My daughter left hamburger in my van for over 3 days, with outside temps reaching over 95 degrees. The blood leaked out and saturated the carpet. I have allergies and chemical sensitives, so I can't anything containing perfumes or scented. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to clean up this mess?
SCCanLady from Charleston, SC
Try white vinegar and see if that works. Put it on full strength and let it sit. (06/30/2008)
By Betty
Clean it thoroughly. Let it air out if possible. When dry try baking soda then vacuuming up. You can use Febreze if it doesn't bother your allergies. If it does, stick with cleaning and baking soda and airing out with windows down. (06/30/2008)
For the stain you can try hydrogen peroxide (the brown bottle in the first aid aisle). It should bubble out the blood stain. Leave it on for awhile then blot it up, repeat if necessary. That will also help w/ the odor. For the odor you can use straight white vinegar poured on until it dries. You can set dishes of straight white vinegar in the vehicle w/ the windows closed (absorbs odors). You can put pans of un-used coffee grounds in the vehicle, cheap brand.
By kidsNclutter
What about steam cleaning? I don't have a cleaner, but they certainly look like they work in the ads.
Perhaps you could phone an auto cleaning shop and ask what they use, or perhaps get it professionally done. I would ask if they can clean this out before you pay someone to do it. (07/01/2008)
By Louise B.
You can also use ammonia (watered down) after blotting the blood up, spot test it. If you get out all the blood and any smell remains you can try coffee grounds once it is thoroughly dried. Good luck! (07/01/2008)
By sheila
Try placing some charcoal briquettes on the carpet. (Like Kingsford for the BBQ)
It absorbs the smell of meat odors from old freezers, give it a try. (07/02/2008)
By LEONA LABINE
2-3 tablespoons of pure vanilla extract mixed with about 4-6 oz. of plain water in a spray bottle! Spray heavily in area where blood is. My hubby left a "plastic lined" box that had packages of raw chicken in plastic bags in my car overnight several years ago. (No, he didn't leave the chickens, just the box!) The box with the plastic liner had blood from the chickens still in it and leaked all over the back end of my car. Really, really bad smell! A friend who had been a used car dealer told me about this and it really really worked. Good for all kinds of bad odors. (07/02/2008)
By Beverly
Thanks everyone for your ideas on how to best clean up my car. I pretty much have it beat now. I started out with baking soda and white vinegar. Then I steamed cleaned it until I got all the visible blood out of the carpet, then I blasted it with steam a few more times. My last effort was using straight white vinegar for the lingering smell. That seems to have taken care of the whole rotten mess. (07/03/2008)
By sccanlady
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There are many great suggestions in this thread, in my case it was a whole fryer chicken left for more than a week. The only real way to come close to totally removing the odor is the completely remove the carpets and throughly clean them. Most seats can be removed with 4 bolts and the plastic door panels just pop out if you pry them up. Car carpets have a mat pad on the back side and you need to throughly wash and vacuum them with a wet vacuum using vinegar and or peroxide.
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