On the attractive, sunny days of spring, fowl poop will out of the blue seem on all of your patio, railings, and out of doors furnishings. Online, there are all types of solutions for what you should utilize to take away the icky white stain when you’ve scraped away the stable half, nevertheless it’s not clear which of them work and that are simply standard knowledge handed down from grandparents to bloggers. I examined three often-recommended strategies to clear the stain (plus plain water, to see if it mattered), and right here’s what I discovered.
Cleaning fowl droppings with seltzer water
Bubbly water is a top-recommended fowl poop stain-remover across the web, so this was first on my listing. I adopted the directions from Angi that stated I ought to let it sit on the stain for a couple of minutes earlier than eradicating it with a scrubber. (I opted to make use of a trusty melamine sponge over a brush, however an outdated toothbrush would work nice right here, too.)
The bubbles within the seltzer foamed up on my wood floor instantly, sort of like whenever you put hydrogen peroxide on a lower. I left it alone for a minute, then wiped it off—and after only a slight push with my melamine sponge, there was no stain left in any respect.
Conclusion: This one works, however you do nonetheless have to wash a bit after pouring the seltzer.
Cleaning fowl droppings with white vinegar
While I let the seltzer sit on one stain, I poured some vinegar on one other. Wiping the stain away didn’t take any effort in any respect; the vinegar had already dissolved it, not like the seltzer. The solely draw back was that it stinks (and it stinks even worse within the scorching solar), however the odor goes away.
Conclusion: This is the most suitable choice, arms down. Almost no scrubbing wanted.
Cleaning fowl droppings with dish cleaning soap
Dish cleaning soap is broadly advisable in all places from window corporations to The Kitchn to the University of Illinois’ notorious stain-removal useful resource information. But I’ll inform you who doesn’t advocate it: Me.
This technique sucked, a minimum of for my functions of cleansing a wood railing. First, soapy water did nothing to dissolve the stain—I nonetheless needed to scrub to take away it afterward and, for a time, the white residue left behind was stained blue by the cleaning soap, which oozed into the cracks of the railing and was a lot tougher to take away than the vinegar or seltzer. Unlike the opposite two strategies, this one wanted a way more thorough rinse to do away with the cleaning soap, which meant it took a minimum of twice as lengthy, plus I nonetheless needed to scrub. Big thumbs-down. See beneath for the soapy, slightly-blue mess I needed to repair.
Conclusion: No.
Cleaning fowl droppings with plain water
Water was my experiment’s management, and did completely nothing for the stains. It form of made them looser so I may scrub them off, nevertheless it was nowhere close to as straightforward to do because it was after I tried the bubbly water or vinegar.
Conclusion: Don’t simply use water. Even if you must add dish cleaning soap, that’ll be simpler than water by itself.