Old Blood Stain Removal

By Matt Oden | Comments | Bodily Fluids Stains → Blood

Old blood stain removal can be tough to accomplish. Human blood is made of proteins and when dry the stains can be very stubborn. Don't fret too much there are a few tricks to removing this nasty kind of stain.

Blood is one of the hardest human body fluids to remove from all fabrics. Many women, and some men, look for ways to remove old blood stains from their mattresses. Because it is very difficult to remove old blood stains you may need a few different solutions to the problem that may even require a few applications of the stain removing suggestions.

Old Blood Stain Removal Method 1

What you will need:

Cold water
Salt
Cornstarch
Hydrogen peroxide
Plastic spoon
Vacuum

Method 1 is the easiest and most simple strategy to try for removing old blood stains from your mattress. This may not be the last method needed for removing the stain. As stated earlier old blood stain removal can be very difficult.

When removing old blood stains from mattresses you will need to make a paste by following this recipe: 1/2 cup of cornstarch, 1 tablespoon of salt, and 1/4 cup hydrogen peroxide. This paste should be the consistency of toothpaste. Tip: hydrogen peroxide is a bleaching agent! It will change the color of the fabric on the mattress.
Using the plastic spoon, apply a generous layer of the cornstarch paste to the old blood stain. Allow the paste to completely dry. This may take a few hours.
Once the Paste is completely dry, scrape the paste off of the mattress with a clean plastic spoon.
Vacuum the area thoroughly.
Inspect the old blood stained area. If the stain remains you can continue to repeat steps 3-5 until the stain has been properly removed. If you just cannot seem to get the mattress clean follow the next method.

A helpful hint when using this method is to never apply heat to the stained area until you are certain that the stain has been removed. The heat can cause the old blood stains to further seep into the fibers of the mattress making it all the more difficult to remove.

Old Blood Stain Removal Method 2

What you will need:

Cold water
Salt
Hydrogen peroxide
Ammonia
Clean soft cloths
Cotton balls
Plastic spoons
Wet/dry vacuum

Caution: NEVER mix bleach with ammonia. The fumes it creates are harmful and can even cause death!

This method of old blood stain removal is a little more complicated at first and requires a few more potent cleaning materials. For this reason you will want to use the wet/dry vacuum to clean away all of the cleaning products once the old blood stains have been removed.

To begin, moisten the old blood stains with a small amount of cold water. It is important that it is not hot water.
Next, sprinkle the stain with the salt. Make sure that you cover the entire old blood stain with the salt.
Allow the salt to sit for about 2 hours or until it has completely dried.
Using the plastic spoon scrape away the salt. Try and remove as much of the salt as you can without spreading it to other parts of the mattress. It is possible that the salt picked up some of the stain and if it touches other areas of the mattress you could potentially spread the stains.
Next, you need to use a cotton ball to apply the hydrogen peroxide to the old blood stain. Remember hydrogen peroxide is a bleaching agent. This means it can cause the fabric to discolor.
There will be some bubbling that occurs at step 5. This is just the hydrogen peroxide reacting with the salt. You should allow the bubbling to continue until it has stopped on its own.
Use a clean cloth and begin to blot the area. Remember to not rub the stain as you will only make the stain further penetrate the fabric. You should blot the area starting from the outside in to remove the old blood stain. As you are blotting the stain try and remove as much of the hydrogen peroxide as well.
Inspect the area and ensure you have removed the stain. If the stain remains repeat old blood stain removal steps 5-7 until the stain has been removed.
If the stain still remains you can try one more step. Mix 1 tablespoon of ammonia with 1 cup of water and apply it using the same method as the hydrogen peroxide (steps 5-7).
As soon as the stain has been removed you will want to clean the area with the wet/dry vacuum. This is very important! You do not want to leave traces of hydrogen peroxide and ammonia on your mattress. It is not healthy to breath and it can damage the fabric covering the mattress.

Remember to not add hot water from the wet/dry vacuum until the old blood stains have been removed. Any heat applied to the stain can cause it to be impossible for old blood stain removal.