You must be annoyed at how your wooden table’s certain spaces are turning white or already have turned. A single spot can make the table lose its whole beauty and one would even suspect its usefulness and durability. However, who knew it is not that a big deal. You can easily deal with it as long as you have some products with you. In fact, these products can be found in any household so don’t you worry.
This article is to help you get to know all about removing white spots from wood tables and post cautions as well.
Remove White Spots from the Wood table
There are numerous ways to handle white spots from your wooden table or furniture. Knowing that household elements can solve this problem will definitely ease you. At least, I always tend to search for household items to solve most problems. Though not all problems can be solved with them, having quite a few won’t do any worse, right?
White spots are quite stubborn. Even if you use furniture polish, it most likely won’t go away. There are some other ways to confront it. Anyway, let’s get right into it.
Salt and water
These are the most common things that one has in their house. If you don’t have it, then…. Just buy it. Get a tablespoon of salt with a few drops of water. It would make a rough and thick paste. Then Grab a soft cloth. Put the salt mixture on the spot and rub it in a circular motion with the cloth. Just trust the process and do it for 1-2 minutes.
After that, clean it up and you will see a clean space. If it becomes rough, you should use a few drops of olive oil on a tissue or soft cloth and rub it for a moment. It will be shiny and like a new one.
Car Wax
Car was has been up to a lot these days. It has become a substitute for so many things such as fog-free mirrors, preventing metal corrosion, using it on the shovel for snow to not stick, etc. And one of the biggest ones is removing white spots.
Take a spoonful or handful of car wax measuring your white spot. Put it on the spot all the way and wait for it to dry on its own. If you wipe it off with a soft cloth or something like this, there will be left a spot-free table in front of you.
Toothpaste
If you have used toothpaste for many other reasons apart from brushing your teeth, you should not be surprised to see it here. Take an example of me. I used it to brush my bathroom mirror when I ran out of glass cleaner. Those tiny stubborn water spots said bye-bye finally. I also used it to brush my kitchen sink. You can try it if there are some nasty stubborn spots. Just use an equal proportion of toothpaste and baking soda. Brush it good and leave it for some moment. After that, you can gently brush it and wash it off.
Anyway, to remove white spots from wood, you have to have non-gel toothpaste. Because it created less foam than regular ones and it is less harsh too. Regular toothpaste will leave coarse wood behind. Use it just like the car wax and wipe with a damp soft cloth after drying.
Using the same proportions of baking soda with it will help even better.
Petroleum Jelly
Another multi-purpose item of every household. It is used for what not. Apart from moisturizing, people use it for minor burns, growing eyelashes, removing makeup, saving nails from dehydrating, etc.
Petroleum jelly is used for fresh white spots. Put it on the spot and leave it overnight. It will be clear after you have wiped it off the next morning.
Baking Soda
Baking Soda is one of the most powerful household cleaning elements. Whether cloths or spots on the floor or basin, we all tried using it like a first aid. And fortunately, it even worked like a charm.
Get 2:1 propositions of baking soda and water. It will be a thick mixture with less water. Rub it on the spot clockwise for 2-3 minutes and wipe it off with a tissue.
Vinegar and Olive oil
To get rid of that problematic white spot on the wooden table, grab equal proportions of vinegar and olive oil. Vinegar is an excellent spot cleaner whether it is of water, coffee, or blood on anything.
Rub the mixture with a soft or cotton cloth for some moments and wipe it off with another cloth. That will leave a spot-free and shiny table for you.
Causes of White spots on wooden furniture
To solve a problem, one should also know why the problem occurred in the first place. That way, he can avoid the problem easily after solving it. Whether you have a wooden table or furniture all react the same encountering the problem.
Usually, people who take care of their table regularly don’t face this problem that often. Cleaning the table after using, placing cloths or runners for tableware or glasses, using cup placers in fact make it hard to occur a white spot. Negligence, or keeping work for later is the main reason why this happens most of the time. Unless your wood is not of good quality, your cleaning would be in vain since that way white spot is inevitable.
Why you should take care of your wooden furniture or table is what you are wondering, right? Because spills, steam, heat, etc can make the problem occur. If you clean it immediately after, that seems to be the best.
Reasons:
Coffee, water, juice, or any type of liquid spill will make a white spot if it is left as it remains. Sometimes we use the same spot for keeping our Cup that is habitual. The steam beneath it leaves the wood to wear off its original color and that’s when a white spot occurs. These spills or steam will eventually make the wood moisten up.
Since wood is one of the imbibition examples, it will consume the liquid, and swell up. [Imbibiton is one kind of diffusion but it occurs between colloid particles and liquid, especially water. Colloids absorb the liquid and it increases in volume]. That is also the reason why doors swell and cannot be easily closed or opened in the rainy season. Because it absorbs the humidity.
Another reason is heat. We know that Volume and temperature are equivalent. When the temperature of wood rises, its volume also will increase leaving the pores open for a while. As a result, it will have more advantages to absorb the humidity or moisture.
Moisturization is definitely good but only for our skin. Wood does not need it rather it makes the wood lose its durability as well as having white spots.
Wooden furniture is made by soaking the woods in water for a few months and then drying it for quite a while under the scorching sun. That is to let the wood widen to its max and then dry it to make sure it lasts long. These woods already drank enough water in those months. But if you let it drink water more, it will strike against you. That’s why cautions are never unimportant.
How to prevent Wooden furniture from having white spots?
As we have said, negligence, not cleaning, and no precautions will leave you with problems. That’s why you can easily prevent this problem from occurring only by doing some simple things.
- If there are spills, wipe it with a cloth immediately and let it dry.
- Use one of the remedies especially the salt one if there was a spill older than 2 days.
- Always use runner, cloths for tableware.
- Even if you keep a hot pot for a moment, use placemats resistant to heat.
- Always use Cup placers or coasters for glasses.
- If you don’t like putting trivets, coasters, or cloth on the table, place them at one corner of the table so that you can easily grab them.
Of course, it takes effort and care to have something in its best state. Rather than struggling to solve the problem, you should always take care of it so that it never happens. Even though this care thing seems like lots of hard work, it really is not. You will eventually get used to it.
Wooden things need extra care than plastic or glass as it is a natural materials. Moreover, things made with wood are beautiful and full of elegance.