I shampooed my carpet and now it smells like urine.

Every now and then we get a call from a customer that says, “I shampooed my carpet, and now it smells like urine.” The smell was not present prior to the cleaning leaving a frustrating situation for homeowners without pets, or one who didn’t smell urine prior to cleaning.

Why does it smell now?

Urine has a unique way of hiding. Carpets that contain dried urine don’t always smell because the concentration wasn’t high prior to cleaning, or has been in the carpet long enough to air out. Additionally, urine can seeps down past to carpet into the pad, where it can’t be seen. It is possible that the surface level of the carpet was cleaned up enough to hide the evidence, until the carpet got wet.

When water hits the carpet two things happen.

1. The bacteria and ammonia in the urine reactivate.

2. Water causes the urine to spread out further.

Unfortunately, if urine is present in the carpet and the cleaning chemicals were not designed to treat urine problems, or the wrong amount of such a product was used, it can actually make the situation worse than it was prior to cleaning.

Removing the pet odor.

To remove the odor you must treat it for it. Just like laundry, carpet is a fabric, and sometimes additional products are needed to remove odors. With urine problems, you need a pet odor neutralizer that is designed to kill the bacteria and break down the ammonia. Once the urine has spread out treating it yourself can be difficult. You must treat everywhere the urine has spread to, including the pad, subflooring, walls, and sometimes even vents.

How do you find the spots?

 

 

One of the best ways to track down the areas that have been compromised by urine is with a black light. Black lights are fantastic for highlighting any biological items on the carpet and walls. (We recommend you check your walls with the black light and wash them down with a mixture of half and half, white distilled vinegar, and water if anything shows up. ) While not pleasant, it’s also a good idea to stick your nose close to the carpet, anywhere the black light illuminates as a potential hotspot. This helps to confirm you have located the problem area. Other things besides urine can illuminate, so it is a way you can avoid using cleaning product where it is not needed.

What Cleaning Products Should I Use?

We recommend a product called Mister Max Anti-icky-poo (Link for purchase below). It is a high-quality pet odor neutralizer that is enzyme-based. It is also safe for your pets, and biodegradable.

Keep in mind that the areas may require multiple applications in order to get the odor under control. If the problem is from dog pee, it will generally take 2-3 applications in order to completely remove the smell. If the problem is from a cat, it can take even more applications. Cat urine is a lot more potent and is much harder to remove.

What if the Entire Carpet Lights Up?

If you were not smelling the odor before cleaning, this is not likely to happen. However, in the event that your entire carpet looks like one huge lit-up mess, then we recommend you get a professional to treat the carpet or replace it. Sometimes carpet can be just too far gone to salvage the situation. When we come out to clean, if we don’t believe we can remedy the situation, we won’t clean the carpet. Instead, we will let you know your money is better saved for replacement.

Treating urine odors can get expensive. Hiring a professional cleaner will give you the best chances for fast effective results. We offer odor treatments that are guaranteed. If you would like more information on our odor treatments, and costs please check out our pet odor removal page. Our treatments will also work for human urine.

Ready to remove the odor? Schedule now, by using our online booking platform.

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Here are the links where you can find both the Anti-icky-poo and the black light on Amazon.

As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.