You spend months deep scrubbing your carpet trying to eliminate Sir Pee-a-Lot's old urine stains, but you can still smell it in the air. Get off your hands and knees so you can start taking steps that work to remove dried urine stains from your carpet.
Step 1
Find the old urine stains. Turn off the lights and use a black-light to locate stains. Outline the areas in chalk or with a post-it note.
Step 2
Rent a wet-vac or extractor from your local hardware store. Do not use these vacuums with chemicals. This equipment works best with plain water as it forces the water through your carpet while sucking up the dirty water, according to the Humane Society of the United States.
Step 3
Saturate the area with a few drops of dish detergent mixed with water. Do not scrub the area and let the detergent saturate for one to two hours. Blot the area three times with a clean towel soaked in clean water.
Step 4
Saturate the area with club soda. Allow the club soda to remain on the carpet for 10 minutes before blotting, then place a clean towel over the area, according to Ohio State University's College of Veterinary Medicine. Weight down the towel with a book and leave it on the area overnight. Spray an enzymatic cleaner on the area when you wake up.
Step 5
Replace carpeting and padding. If urine has soaked underneath the padding, it's almost impossible to clean without removing the carpet and padding. Once padding is removed, clean the ground's surface before applying new padding and carpeting.
References
Tips
- Do not allow your cat or dog into the area being cleaned until it is completely dry. If your pet smells traces of urine, he's likely to urinate on the area again, and then you have to start all over.
Warnings
- Never use ammonia to clean old stains. Urine has ammonia, so this can encourage your pet to urinate in the same area.
- Avoid steam cleaners since they permanently set urine odors into the carpet.
- If you've used chemicals or cleaners on your carpet in the past, it will weaken the enzymatic cleaner's effect, according to the Hawaiian Humane Society.
Writer Bio
Melissa McNamara is a certified personal trainer who holds a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and communication studies from the University of Iowa. She writes for various health and fitness publications while working toward a Bachelor of Science in nursing.