Treating pet urine stains and odors on carpets can be frustrating for pet owners. Most pet owners will try to treat pet stains and odors by themselves. They will spend a lot of money on store-bought products from the grocery store and pet stores, only to be disappointed. One of the best ways to avoid the hassle is to hire a professional carpet cleaner.
What is Pet Urine Contamination?
Pet urine contamination is caused by urine that has soaked into the carpet. Some urine will stay on the surface level of the carpet, but a lot of times, the urine can soak further down. If the urine reaches the sub-floor, the pad, or has gotten on too much of the carpet, then the contamination should be treated.
Treating Urine Contamination
Cleaning
Pet urine can be difficult to clean. When there is a three-inch stain on the surface, the urine has penetrated into the pad. At this point, it has spread out on the sub-floor, covering an area three times greater than what is visible on the surface. To reach the sub-floor, there needs to be enough lift and airflow. This can be achieved with a truck-mounted cleaning system combined with a subsurface extraction tool.
To start, the urine contamination needs to be identified using a black light. Next, pour a hot solution of Odor and Stain Remover (OSR) directly into each stain. The solution follows the path of the urine through the carpet and pad down to the sub-floor. The solution will then “dwell” in the carpet, allowing the solution to dissolve and neutralize the alkali salts in the urine. The alkali salts are the parts that give off an odor. After a sufficient dwell time, a subsurface extraction tool is placed on the stained area. The tool creates a sealed surface. This enables the truck-mounted system to pull the solution with the dissolved salts off the sub-floor, out of the pad and carpet, and then into the truck-mounted waste tank.
The next step is to clean the carpet with hot steam and then apply Odorcide. The Odorcide is applied in two ways. First, it is added to the pre-spray solution for cleaning and sprayed topically onto the carpet. It is then raked in with a carpet rake. In extreme cases, the carpet may be rinsed with several gallons of water and flash extracted (no dwell time). This is done to remove any lingering urine residue. If the carpet still retains some yellow staining, it can be treated with a leave-in oxidizing stain remover.
Carpet Replacement
If more than 20% of the carpet surface is affected by urine, it is recommended to have a carpet and pad replacement instead of cleaning. When a carpet is replaced, it is also recommended to apply an antibacterial agent to the sub-floor and have the sub-floor painted with Killz primer as an odor barrier. The reason most store-bought products do not work is that they do not penetrate all the way to the sub-floor.
Preventing Urine Contamination
There are a few preventative measures a pet owner can take is to limit urine contamination. Two of the best options are pet doors or training.
Pet doors - The use of pet doors and baby gates is a cheap way to keep pets in certain spaces. Many pet doors are easy to install and no permanent modification to the home is necessary.
Training - Training your dog will take time, but it is worth it. There are various methods you can use to stop your dog from peeing on the carpet.
Get Your Carpet Fixed | Hydro Clean Carpet Cleaning
At Hydro Clean Carpet Cleaning, we know pet urine can be tough to clean out. This is why all of the products we use are industry standard products used in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. If you would like to get your carpet treated for urine contamination or you need your carpets cleaned, call us today!
Read: The Five Dogs Most Notorious for Urinating on Your Carpet
