Removing Salt Stains

Chances are, if you live in an area of the world that has some pretty heavy snow fall during the winter months, you know how much a double edged sword this time of year can be. After all, there are beautiful scenes of a winter wonderland everywhere you look. However, along with those beautiful vistas come some fairly nasty stains from the salt used on roads and sidewalks. These salt stains can get into everything, clothes and closet alike. Here are a few methods that you can use to begin removing salt stains when you are faced with them.

• For the closet. Road salt can get just about everywhere, and no where is this more prevalent than in the closet. After all, this material can, and often will, stick to the bottom of long coats and your shoes and boots. Due to this salt sticking to the clothing, it can easily be transferred to other parts of the closet, such as the floors and walls. Initially you will need to wash as much of the stains away as you can. Do this by using a regular wash cloth and some warm soapy water, and gently scrub away the stains. If this doesn't completely remove the stains, then you will need to use a clean white rag that has been dunked into some white vinegar. In the event that this still doesn't remove any stain from the carpeting in your closet, you have one option left, and that is to simply use a carpet cleaning machine.
• For clothes. Just as with closets, white vinegar can be a huge help in removing salt stains from your clothes. Usually all you will need to do is "pre-treat" by soaking the area with some white vinegar. Allow it to sit for at least five minutes before you begin washing as you normally would. There may be some instances though where this will not work at first. For clothes that have been particularly stained with salt you may need to repeat the process a few times.

While these are some fairly effective methods for dealing with salt stains, there are a couple of sure fire methods that you can make sure that you don't have to worry about these kinds of stains. The first is that you never use any actual salt to melt your ice. Instead use ice melt, which is actually different from salt and formulated to be more gentle on concrete and other masonry. In addition, this type of material will be less likely to cause any stains. Another method is to not store your wet boots in the closet, but rather on a tile floor that will be easier to clean. The final method, at least for dealing with salt stains in a closet, is to use a carpet cleaning machine.