Identifying Pet Damaged Areas:
Find all soiled areas using
your nose, eyes or a black-light. Black Lights or UV Lights can be purchased
at a home supply stores. Wear protective eye covering when using a UV light;
special glasses are available to protect your eyes and make the fluoresced
areas more visible. For best results with a UV light, put your protective eye
wear on and turn out all of the lights in the room; use the black-light to
identify soiled areas, mark the areas for cleaning.
For "new" stains (those that are still wet)
Soak up as much of the urine
as possible with a combination of white paper towels. The more fresh urine you
can remove before it dries, especially from carpet, the easier it will be to
remove the odor. Place a thick layer of white paper or terry towels on the wet
spot and cover that with plastic (trash bag, etc.) and step on the toweling or
place a very heavy flat weight; cinder block, heavy books on the white
toweling and plastic sheathing. Remove the toweling and repeat the process
until the area is barely damp.
Rinse the accident zone
thoroughly with clean, cool water. After rinsing, remove as much of the water
as possible by blotting or using a wet vacuum. Repeat the blotting action by
covering the spot with white paper or terry towels, the plastic and a heavy
flat weight. Leave on the spot for 24 hours. Weighing the spot down helps to
remove urine from the carpet by wicking; the wicking action occurs when
moisture wicks up into the toweling.
For stains that have already set:
• To
remove all traces of heavy stains in carpeting, consider renting an extractor
or wet vacuum. When using these machines or cleaners, be sure to follow the
instructions carefully. Don't use any chemicals with these machines; they work
much more effectively with plain water.
• After spot cleaning; rinse and blot, the weight the spot with white paper or
terry towels, a sheet of plastic and a heavy flat weight. Leave on the spot
for 24 hours. After letting the carpet dry completely, repeat as needed.
• Once the area is clean, use a high-quality pet odor neutralizer available at
pet supply stores. Be sure to read and follow the cleaner's directions for
use, including testing the cleaner on a small, hidden portion of fabric first
to be sure it doesn't stain.
• If the area still looks stained after it's completely dry from extracting
and neutralizing, try any good carpet stain remover.
• Avoid using steam cleaners to clean urine odors from carpet or upholstery.
The heat will permanently set the stain and the odor by bonding the protein
into any man-made fibers.
• Avoid using cleaning chemicals, especially those with strong odors such as
ammonia or vinegar.
• If you've previously used cleaners or chemicals of any kind on the area,
then neutralizing cleaners won't be effective until you've rinsed every trace
of the old cleaner from the carpet. Even if you haven't used chemicals
recently, any trace of a non-protein-based substance will weaken the effect of
the enzymatic cleaner. The cleaner will use up its "energy" on the old
cleaners instead of on the protein stains you want removed.
• If urine has soaked down into the padding underneath your carpet, your job
will be more difficult. In some cases, you may need to take the drastic step
of removing and replacing that portion of the carpet and padding.
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