Removing Urine Smell from Carpet

With pets in the house, accidents can happen any time, and your well-behaved cat or dog may pee in the carpet. This happens quite frequently when your pet is in its growing years. In such a case, you do not have any other option but to clean up the carpet to get rid of the stains and odors.

Any delay in cleaning will cause the urine stains to penetrate deep in the fibers and padding, creating a stinky atmosphere in the room. So, the best practical solution is removing smell from the carpet as soon as possible.

How to Remove Urine Smell from Carpet?

Remember, you can actively eliminate urine odor only if you act promptly, as dried stains are difficult to remove. And the worst part is that the pet tends to return and urinate on the same spot if the smell persists. In order to avoid such an annoying situation, you can follow the methods mentioned below for removing urine odor from carpet:

• This step is applicable if you notice the urine stain when it is still wet. Lay a few layers of newspaper or absorbent towel over the area and stand over it to blot up as much urine as possible. If required, repeat this step for maximum removal of urine from the carpet.

You can use old newspapers and throw them away after your work is done, instead of laying towel and washing it again.

• For a dried-up stain, the first and foremost tip is wetting the stained portion. You can make use of a black light to locate the stain and consider outlining it with a chalk stick. Spray or sprinkle cool water over the stained portion. After rinsing the area thoroughly, absorb water by placing newspapers or old towel over it.

• Urine odor is caused due to uric acid and bacteria feeding on the pet's urine. The long-lasting foul smell is nothing but the uric acid crystals formed after evaporation of the water component. For fresh urine, alkali-based cleaning products are effective to remove offending odor; while for dried stains, you should exclusively use acidic products.

Accordingly, you can also use baking soda to remove fresh urine odor and vinegar for dried stains.

• As you have already decided the appropriate cleaning agent (baking soda or vinegar) for urine smell removal, saturate the stain with it. For using vinegar, combine one part each of white vinegar and water; whereas for using baking soda, make a paste out of baking powder and water.

Saturating the stains with either of these agents will liquefy the uric acid crystals, making them easy to remove from the carpet fibers. After application, scrub the area with a brush to loosen stains and remove odor. Then, absorb moisture from the carpet by using newspapers and/or towel.

• Last, but not the least, apply a urine smell neutralizer or deodorizer to eliminate any remaining foul odor from the carpet. You can also consider disinfecting with a correct product and sun drying the carpet.

The overall effectiveness of removing urine from carpet depends on the type of fabric and extent of urine spotting. In case you can still smell the offending odor after following the above mentioned tips, consider hiring a professional for carpet cleaning.