Carpet & Flooring Inspectors Help in the Purchase of a resale home:

Candles, carpet deodorizers, cleaning products, air fresheners, cinnamon sticks, and a host of other air freshening products temporarily mask odors fooling prospective home buyers, but, once the sellers belongings are moved out, the deodorizers are removed, and the new homeowner moves in, the problems become evident rather quickly. It's sad when you find the perfect house, only to find you have to spend thousands or ten's of thousands of dollars to replace carpet, wood, or laminate flooring damaged by pets.

If there were pets in the house- suspect pet urine damage.

A Certified Carpet Inspector can identify spots and stains caused by pets, and locate spots not yet visible.. This is especially helpful before you purchase your new house; if the spots and stains originated from the sellers pets, your attorney may request the seller help with replacement costs prior to closing.

Pet stains on carpet

The degree of staining from pet urine on a carpet will depend in part on the age and diet of the pet, the fiber type and dye method of the carpet. Solution dyed fibers will be the most resistant to urine stains with olefin providing the greatest stain resistance.

In most cases, stains created by urine tend to leave either a red or yellow tinge. In either case the change in color is almost always permanent. Commercially available cleaning products designed to remove urine are only effective on fresh spots. 

Acids found in pet urine degrade calcium carbonate fillers used in carpet latex, causing it to lose bonding strength. It is not uncommon to experience delamination and loss of tuft bind strength in carpet exposed to pet urine. (Tuft bind is the relative strength of the attachment of the yarn loops to the backing of the carpet. Delamination is present when the backings separate and tufts fall out).

How to Clean Fresh Pet Stains:

- Blot the spot with white paper towels
- Dampen with  a 50/50 solution of white vinegar and water
- Blot with white paper towels (don't rub or scrub) leaving the spot as dry as possible.
- Fold white paper towels to 1/2 inch thick- cover spot- lay plastic sheeting on top of paper towels- completely cover the toweling with heavy weight (the heavier the better-cinder blocks, heavy books, tool boxes are good weights).
- Leave overnight, then remove.

Older urine spots typically require replacement of the carpet and pad in the affected areas.