by Jeremy Strickland
For the average Joe, if their cat or dog pees in their house, this is a dreadful accident in need of immediate attention. It’s a disgusting problem and not their favorite topic of conversation. Not so for us. As Professional Carpet and Upholstery cleaners, we love to chat about dog and cat urine. For folks such as us, these accidents are a fascinating challenge and job security too!
As you can imagine, our office phones ring regularly with these smelly problems in need of a solution. The customer’s side of the conversation usually flows (ha ha ha) something like this: “Kitty Von Meowmeow peed by the couch, and I tried to clean it up a couple of days ago, but now it looks worse.” Or: “My prized French Poodle, Captain Picard, peed here last summer and now I’m smelling it again.”
So, why is urine so difficult to clean out of carpets?
Urine is acidic, but it becomes alkaline and ammonium salts form in the residue it creates. Typical cleaning solutions will not break down these salts, and they can not be rinsed away with hot water. Salts, as you’ll remember from science class, retain moisture, so urine can stay moist under the carpet – in the backing and pad – for up to seven years(!), even when it appears to be dry on the top. This is why, particularly in the humidity of summer months, the ghost of an old spot may come back to haunt your nose.
Gross.
Before we talk about how we get urine spots clean, note that even if it’s just one spot that needs to be cleaned from your carpet, if the pet heavily wet that area or had multiple “accidents” in that one spot, the problem will be down into the padding and maybe even to the floor underneath. To remain economical, we typically treat urine from the top of the carpet down, but in severe cases, the carpet may need be pulled up, both sides of the carpet treated and cleaned, padding replaced, and the floor underneath cleaned (maybe even sanded and sealed). Furthermore, if over a quarter of the carpet in a room has been affected, the cost of the cleaning may exceed the cost of replacement. Always schedule a free estimate or consultation with a professional carpet cleaner before making a final decision, though. They’ll assess the problem and let you know what your options are and what they may cost. An honest professional will always tell you if replacement or cleaning is the best option for you.
Extreme circumstances are one thing, but your average spot cleaning is another. The trick to successfully combating these spots is to use chemicals which break down the salts and use enzyme producing bacteria to battle the odor (Cool!). As an added bonus, the chemicals used by Randy’s Carpet Care technicians to perform this job are kid and pet friendly – plus Earth friendly too, for that matter!
For best results, we always use more chemical than there is urine in the carpet, and the bacterial odor fighting chemicals will continue waging war with the urine smell on top of and underneath your carpet for up to two weeks. You need not fret if odor lingers after your cleaning; this is normal, and it will probably go away.
However, in a small selection of cases, a second or third appointment may be needed to address remaining or returning spots, We do not guarantee our urine treatments/cleaning because of this possibility. Don’t let this scare you, though, as for most folks, one visit is sufficient.
Randy’s always recommends professional cleaning over doing-it-yourself (for practical reasons: you may make the spot worse or set the stain), but if you’re a stalwart DIY type, check out this article about using household hydrogen peroxide to clean small organic spots such as pet urine, and if a male cat is the source of your pungent carpet woes, check out this one.
If you now find the subject of pet urine fascinating and you want to chat about it, shoot us an email or call our office @ (616) 392-1400 to schedule your free estimate today!
Randy's Carpet Care 