Category Archives: Pet Odor Control
Your Pet and your Stone Floor
Though many people think stone floors are immune to pet odor problems, because lets face it, they are stone, that is not the truth.
Whether a man made stone like ceramic or a natural stone like marble, all stone floors can and will pick up pet odors. There is no natural stone that repels water naturally. All stone is permeable to some extent. While ceramic tile is not permeable, the grout between the tiles is.
The removal of pet odors from stone floors is actually quite easy, given the proper training and equipment.
Urine, like water, will soak into the stone or find its way through cracks to the sub floor underneath. That sub floor in most cases is concrete that is also permeable. The result is a urine odor that you cannot remove with a general cleaning using items like Pine Sol.
To remove the urine smell from a stone floor, the area needs to be flushed with a enzyme treatment. It will need the opportunity to soak into the stone and follow the cracks the same as the urine did. The damage that can be caused to these floors from excessive exposure to liquid is countered by air movers and dehumidifiers. After several days worth of treatments the odor will be eliminated.
The most important step you can take in the care of your stone floor is to have it properly sealed by a professional. Your seal acts as a moisture barrier preventing liquids from soaking in. Not only will proper sealing help prevent urine odors but will prevent other damage such as oil stains.
A simple way of checking the seal on your stone floor is to place a drop of water on it. Leave the drop for ten minutes then check it. If the water is still beading on top of the floor that area is sealed. If the water has soaked into the stone and has left a mark that needs to dry then your stone is not properly sealed.
PLEASE NOTE: If you find your stone floor is not properly sealed, DO NOT run out and buy a sealer from the store and mop it on. If you do so you will seal all dirt and stains present on the floor into it permanently. The floor should be properly cleaned before any seal is applied.
Considering the cost of the stone and the installation of it, the cost to have a professional clean and seal it is a small amount to pay to protect your investment.
Article by Guest Blogger Brian L. Vaubel
Brian has 20+ years experience in tile, carpet and furniture care. He founded Eco-Clean in California. He works with environmentally friendly products, consults on Indoor Air Quality issues, and specializes in maintaining homes for those who are chemically sensitive.
Your Carpet and Your Pet
For many homeowners the combination of pets and carpets is a non-issue. A well behaved and healthy pet with ample access to the outdoors means an odor free home. For other homeowners the same combination can result in a host of problems, from stains, to odors, to flea problems.
The most simple of the problems to solve is fleas. The carpets in your home provide an ideal breeding ground for fleas once they have made it into your home. Fortunately there are many non-toxic remedies that a professional carpet cleaner can offer you. The most important factor however is proper grooming of your pet to prevent the fleas from entering your home in the first place.
When it comes to the problem of stains however, the cleaning process in many cases will be of little or no help. Whether it is a discoloration in your carpet from a pet being sick or from an accident, discolorations in your carpet are often permanent. It would be the same as expecting to remove a bleach spot from your favorite jeans by washing them. There are really only two types of permanent stains a carpet can have. Either a color added stain, or a color loss stain.
A color added stain happens when a new pigment is introduced to the fibers and in the process of penetrating them redyes the carpet to a new color. When animals are sick the two main reasons for this are either dyes that were present in the food they recently ate, or from the stomach acids that all animals produce. A color loss stain is a form of bleaching caused by high PH factors. Often carpets will bleach to pure white, or yellow. Yellow discolorations are most often found in colored carpets like green, brown, blue or red. The reason they turn yellow is because only certain parts of the dyes that made the original color are affected.
Depending on the type of fiber your carpet is made of and the age of the carpet you do have two options for removing these discolorations. The first is called spot dyeing. If, for instance you have a green carpet that has faded to yellow, your carpet cleaner can reintroduce blue dye to the area. As we all remember from school yellow and blue make green. You may not get a perfect match, but a section of your green carpet that is a shade lighter or darker is much better on the eyes than a bright yellow section. The second option is called a carpet patch. If your carpet is made of a fiber that will not accept redying this is your only option. With a patch you literally cut out the discolored area and replace it with a section of carpet from a spare piece. If spare carpet is not handy, then you can use carpet from a closet transferring the discoloration from the middle of the living room to the back corner of your closet. However it is important to bear in mind that on older carpets the patch may stand out as much as the original stain due to wear and sun fade.
Removal of pet odors from your carpet CAN be a labor intensive process. I have addressed this issue in another fluffyfeet article called pet odor control. For a brief recap I will simply say that I strongly recommend you consult a restoration professional on the matter of odor removal. The vast majority of urine damage restoration jobs I have worked on have only been made worse and more expensive to resolve due to the well intentioned actions taken by a thrifty homeowner.
Article by Guest Blogger Brian L. Vaubel
Brian has 20+ years experience in carpet and furniture care and founded Eco-Clean in California. He works with environmentally friendly products and consults on Indoor Air Quality issues, and specializes in maintaining homes for those who are chemically sensitive
Pet odors in the home
If you own a pet, then the simple fact is you have some form of pet odor in your home. It can be as simple as a “wet dog” smell you notice when it is foggy or it rains. It can be as bad as an ammonia odor that burns the nose and tears the eyes. In extreme cases it can literally drive the occupants out of a home until it is corrected. Rest assured however no matter how bad the problem is, weather its from your own pets or you have purchased a structure with an existing problem it can be corrected. I do warn you however that for the worst cases the financial cost and disruption to your home life can be a little overwhelming.
I am a firm believer in doing it yourself. In the case of pet odor removal however, I would strongly recommend that you at least consult with a professional. As someone who has spent over two decades in floor covering maintenance and restoration, structural restoration and indoor air quality management I can assure you that the last person you wish to seek help from on these issues is your local hardware store expert. The second to last place you want to get your answers from is the back of a chemical bottle you picked up at the local pet or grocery store.
For the minor problems like wet dog smell or a slight urine odor the answer will usually be a thorough cleaning and disinfecting of the affected areas. For major urine problems this will usually not work because you are not able to remove the source of the smell. Allow me to explain why.
In its liquid form urine will soak through carpet and padding to the sub-floor where it will soak in. It will saturate wood floors and improperly sealed stone floors. It will flow through any crack crevice or seam to the concrete or wood below. It can also soak into the lower portions of the sheet rock in your walls, and affect the framing material behind them. Once these areas are affected you can still have lingering pet odors even if you replace your carpet, wood or stone floors. After the urine crystals have formed you can have lingering pet odors for years after any pet has been in the home.
I found the use of enzymes most effective in treating all areas, however many homeowners use commercial enzyme products with little to no effect. The reason for this is simple. Enzymes, though an affective treatment are very sensitive. They will die off if it is to hot or cold. They also have a limited shelf life. So when you go to the pet store to buy a bottle of enzyme treatment you have no idea how effective it will be. Professionals use powdered enzymes that they mix on location, in water at a certain temperature and they use it within hours of mixing . Hence the results are much more effective.
Over the years I have seen homeowners spend thousands of dollars in the attempt to remove pet odors from a home, and in the end still be forced to spend thousands more for proper restoration. In the long run you are better off seeking a restoration specialist for an estimate or consultation before you take any steps on your own.
Article by Guest Blogger Brian L. Vaubel
Brian has 20+ years experience in carpet and furniture care and founded Eco-Clean in California. He works with environmentally friendly products and consults on Indoor Air Quality issues, and specializes in maintaining homes for those who are chemically sensitive.