How to Effectively Treat Urine Damage to Your Carpet
For most of us, our pets become a part of our family. We treat them as well as we would our children, and we make sure they are always taken care of. They show us love and affection and become a part of our daily lives as a piece of our family we wouldn’t want to live without. Unfortunately, that also means they come with the not-so-fun parts of being in a family. Like making messes, tearing things apart, being noisy, and even going to the bathroom on our nice carpets. But, we are usually too in love with them by this point that we can’t get rid of them. So we must find an alternative to make living with them bearable and hygienic.
Pet urine can cause permanent damage to our floors if we aren’t careful and don’t treat them right. It is easiest to remove the damage right when it is fresh before it turns into alkaline. This means it is too high on the pH scale to remove. This is also the perfect environment to form and begin to multiply. Also, if you don’t clean the urine it will change the color of your carpet and cause permanent staining.
How to Clean It Yourself
The best thing you can have on hand for times like this is a small one gallon wet vac or small spot removal machine. These are great because they are small and relatively cheap.
For the most effective clean, get it right when it is fresh. All you have to do is place the vac or machine over the area and suck it up. If it is dry, pour a cup of warm water on the spot and then suck it out with the machine.
- Do not scrub or rub the carpet. This will allow for easy staining as you are breaking down the fiber protection.
Products to Avoid
You want to stay away from products with high pH. These include ammonia and oxygen bleaches. You don’t want these because after using them your carpet gets a residue and will attract more dirt due to the high pH balance.
How the Professionals Do It
Having a professional carpet cleaner remove the stains will be the most effective way to remove urine damage. Here is how we will go about cleaning your carpets for this removal. This is the most in-depth process, if the damage isn’t too bad a few steps are left out.
- Pull up carpet
- Remove affected area
- Clean back of carpet
- Treat floor
- Seal floor with an odor barrier
- Install new tack strip
- Install new pad
- Re-install carpet
- Clean carpet
After this process your carpet will look, smell, and feel brand new!