Urine removal techniques for carpets and rugs

It can cause stress and upset. And we love our canine dudes.

What is Urine?
This is the body’s way of flushing out its liquid waste.
The waste is mostly water around 95%, with the rest being made of chloride, urea, ammonia, proteins, and salts.

So why does wee smell?

This information pertains mainly to animal accidents, though the same principles apply to human incidents. Urine can be quite pungent and even exhibit varying colours, especially when medication is involved since it also passes through the kidneys. Let’s discuss how you can eliminate urine and its accompanying odour from your carpets, rugs and even upholstery.

You may have looked up methods for eliminating the smell and may have come across suggestions to use baking soda and leave it on for a few minutes. However, this approach will not work and may even exacerbate the issue. Other ingredients may neutralize the urine, but you do not want to neutralize the problem; you want to eliminate it!

We categorise urine removal into three levels: light, medium, and contaminated. Homeowners or professional carpet cleaners can undertake light urine removal, but we strongly advise against using shop products that contain bleach, as they can damage the fibers. Instead, combine 75% water and 25% white wine vinegar in a spray bottle to help remove any surface incidents.

The most significant issue with urine is the odor, which can be caused by the ammonia or bacteria that has leaked into the backing. Additionally, some fibers may react negatively to this liquid excretion, leading to discoloration. Three colors will determine if damage has occurred. If the fiber turns black, in our experience, it can be removed, and the original color restored. If the fiber has turned yellow or orange, bleaching has occurred, which can be fixed, but it depends on the fibers being able to undergo a corrective process.

For light removal, we recommend absorbing as much moisture as possible by placing a towel over the area and pressing down. Do not rub! Repeat the process until you think no more moisture can be removed.

Medium contamination, however, requires a professional. We identify all the areas of concern using a UV torch, which changes the color of the carpet to show where the urine is. We also use a moisture meter to determine if the liquid has penetrated the backing and leaked into the underlay. Once each area is identified, we flush it using cold water and a square metal head of about 6 inches square. Using our body weight, we place the tool on the area to be cleaned and stand on it, allowing for as much contamination and moisture to be removed as possible. Once all areas have been addressed, the entire carpet is steam cleaned, and an enzyme odor chemical is applied and brushed into the carpets. We leave this to dry naturally, which takes around 3 hours..

Urine cleaning

This is extreme, and it all goes down to your budget.
If the survey suggests that the underlay is wet, and the physical investigation agrees with this, then the only course of action is to dispose of the underlay.
The underlay acts like a sponge. We can clean the carpets but not the underlay.
So the room needs to be emptied.
Next, we need to uplift the carpet and remove and dispose of the underlay.
The subfloor will need to be treated. We will sometimes put the carpet back in place and cleanse it.
Uplift it again. Fit the new underlay and carpet.
This time, I will clean the carpet with the help of enzymes and deodorisers.

So as an example, for cost to replace the underlay, is £100 in a typical living room.
To uplift the underlay, refit new, refit the carpet, and then clean the carpet would be about £140.00

Or renew the entire room in question.
And that could cost you over £1000, if not more.

If you have a puppy, it may be prudent after having your carpet, rug, or sofa cleaned, to have it protected with a stain protector.
This will provide you with those extra minutes to remove the accident quickly, and not allow any liquid to seep into the backing of your fibres.