So i cleaned a custy's wool rug about 9 months ago that had old pet damage on it. At that time i just used my TM. 9 months later she said the odor returned out of nowhere. I took the rug back bc she is an excellent customer. I have 2 questions: 1) is it even possible that the smell would come back 9 months later or is it more likely that an animal urinated on the rug again. Is there a way to confirm? Originally it was dog stains but the dog has since passed. She also has a cat. 2) i went ahead and built a pit and soaked it in water and wool safe cleaning product. It most certainly cleaned the rug but the odor is still present. Should i pit wash again with an enzyme cleaner? I also have a product called Matrix bottom line odor eliminator. Thanks
Odors can sometimes return when the humidity gets very high or the spot has contact with moisture, but I think it is more likely that the cat urinated on the rug. You can soak the rug with TCU Neutralizer to remove the salts and lipids. Your cleaning and deodorizing process will work much better after this pre-clean step. Ventilation always helps with odors following cleaning. Finish with a heavy application of Hydrocide or Hydrocide Xtreme to capture and hold any remaining odor.
Hello, I suppose that the rug in question is an oriental hand made wool rug on cotton foundation. Oriental rugs have to be "hand washed" in plant and not "cleaned" at home, and with pet stain need special cleaning and decontamination. You need to ask her to sigh a LOT level of tollerance agreement, and that because of the old urine the rug may be damaged in dyes and materials and because you need to soak (maybe hours) it is possible that bleeding occurs(thanks Lisa), she has to accept it, and that you are going to do your best to eliminate the odor but restoration of the color of the stain is another question. Your questions are answered by Scott. To eliminate odor you need to eliminate the source. I have more questions to understand the problem. I hope it helps you and your custy 1. When you cleaned the rug at home you garanteed that the rug is odor free?(I hope you did not) 2. How old was the pet stain? and at that time there was odor issue? 3. when the dog died? and when the cat (is she or he) comes to scenario? 4. The dog was healthy? and how about the cat? 5. The odor came back 9 month later or even before? Why she never called? 6. After taking the rug to your plant, is ther still odore at home? So you need to check with UV light and Moisture detector The cats spry urine to mark their territory, not only to the rugs and carpet but to anything else under 15 inches high so maybe the odor at home is because of this, sometimes when a cat is very small can not hold and spays the urine and also when is sick-Urinary tract disease (UTI) - read this article: 4 Causes of Male Cat Spraying : http://www.vetinfo.com/causes-males-cat-spraying.html Or the odor comes from cat urine. and also read this article: 7 Reasons Your Cat Might Spray : http://www.vetinfo.com/reasons-cat-spray.html (maybe before dog's death your custy brought the cat home and because of new pet (dog) or the change the cat started to spray urine, Hope it helps. jamshid rowshan
Wow that was quite a reply Jamshid. I never guarantee odor removal 100%. The odor is def coming from the rug. From what i understand, UV will detect pet stains old or new. Even if it has been cleaned before. I wash once in pit with h20 and axiom. Rinsed it and it still stunk. Re-washed it again with enzyme urine eliminator and let it soak overnight. Rinsed and let soak in odor eliminator for abour 6 hrs. Drying now. Seems better but i will tell once it is dry.
Hello, UV lights (better flashlights) will detect uric acid and organic residue ( will glow ) under uv light the optical brightners (dyes) will also glow but this is the case of the fabrics and drappery, with the moisture meter you will be sure that there is also humidity (moisture) from urine. if urine stain is well treated and cleaned you can not detect. It was better to listen to Scott! or use the chems from Chemmax: 1- urine pretreatment; 2-Triple Deodorizing Rug Shampoo Read this post http://www.truckmountforums.com/area-rug-cleaning-forum/20754-pet-urine-odor-removal.html good luck jamshid rowshan
Some time when a rug has urine in it you may not smell it untill something spills on it which will activate the urine smell.
Hello. I just blogged on treating urine stains: http://oriental-rug-cleaning.blogspot.com/2011/10/urine-contamination-send-vinegar-back.html I mention TCU Neutralizer in the blog. Scott is right it is a great product and very effective against old urine stains. Fresh urine is easy but the longer it sits the harder it is to remove. Using an acid treatment and then hand washing and virorus flushing is your best bet. Since the urine saturates the entire rug it is tough to get it out of the foundation. The rug can look clean and smell OK and then it can begin to off gas the smell later especially if it gets moisture or even humidity in it. Sure it could be the cat but you have no way to prove it unless it is still damp. Good luck! Barry O’Connell www.SpongoBongo.com
I am guessing it was probably humidity that reactivated the odor, I have seen this many times before. Lots of great advise here on how to treat the problem.
