Hey Doc, what's the best deo for dog and cat urine?

Hey, Rob...

What's the best screwdriver...? It depends upon what kind of screw you're dealing with.

If it's porous and can be flushed well (like carpet), then use a product for that. (I prefer oxidizers, like PeeBeGone.)

If it's not porous (tile, sealed concrete, etc.), you have to use a product that works in that application. (i.e, a topical)

If it's porous and can't be flushed well (latex painted surfaces, non-sealed concrete, etc.), then you have to seal it. (But you can pre-treat it with an oxidizer or deodorizer in most cases, for added effectiveness. And some sealers, like OdorBlock, have all in one.)

The main thing is that you have to first remove the source of the odor. That can be done by "cooking it out" with an oxidizer, by flushing it thoroughly with the right kind of deodorizer, or by "removing it via isolation"... placing it behind a barrier (i.e., a sealant).

Once you remove the source of the odor, the rest becomes relatively easy.

Duane

In my opinion, if the 3 you listed are done well, there is no real need. At the same time, it will give you some additional peace of mind.

(Also, I don't believe in trying to save carpet pad.)

There are many variables - is only the carpet effected or is the cushion, subfloor also involved? How heavy and repeated is the contamination? How much time do you have to resolve the issue? Is your client also concerned about staining and sanitary conditions or simply the odor? How complete a solution does the client need? A vacant home up for sale requires more complete removal than one where pets will continue living in the home.

I usually suggest flushing with a Water Claw or Spot Lifter before applying any chemical. A pretreatment to cut through the oily lipids (chloresterol) in the urine will help any water based product that follows to do a better job.

For anyone who wants to read more detailed information, I offer a free copy of my manual on dealing with pet urine. Just send me an email and I will reply with a copy of the manual attached.

Scott Warrington

wouldn't a degreaser type cleaner need to be applied to break down the oily lipids. oil and water still don't mix right???

I've had great success using a 50/50 mix of water and white vinegar first to break down the urine salts. Flush it really good with a Water Claw then follow with an enzyme treatment. After that treat for discoloration if any. This works just fine on nylon carpets but check colorfastness with wool.

Madam,What smell do you want your home to smell like? pet pee or a a flippen pickle ??

Using something that the client recognises "The smell of vinegar" might lower the perception of the value of your service and cause bad feelings after you are gone. They and you might think every thing is fine at the time of payment, but so many times I have seen, heard about, even had myself, buyers remorse. "Why did I pay that Yo yo? I could have just spilt my pickle jar on it?? Of course you and I know there is more steps than that, but they already got blinders going on and you screwed them...with that flippen pickle...

This is the main reason why I, very seldom if ever use the "Do it yourself or Home Remedy" type treatments no matter how good it works, unless I am giving free advice over the phone when they have already told me my cost to correct their problem is not in their budget. Surprisingly, about 1/2 who call phone shopping on odor problems will use us, in not right then after they tried something or someone else.

Hey there guys - would a weak solution of H2O2 do the job as an oxidiser? say 3% tech peroxide?

There is no vinegar smell left behind at all. The vinegar breaks down the urine salts so they are easily removed using the water claw. It's completely flushed out. Check out Bridgepoints Urine Pre-Treatment and tell me it's not vinegar. Plain water does not effectively remove the salts when flushing with the water claw, especially if it's cat urine.

I like your thinking Matt!

Thanks Keith!

Pee smell

Get a water claw make life much easier...


http://www.waterclaw.com/


You can saturate the padding, then suck it out

Do you pull back carpet and put air mover underneath when soaking carpet and padding .

That is a good idea, i've had several instances where the client complained about the carpet taking 3-5 days to dry, causing mold problems. I am going to consider pulling the carpet back and getting air in there in the future to prevent any problems from developing?

Any ideas on this guys?

So what do you all recommend when you are cleaning Olefin. I have a job coming up where their cat urinated all over the Olefin carpet in the basement and it really smells. The carpet is approximately 2 years old and still looks good but the cat urinated everywhere. The cat is dead now so they want the smell out.

If you have a job that requires (and is willing to pay for) the extra effort of turning back the carpet, let me suggest that you remove the cushion (padding). This holds a lot of water. Removing the cushion greatly shortens the drying time.

Here is a possible set of steps -
1. Turn back carpet
2. Remove affected cushion. You can place new cushion right above and cut both old and new cushion at the same time. Thus assuring the new piece will fit exactly when it is time to put it in place.
3. Clean and/or seal the floor.
4. Clean back side of the carper (Optional).
5. If water spreading to toehr areas is a concern, lay down plastic on the floor and fold it a few inches up the wall. This is another optional step.
6. Lay carpet back down. Don't install it, just lay it in place.
7. Treat face of the carpet with something to remove the lipids and oils. I suggest TCU Neutralizer with Hydrocide.
8. Use an oxidizer. Duane has mentioned his Pee-BE-Gone. That would work. Our product and my favorite is PetZONE with Hydrocide.
9. Extract the water.
10. Put the new cushion in place.
11. Install the carpet. Cut along the top of the carpet to remove the plastic if it was used and if it extends above the carpet.

Other jobs may not require such an extensive job.

Scott Warrington

(The following is for apartments / rental properties, in which the price they're willing to pay isn't as much as residential and the standard isn''t as high in many cases.)

Back when I cleaned carpet, my company (4 trucks) did mostly high- end apartments. We did a lot of pet odor jobs. Our redo rate for them was less than 10%, which is pretty good, I think. I designed a specialized chemical that we used exclusively for the purpose.

Basically, a "G.O.C." (guaranteed odor control) went like this:

We'd find the area that was contaminated, then pull the carpet back. This allowed us to get to the source of the odor AND ensure that we got to all of it, since urine "pools" and spreads to a distance that's greater than the area visible from the top.

We'd mix the chemical (1 to 6), then saturate the backing of the carpet and allow it to set, face- down, for about 5 minutes.

Then we'd reinstall the carpet and clean it.

That was the entire job.



The logic was this: As it sets face- down, gravity pulled the chemical into the fibers. Cleaning the carpet, cleaned the fibers of urine salts and soils. It also set up a "flow", so that the chemical wicked up from the backing and re-treated the fibers. The pad we worked on for the most part was rebond with a slick surface, made to allow carpet to move across it without moving the pad. That also made the padding pretty moisture- resistant on it's surface- something that the chemical would work well with, as it dwelled on top of the pad as the carpet dried.

When I invented PeeBeGone, I shelved that product, which was named, "EZ G.O.C.", because PeeBeGone was (and is) a much better product, that actually removes the source of the odor and typically, the stain as well.

But I did reinstate it at a customer's request about a year and a half ago. It's now called "Odor Block". And it's sold as a sealer, because that's what it actually did to the odors- sealed them in, so that they couldn't escape.


If I were to be cleaning carpet again, I'd opt for the PeeBeGone, but I'd use the process we used for EZ G.O.C.

But I would replace the pad. ;-)