Pet Odor Solutions

Understanding Urine Damage

Pet urine can cause permanent damage to your floors and fabrics. It can also create and unhealthy indoor environment. When urine is first deposited onto a floor or fabric, it has a pH of about five or six, which is on the acid side of the pH scale and is easier to remove when it is fresh. Once it dries, it turns "alkaline" or to a high pH between 10 to 12 on the scale and becomes more difficult to remove. The warm acid state of the urine offers a perfect breeding ground for bacteria, which begine to flourish almost immediately. In this original acid state the urine begins to oxidize and react with the carpet to create a color change, which will become permanent if the urine is not removed immediately. Some of this color change can be attributed to the strong ammonia that forms as the urine passes through bacteria and chemical change. If left for days or weeks, depending on the fabric or floor type, it will change the dye structure, therefore causing permanent staining. Even if the soluble deposits are removed, the damage to the dye structure may already be done.

There are two sources of odors associated with urine. The first comes from bacteria that grow abundantly in dark warm places with a never-ending food source. A pet can feed the bacteria daily! This bacteria growth and breakdown of the urine creates amino acids. These complex organic compounds will often work deep into the fibers to a point of becoming part of the fiber. This can present a challenging situation. The waste materials and gases from the decomposing urine create an unpleasant odor. When dried urine is remoistened, it gives off an ammonia gas. If smelled once it is seldom forgotten.

The second source of odor is chemical odor that is present even when the bacteria have been killed. This explains the reason that more than sanitizing is necessary to neutralize odors from urine. Urine also presents additional odor problems when the relative humidity is high. The salts and crystals that are left behind as the urine dries are hydrophilic and draw water to them. Dried urine is often easy to smell in the humid months because the salts attract the moisture, the moisture evaporates putting out a greater proportion of odorous ammonia gas. You must get rid of the urine salts in and under the carpet to get rid of the odor. That’s why cleaning existing urine spots WILL NOT remove any associated odor. In fact, it could INCREASE the odor in the air space for a temporary period of time.

Treatment Methods

For pet odor on wall to wall carpet, we have three ways of treating odor:

Minor Treatment
We use Bi-O-Kleen enzymes, which are formulated for chemically sensitive people and safe for your family. The enzyme is sprayed on each urine spot before cleaning to eat up the urine and bacteria. This procedure will help reduce odor but is not intended on removing severe odor as this is merely treating the surface of the carpet. If you can smell the odor when you walk in the room, this is not minor odor. This will help reduce or control the problem, not eliminate it. Minor odor can only be smelled if you are on your hands and knees or on a humid day.

Moderate Odor Treatment
With this process, we saturate the spot with a special oxidising deodorizer so the cleaning agent reaches the padding. We then use the "water claw" sub surface extractor to pull the urine out. This process will reduce the odor significantly, but may or may not completely cure severe problems. Moderate odor treatment is not guaranteed. Caution is used if there is wood beneath the carpet.

Major Odor Treatment
This is a full-blown odor treatment designed to completely eliminate the odor if the pet is no longer living in the home. The carpet is pulled up and padding discarded. The carpet is thoroughly cleaned on both sides with enzymes and oxidizing agents that neutralize the urine. The sub-floor, baseboards, and backing of the carpet are treated with a special, clear, "odor barrier". This procedure will undoubtedly correct any pet urine problem.

How Professionals Remove Odor

Remember, in order to remove the odor, all of the alkaline salt deposits the urine leaves behind must be completely removed. This can be quite extensive and time consuming. In worse cases, all of the following steps will be done. When damage is not so bad a few steps are left out.

Step 1: Pull up carpet.
Step 2: Remove affected pad.
Step 3: Clean back of carpet.
Step 4: Treat floor with an enzyme treatment.
Step 5: Seal floor if needed with an odor barrier.
Step 6: Treat back of carpet with enzyme treatment.
Step 7: Install new tack strip.
Step 8: Install new pad.
Step 9: Re-install carpet.
Step 10: Clean carpet.
Step 11: Topically apply enzyme treatment.