White Marks on your Furniture

With the Holidays here and the parties that go with it – I thought we should go back and cover white water & heats marks on your furniture and some simple tricks to get rid of them.

Wood Menders

White cloudy stains are typically caused by placing hot dishes directly on the table as well as some white watermark rings caused by setting cups and glasses directly on the wood.

How did you fix the problem?  For the white heat marks, just take an iron and apply heat to the cloudy stains, they’ll disappear! If that’s too aggressive for you, no worries, there are some other ideas listed here as well.

First, here are the steps to remove the marks…

A Towel & A Bit Of Olive Oil Could Remove Those Pesky Marks

The first thing was wash the table top and dry it well.

Take a clean, white cotton towel that isn’t too thick and place it over the scorch marks.

Taking an old iron set to high dry heat, place it on top of the towel, directly over the stain. let it sit for close to a minute, and check to see if it helps to remove the stain.

Keep reapplying the hot iron, turn the steam on–that’s watch the magic happen. The white marks will literally disappeared from the table.  It really defies logic – wouldn’t the steam cause more damage?  Be sure to be quick to wipe away any moisture and water on the table after each stain was removed.

A few days later and the table is still stain free. The white, cloudy discoloration marks haven’t returned. I keep running my hand across the top and I can’t feel any damage to the finish. I’m amazed at how easily this table cleaned up–it’s a totally different piece of furniture now.

Caution: This will not work 100% of the time.  There are a lot of factors when completing a repair like this.  See some of the additional techniques below.  If they do not work to get the white mark out of the table – let Wood Menders take care of the problem for you.

More Items & Techniques To try
If the above steps for removing those white water rings or steam marks is a bit too aggressive for you, try one of the tips below…

– You Might Be Able To Remove The Stains With A Bit of Mayonnaise
– Mix 50/50 toothpaste and baking soda, rub into mark. Do not use gel toothpaste for this.
– Rub in a paste of salt and olive oil, allow to sit for up to an hour. Wipe off.
– Rub in Miracle Whip (Mayonnaise) and wipe off after an hour.
– Mix 50/50 vinegar and olive oil and rub into the watermark.
– Try straight toothpaste (non-gel). Rub into the stain then wipe off.
– Make a paste with baking soda and a few drops of water. Rub into stain then wipe off. You can also try salt instead of baking soda.
– Rub some Vaseline (or other petroleum jelly) into the watermark and leave overnight. Wipe off in the morning.

There you have it – some quick ways to get rid of those pesky white heat marks.  Until next time Dan @ Wood Menders.