In the United States, over 80 million households have pets that include large dogs and cats. This means over 80 million carpets have a potential to be ruined by pet urine stains and odors. With a few tips from Monster Steamer Carpet Cleaning, homeowners can prevent the ruining of their carpets until they are ready to have them professionally cleaned.
First, here are a few reasons pet stains are so difficult to remove:
Pet urine stains contain uric acid crystals.
Products that contain soap and different chemicals make the stain worse because they do not break down the acid. While some home remedies help a little, professional carpet cleaning is required to fully remove stains.
Small spots are hard to find.
The Humane Society says that you have to find all the marked spots by your bet and eliminate them before being able to retrain. Using a blacklight would be recommended to find all spots.
The stain is just the beginning
Urine stains and odors do not just go into the carpet but into the carpet padding and the foam of the carpet. Homeowners don’t realize how big the urine spreads out when it is soaked into and under the carpet. In some cases it can be 3 times the sizes of what you can visibly see.
How to begin clean up on your own:
- Gently remove any solid waste, making sure not rub the carpet fibers as that can set the stain.
- Soak up the liquid waste by using a paper towel. Blot the towel onto the spot but do not rub it in. We don’t want the stain being rubbed into the carpet fibers.
- A high quality enzyme treatment would be best to clean the spot with. Some are expensive but will be worth it in the long run. You can find these at local stores and pet stores.
- Soak the urine stained area with cleaner. Be sure to use enough cleaner to clean the spot. This can be a big mistake, but many do not use enough cleaner.
- Cover the area with something like a piece of cardboard. Let it sit for the time that is recommended on the container. The cleaner needs time to break down the soiled area and lift odors out.
- After the recommended time, blot down the area where any excess moisture maybe. Best suggestion for blotting, is to use a paper towel with a new paper on top of it. You can stand on the news paper that will also help pick up the moisture. You may need to change papers several times to make sure all the moisture in the carpet is picked up.
- If you have a deodorizer spray, or a protectant you can spray that on there to help remove any smell that is left over. If you followed the steps above the smell should have been removed by the de-moisture process. If not you may want to do the process again to remove anything that has been left over. Make sure to allow the cleaner to sit long enough.
Left over residue will be still left in the carpet. If the stains are older and have not been cleaned up properly, you will need to call in a professional carpet cleaning san diego company. We would recommend using a dry carpet cleaning company as you don’t want water or soap residue left over from steam cleaning. Carpet Cleaning companies have equipment and extractors that will fully remove stains and odors. Professional companies will use an enzyme treatment to get out stains and odors.
When it comes to cleaning your carpets professionally, there are many companies out there to chose from. The life and flooring of your carpet will depend on a highly trained professional company. Be sure to check out their experience and what cleaning process they use, especially for pet stains. Be sure that you find a company that will not charge you extra for the chemicals they use. You want to make sure they focus on the stain and depending on how bad the stains are, chemicals can really cost a lot.
I hope you found this article helpful and recommend it to other homeowners you know with pets. It is more than likely your neighbors have problems with pet stains, make sure to pass on this helpful information to them.