Four Easy Steps To Remove Any Pet Accident, including urine, feces, vomit OR drink spills.
- Do it now. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to remove.
- Use the right equipment. Use a wet/dry vacuum or a small carpet spotting machine to extract the liquid portion of the accident before rinsing or adding a spot remover. Standing on thick towels is great for quick absorption.
- Use only water and then, only if needed, the proper cleaning agent after the water has been extracted.
- Rinse any cleaner you may have used with water (preferably distilled) and extract the water with your wet vac or towel/paper towel.
How to clean pet accidents from rugs, carpets and upholstered furniture
- If you have pets, and buy one item for your home, make it a wet/dry vacuum! They are available at most hardware stores for under $60. These are better than household carpet cleaning machines for wet accidents because you can use just the hose end to gain more concentrated vacuum that will extract even some of what has gone through the carpet backing.
- Use a wet vac or a small spot removal machine and simply vacuum up any liquid. This will allow the urine to be pulled up out of the carpet backing. Otherwise stand on thick towels (paper towels as last resort). Large, upright carpet cleaning machines are too bulky for small problems, plus they break down often and really don’t do much in larger areas.
- After you’ve removed all the liquid you possibly can, soak a hand towel in a container of water. Do not ring it out. Quickly transfer the towel soaked with your clear rinse water onto the spotted area. Then machine extract or stand on several dry spots of the towel. Do this several times until you believe you have rinsed well. 90% of the time water is the only rinse agent you need to remove pet accidents and human spills. Please believe this and you will save yourself from wasted time, money, and effort.
- Of the 10% of liquid accidents and spills that don't come out with water most are stains. And remember, when a spot becomes a stain you don't want to set it with cleaning chemicals. This is the time to have your favorite carpet and rug cleaning company to come by with their expertise and treat the spot before it stains, if possible. (Our technicians leave a large free bottle of our personally mixed spotter to help you remove future spots yourself if you are one of those brave, risk taking, do-it-yourself cleaners.
Cleaners to use AFTER liquid is removed or for OLD spots
Enzymes are usually the best cleaning agent for urine, vomit, and feces. You must use an enzyme for any spot that isn’t fresh. An enzyme is the only cleaning agent that actually eats up the bad bacteria in urine. It can be used on carpet and upholstery. There are many enzymes on the market. Some work well; some do not.
Because urine changes its ph with age, from acid to alkalin, you must also change your chosen spotter to one with an acidic cleaning chemistry. You can dilute 1 cup of vinegar with two cups of water. The acid base of vinegar will help removal of an old urine spot and its odor, but it won’t actually digest any of the urine like an enzyme does. A neutral ph spotting agent works well for general cleaning of newer urine spots as well. However, to pull urine from the carpet pad is most successfully done by the high powered vacuum coming from your favorite carpet and rug cleaners truck.
What’s the Best Thing You Can Do to Remove Pet Accident Stains?
The best thing you can do for any type of pet accident is remove it right away. The longer the problem stays in the fiber, the worse the problem becomes. Professional cleaning is still necessary for overall maintenance every 6-12 months if a pet lives in the home. If you cannot remove the stain or odor, call us immediately at (336) 545-1778 (Greensboro, NC). We will bring in a urine probe and UV black light to determine exactly where the problems are and treat only the effected areas with the proper deodorizers. Our technicians are specially trained in urine removal and are equipped with the tools to do so – we can even extract urine from the pad.
If urine stays in the carpet or upholstery for an extended period of time, it will permanently stain. Even worse, it will eventually eat away the backing of the fiber and destroy the carpet or upholstery. In addition, there is the obvious unhealthy situation and odor the urine will cause.
The secret to remove any general spot
- First, dry blot fresh spots with a towel after removing solid materials with a spoon, etc. as quickly as possible.
- Apply bottled water to spots other than ink, fingernail polish, grease and make-up and blot with a towel.
- Spray and blot with a neutral spotter like Zimmerman’s lifetime, free refill, Spot Remover. The reason we recommend ours is because it leaves virtually no residue and cannot be over applied.
- For ink, grease, fingernail polish and make-up use alcohol, non acetate clear fingernail polish remover, clear hand sanitizer gel or a dry cleaning solution. Warning: Do not allow these products to reach the carpet backing. This would possibly break down the latex in the backing.
- If the stain remains call your favorite carpet and rug cleaner at (336) 545-1778 (Greensboro, NC). Zimmerman Carpet and Rug Cleaners will fit you into our schedule. You’ll get a trained technician armed with at least 10 specialty spot removers to remove your stains. The technician sent out to your home will be spot removal specialist—it’s what he does all day.
3 Tips for Better Spot Removal
- Remove it now. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to remove. If you cannot remove the stain, call a professional right away.
- Do not use high residue products on your wool rugs or wool area rugs. Use a neutral pH spotting agent that is made for wool.
- Warning: We recommend that all cotton, silk, wool, jute and other natural fiber rugs be professionally cleaned due to a high possibility of dyes running, shrinkage, browning, etc.
CAUTION! Some area rugs have a very unstable dye and can be easily ruined. Always pre-test any solution on the rug before attempting spot removal.
