattered-with-blood-quickest-way-to-clean/431311/4 "2007-12-26T20:53:30Z")
[QUOTE=Rhythmdvl] Does this apply to blood? [/QUOTE] I don’t know. I use it almost exclusively, maybe wipe up the mess with a wet sponge, then apply NM. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entire-house-spattered-with-blood-quickest-way-to-clean/431311/5 "2007-12-26T20:54:04Z")
I had this same problem (don’t ask questions) and found that Formula 409 cleaned the spots up pronto. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entire-house-spattered-with-blood-quickest-way-to-clean/431311/6 "2007-12-26T20:55:17Z")
Not sure if blood will set if you use something else first, but those enzyme stain removers (I have one for cat puke that is just awesome) are freekin’ amazing. They’ve always worked very well for me. ---
**Author:** ![FourPaws](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e0b2c6/32.png) [@FourPaws](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FourPaws)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entire-house-spattered-with-blood-quickest-way-to-clean/431311/7 "2007-12-26T21:03:30Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] [Nature’s Miracle](http://www.drugstore.com/qxp144737_333181_sespider/natures_miracle/stain_and_odor_remover.htm) is an enzyme based stain remover that works well with blood, and comes in a handy one gallon size, available at most large pet supply stores. [/QUOTE] You can also buy it at WalMart in 1 quart sizes. Alternatively, hot soapy water will clean your floors. Blood won’t do anything to your wood, ceramic or linoleum floors. Hot water should be available in your house while Nature’s Miracle aint. We have five dogs and a cat and this (minus the stitches) happens about every month. A ripped pad, etc on the paw bleeds for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entire-house-spattered-with-blood-quickest-way-to-clean/431311/8 "2007-12-26T21:08:53Z")
[QUOTE=Rhythmdvl] Ever the stoic (he _is_ Ash, after all), he didn’t let his injury keep him from his morning rounds. Before we woke up and noticed something was wrong, he’d done a Family Circus “Billy’s Path” walk… through every room in the house. Every. Room. Ten rooms plus halls—leaving bloody paw prints everywhere he went. [/QUOTE] ‘Anyway, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!’ ---
**Author:** ![Apricot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@Apricot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apricot)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entire-house-spattered-with-blood-quickest-way-to-clean/431311/9 "2007-12-26T21:10:54Z")
You’ll need to tailor the cleaning the surface. Linens and such should be washed, perhaps with oxyclean. You can pretreat with Hydrogen Peroxide. Dry clean items should be taken to a drycleaner. Carpets should be spot tested and cleaned with hydrogen peroxide. Soapy water will take care of the wood. I’d use a lightly dampened rag. Since you’re not worried about DNA being found after a murder, you don’t need to eradicate every trace with bleach. There’s nothing pathogenic (that I know of) in cat blood from your healthy indoor cats, so that’s not an issue. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entire-house-spattered-with-blood-quickest-way-to-clean/431311/10 "2007-12-26T21:34:18Z")
[QUOTE=Apricot] There’s nothing pathogenic (that I know of) in cat blood from your healthy indoor cats, so that’s not an issue. [/QUOTE] The Velveteen Rabbit will be happy to hear that 🙂 My main concern with deep cleaning was whether or not visiting pooches will go all Cujo on us. (Hey, I’m just learning to appreciate a poodle as a real dog. I can’t be too careful.) It sounds like regular floor cleaner should take care of things … though I’d really hate to mop the whole place (I’m not the most efficient mopper—but even so we’re talking hours and hours of moving furniture, etc.) to find slight discolorations behind. ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entire-house-spattered-with-blood-quickest-way-to-clean/431311/11 "2007-12-26T21:41:56Z")
I’m going to post this on the inside of my no-window van. … ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entire-house-spattered-with-blood-quickest-way-to-clean/431311/12 "2007-12-26T22:36:11Z")
bleach will do wonders and confuse the csi folks. i’m sure ash was very careful to get into the tiny grout lines. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entire-house-spattered-with-blood-quickest-way-to-clean/431311/13 "2007-12-26T22:42:03Z")
