It cuts quite an impressive figure when you’re elegantly holding a wineglass in your hand. However, walls stained with a splash of wine are not attractive at all.
Accidents happen when people are sober, so you can hardly blame your guests for spilling wine on your favorite wall after they’ve had a glass or two of Chardonnay. Since wall paints are quite porous, they readily absorb any colorful liquids like red wine, making the stains deeply ingrained in the wall.
The stubborn stain of red wine comes from a pigment found in the skins of the grapes. This pigment has been put in the family of anthocyanins, which are food-coloring chemicals. They’re quite similar to fabric dyes and efficiently attach themselves to fibrous and porous surfaces.
Even though there are numerous commercial cleaners in the market, one always doesn’t have a specialized wine stain remover at hand in time for a wine party. And when it comes to wine stains, the faster you act the better results you get.
Some household cleaners which are easily available in most residences can come to your aid when comes to wine stain removal. Since there are many household cleaners that are recommended to remove wine stains from wall, we tested bleach, hydrogen peroxide, Windex, Magic Eraser, a paste of baking soda and salt as well as plain old dish soap for their worth against the stubborn stains.
Bleach gave remarkable results with wine stains on the wall, followed by hydrogen peroxide as red wine stains, like tea and coffee, come under the category of oxidisable stains.
Magic Eraser also produced good results, but should be used on expensive wall paint with caution. Dish soap will work well if the stains are not particularly stubborn. If the stains are fresh and light, Windex will also work.
Baking soda and salt paste gave the worst results by far. Besides eroding the paint a little, it left green smudges behind.
Now you can make your choice depending on these test results when using household cleaners to remove red wine stains from the wall.
Here are six methods to use whenever a guest or a dear one spills red wine on your favorite wall.
Contents
Method 1: Using Bleach
Bleach is one of the most effective cleaners that can tackle almost any type of stain. Bleach essentially changes the chemical nature of the pigments that form the stains. This changes their physical appearance as well and as a result, the stains no longer remain visible.
Things you’ll need:
- Water
- Household sponge
- Bleaching powder
Step 1. Make a paste of bleaching powder
- Take some bleaching powder in a bowl.
- Add water so as to make a thin paste.
- Mix the contents of the bowl completely.
Step 2. Sponge the wine stain with bleaching powder paste
- Dip a soft household sponge into the paste.
- Lightly scrub the wine stain on the wall with the household sponge. You’ll notice that the stain starts to bleed after just a few moments of contact with the bleach.
- Continue scrubbing at the stain with a light hand till you get the desired results.
- Sponge the area with plain water when you’re done and let the wall dry.
Method 2: Using Hydrogen Peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a natural bleaching agent. When used on stains, it breaks up into a water molecule and a lone oxygen atom which oxidizes the pigment in the stain changing its chemical nature and in turn, physical appearance. If the wine stain is fresh, you should have success in removing the stain from your wall using this one ingredient.
Things you’ll need:
- Hydrogen peroxide, 3%
- Household sponge
Step 1. Pour hydrogen peroxide on a sponge
- Pour a little hydrogen peroxide over a household sponge.
Step 2. Scrub the stain with the sponge
- Scrub the stain lightly with the soaked sponge.
- Continue till the desired results are achieved.
Method 3: Use Magic Eraser
Made of melamine foam, Magic Eraser works wonders to remove a host of stains on walls. While it may appear like a soft sponge, its structure makes it hard like a glass. When rubbed against stained surface, it works like superfine sandpaper, but without harming the paint job on the wall. Just to be sure, do a spot test in an inconspicuous area.
Like any normal eraser, the foam gets used up as you go. If the wine stain covers a small area of the wall, cut a small piece of the Magic Eraser to suit your size. This will prevent wastage and also allow you to cover only the stained area, saving the surrounding area.
Single-Step Treatment: Erase the wine stain from your wall with Magic Eraser
- Dip the Magic Eraser into the water and lightly squeeze the excess liquid out.
- Lightly rub the eraser over the wine stains to remove them.
- Cover the entire stain area in this manner to clean your wall.
Method 4: Using Mild Detergent
A mild detergent like gentle liquid dish soap can also be used to take the wine stain off your wall. At any rate, dish soap will not damage the paint job on your wall when used economically. Dilute liquid dish soap with an equal amount of water for this method.
Things you’ll need:
- Liquid dish detergent, diluted
- Household sponge
- Soft towel
- Water
Step 1. Sponge the wine stain with diluted dish detergent
- Take some diluted dish soap over a sponge.
- Give the wine stain on your wall a light-handed scrub with the soap and sponge.
- Continue for a while and try to lift the stain from the wall.
Step 2. Finish the cleanup with a damp towel
- Wet a soft towel with water.
- Wipe the dish soap off the wall with the damp towel.
Method 5: Use Windex
Windex is good not just for making the windows in your house sparkle. If you have a bottle of Windex lying around in your house, you can use it to remove those stubborn wine stains on your wall.
Alcohol, ammonia and detergent formulation of Windex makes it suitable for removing tough stains like that of wine. If you’re worried about the blue color of the cleaner, simply go for a colorless formulation.
Single-Step Treatment: Clean the wine stain on your wall with Windex
- Spray Windex over the wall, so that the cleaner completely saturates the wine stain on the wall.
- Wipe down the stain with a towel to remove the stain.
- If any stain remains, repeat the process again.
Method 6: Using Baking Soda and Salt
Baking soda and salt are one of the best stain removers out there. Salt has been known to effectively lift the wine stain from the most surfaces. Baking soda goes one step ahead and absorbs the odor emanating from the stain-causing product.
But when it comes to lifting wine stains off a wall, this duo may not be as efficient. Besides, being abrasive, they may have an eroding effect on the paint of your wall.
Things you’ll need:
- Water
- Salt
- Baking soda
- Household sponge
- Towel
Step 1. Make a paste of baking soda and salt
- Take some salt in a bowl.
- Add an equal amount of baking soda to it.
- Add water so as to make a thin paste.
- Mix the contents properly. Your cleaning paste is ready.
Step 2. Scrub the wine stained wall with the paste
- Take some of the cleaning paste on a household sponge.
- Scrub at the wine stain on the wall with a light hand. Avoid harsh scrubbing as both baking soda and salt have an abrasive texture and may damage the paint job on your wall.
- Since our wine stain was still on the wall after several minutes of scrubbing, we covered the stain with the cleaning paste and left it undisturbed for 10-15 minutes.
Step 3. Wipe the paste clean with a wet towel
As this cleaning paste was taking off the paint, we did no further scrubbing. We wiped the area clean with a damp towel instead and made peace with the results achieved.
- Wet a towel with some water.
- Gently wipe the wine stained wall till all the residue of baking soda and salt is removed.
Tips
- Wear cleaning gloves to protect your hands while handling bleach and other chemical cleaners.
- Always test any cleaner over an inconspicuous corner of the wall first to ensure the colorfastness of the wall paint.
- Use oxygen bleach instead of chlorine bleach as the former will go easier on the color of your wall paint.
- Blot fresh spill with paper towels and wipe with a damp sponge. Continue with a homemade cleaner of your choice if the stain remains.
- There is no saving for a wall with too old wine stains. Priming and repainting the wall is the only option that remains.
- If the freshly cleaned patch of wall is sorely visible, you may need to clean the entire section of the wall to improve its appearance. Just wipe the wall with a clean and damp sponge.