r/CarpetCleaning

A while back, our dog peed on the carpet in our basement. We didn't notice it immediately, so it sat for a while. 

Once we realized what happened, we tackled it with Folex and our upright Bissell rug scrubber several times. The machine pulled up a ton of dirt and muck, and the carpet fibers themselves look clean. After that, we applied Nature's Miracle Urine Destroyer, which successfully knocked out a lot of the actual urine odor. We are currently re-treating one small stubborn spot where the pee smell is lingering. 

However, we now have a much bigger problem: the entire basement smells heavily like "dog" and bad odor. It is way worse than it was before we started cleaning, and it isn't getting better. 

Short of ripping up the carpet and padding entirely, what are my options to get rid of this widespread, heavy dog odor?

1 of my cats has peed all over my apartment for the last several months. I have tried everything (vet, different litter boxes/locations, medication), I am currently searching for a cat rescue that will take her in as a foster pet. I have a baby who will be crawling soon and that was the last straw for me with the cat. At the end of the day I can’t have my baby get sick from this. But I still have to live in this rental with pee-soaked carpet. I am so unhappy when im home. I have a boswell carpet cleaner machine and have cleaned up the “hot spots” basically daily for months. I have tried at least 10 different enzyme cleaners, but it still smells really bad. I’m afraid if i tell the landlord they will charge me or evict me for ruining the carpet. What are my options here? Will renting a rug doctor remove the smell? Do I go to my landlord and beg for flooring replacement? I would prefer laminate flooring but I know that cost more than carpet and is a huge ask. My apartment complex has a few hundred units, all very outdated, and pretty sure they only install carpet in the living area. This has been taking a HUGE toll on my mental health, mostly because I can’t have visitors over because as soon as you open my front door you can smell cat pee. I can’t do it anymore. Please, open to any suggestions

Is Blue Coral the way to go?

A few days ago, I used a carpet cleaner on one of the rooms in my apartment. After letting it air out and dry for about 48, the carpet was dry and clean but absolutely reeked. Based on a tip I saw on Reddit, I sprinkled baking soda all over the carpet and left it overnight. Now, I’m trying to vacuum the baking soda up and I’m running into two problems: first of all, the room still smells incredibly awful and the baking soda didn’t help. Second, I can’t get the baking soda out of the carpet now!! I need to move into this room in the next two days…. Anything I can do?

Carpet is my sweet spot, but I understand all sorts of floor cleaning, maintenance, and restoration.

I've sold equipment and supplies.

I've operated my own business.

I've helped other people operate their businesses.

Currently responsible for the the cleaning and maintenance program for 100's of millions of square feet of flooring all over North America.

Last week, I started dealing with an ant infestation that was mostly in my living room. I bought Terro bait and left it alone for awhile. Last week, I came home from work and saw a lot of ants in my room. I bought Raid Ant and Roach and sprayed the ants on my carpet and baseboards and didn't think much of it. Two days later, I went ahead and sprayed the last remaining ants on the wooden floor in my hallway, living room, and rug. It was only later I looked up how dangerous Raid is for cats (my roommate has one), and that Raid shouldn't be used on fabrics. Me and her cat are fine right now, but should I be worried about long term health effects for both of us and how should I go about cleaning the residue?

I'm looking to build a website for 2 local carpet cleaning companies this week, no catch, no strings, you own the site files. I'm just looking for the feedback. Comment below or dm me.

It's some kind of glue. Is there a product or solvent that can rescue the carpet?

Please don't say WD40..

I’ve had my carpet certification for a few months and usually have no issues. But honestly, the people at my company are kinda useless for advice and the class I took only taught me so much.

Mainly im just looking for spotting advice. Like, how do you know if a solvent is volatile or non volatile? I’ve never seen a bottle/jug that actually says that. Basically just have to spray it and see if it evaporates it seems, that’s annoying.

How do you get out really tacky stuff, like gum or kid’s slime? I’ve heard to use citrusolve but that barely seems to do anything.

What do you use as a tannin spotter, and enzyme digester? We’ve got this coffee stain remover stuff that I think is a tannin spotter? Seems to work ish. For enzymes I’ve been using UPS, idk if there’s anything better.

Right now my paltry kit includes matrix spot out, citrusolve, some white powder (mixed with water) stuff my boss calls knock out (seems like a stronger spot out that stinks like hell), UPS, that generic coffee stain remover, and this stuff called red magic that doesn’t seem to work on anything (supposed to get red stains out), honestly I think the bottle is a damn decade old.

I hate it here lol, I want to do a good job but I get no advice and again the class only taught me so much. I think the guy running the class hasn’t cleaned a carpet in 30 years. He spent half the class trying to convince us to take his carpet dying class.

My prespray is flex powder w/ citrusolve, my rinse is blazing blue, which do seem to work great. It’s the spotters that I’m honestly kinda clueless with. No

Okay….so I’ve been very depressed and physically tired for a long time….

Soo…at this point there is an ungodly and inhabitable amount of pet urine in my carpets. I’m trying to be better though and pull myself out of my depression and subsequent living space and make it feel more like a home that I can be proud of and feel not only more rested in but actually happy to home to instead of even more depressed and tired.

So I need help and recommendations!!

I used to be a maid for a cabin rental service so I’m pretty good at general cleaning and knowing what chemicals and such are good for deep cleans (when I’m strong enough to fight my mental) but carpets are a whole other thing…

At this point I’m wondering if I’d be able to do a good deep clean that would truly get rid of all the smells on my own , cause there’s not really any staining, or if I need to hire someone. I’d prefer to do it myself because I’d feel severely embarrassed and guilty having someone else here right now but if necessary I’ll swallow my pride just so I can begin living like a human being again.

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated!! Especially if you’ve been in this kind of situation and thought I’d hate this for anyone else I do kinda selfishly hope I’m not the only one…at this point though I just want to make my apartment feel clean and like a home, not just somewhere I sleep or lay down with my insomniac self…

Not really making that much….($18.50/hr before taxes and insurance and all the other bills…) but I’ve been doing my best to save up and if I have to save some more I’d like a realistic goal to work to that will actually get the job done and not waste it.
(Austin, TX, US)

So I recently had an ant problem and used food grade Diatomaceous earth to help deal with it. (it's supposedly less harmful. I did this a year ago as well but ironically just left it there and blocked it off so cats couldn't interact with it. But this Time especially since there's more I want to attempt to clean it up. But I've read it could damage a vacuum and make dust go everywhere, so my question is what's some good ways to deal with this