[QUOTE=Will Repair] I’m going to post this on the inside of my no-window van. .. [/QUOTE] Ha! Took me a minute. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entire-house-spattered-with-blood-quickest-way-to-clean/431311/14 "2007-12-26T22:49:09Z")
After Maddie managed to bite its jugular while eviscerating a mousie, while perched on a railing overlooking the lower floor, then celebrated her kill by rubbing her blood-soaked face and sides against all possible furniture, I cleaned up pretty easily with a pre-soak of carbonated water on the beige carpets and hot, soapy water for all other surfaces… ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2007, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entire-house-spattered-with-blood-quickest-way-to-clean/431311/15 "2007-12-26T23:03:10Z")
I’ve found the best treatment for human blood stains is salt water. It works sort of like a brine, actually - the water part of the blood osmosises out into the salt water side of the fibers in an effort to equalize salinity. And with it, it takes the red hemoglobin containing blood cells. I assume it works equally well on cat blood. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2007, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entire-house-spattered-with-blood-quickest-way-to-clean/431311/16 "2007-12-27T02:04:38Z")
[QUOTE=FourPaws] You can also buy it at WalMart in 1 quart sizes. Alternatively, hot soapy water will clean your floors. Blood won’t do anything to your wood, ceramic or linoleum floors. Hot water should be available in your house while Nature’s Miracle aint. [/QUOTE] No no no! Do NOT use hot water to clean up blood! I repeat, do not use HOT water!!! Use cold. It doesn’t have to be ice cold, but definitely _cold_. Especially on anything clothlike. I speak from experience. Heat can set bloodstains, and with modern cleaners cool/cold water should work just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2007, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entire-house-spattered-with-blood-quickest-way-to-clean/431311/17 "2007-12-27T03:03:04Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] I’ve found the best treatment for human blood stains is salt water. It works sort of like a brine, actually - the water part of the blood osmosises out into the salt water side of the fibers in an effort to equalize salinity. And with it, it takes the red hemoglobin containing blood cells. I assume it works equally well on cat blood. [/QUOTE] I’ve never heard of that. Do you just soak the fabric in salt water? ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2007, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entire-house-spattered-with-blood-quickest-way-to-clean/431311/18 "2007-12-27T03:35:59Z")
I would steer away from anything containing soaps or detergents. Fabrics like carpet and upholstery will soil much quicker wherever they’ve been cleaned with soap. New dirt will attach to the residual soap left in the fabric and leave a soil stain. I’m a fan of the enzyme treatments for pet problems so I would imagine blood would also be a candidate. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2007, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entire-house-spattered-with-blood-quickest-way-to-clean/431311/19 "2007-12-27T04:13:58Z")
[QUOTE=Campion] I’ve never heard of that. Do you just soak the fabric in salt water? [/QUOTE] Yeaaaaahhhh…fabric… ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2007, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entire-house-spattered-with-blood-quickest-way-to-clean/431311/20 "2007-12-27T14:16:17Z")
[QUOTE=Campion] I’ve never heard of that. Do you just soak the fabric in salt water? [/QUOTE] Yep. I learned it for menstrual fluid stains, which are about half blood. Then my husband’s nosebleed season started, and darn if it doesn’t work just as well on t-shirts with real blood! I make the salt water pretty salty, because salt is cheap. Cold water, pour in some salt, soak the fabric. I’ve also used it on…uh…my mother’s dining room chair :smack: (what can I say? That first menstrual period after 20 months of pregnancy and nursing was a doozy!) and I did the dab and pat with a white rag dipped in salt water. It takes some amount of elbow grease, but at least it didn’t stiffen or discolor the fabric like soaps and chemicals can. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/entire-house-spattered-with-blood-quickest-way-to-clean/431311.md?page=2)