Oops. My Dog Peed the Carpet

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Most of our residential customers have a dog or cat. Pee, poop, vomit, hair and general doggy smell can often occur.

We use a pet enzyme treatment on vomit, urine and feces stains to help reduce odor and staining. We’re happy to help, but immediate action on your part is also necessary.

My dog just peed on the carpet. What should I do?

  • Good luck making this happen!
  • Blot it up immediately with a cotton terry towel. I recommend an old one.
  • Apply an enzyme treatment like Biokleen’s Bac-Out or Nature’s Miracle. Allow time for the treatment to soak in and work. Don’t use too much. Follow your product’s instructions.
  • Blot it up. Use a fan for quicker drying.
  • Don’t use a home carpet cleaning machine. It will only add more water, risking mold and mildew. You might want to use only the suction part or a shop vac, but blot afterwards to extract more moisture.
  • Call us if you have several pet spots, stains or other problems.

If you’re not happy with the result, give us a call, text or email. I’ll be happy to answer questions and, if needed, come out and give your carpet a thorough cleaning. Make us your go-to pet carpet cleaner.

(707) 575-0114

But it still smells

Urine can soak into the carpet, the backing, the pad and even the sub-floor. When that happens, a surface treatment will not be sufficient. The carpet may be clean, but moisture will wick back up, causing re-soiling and odor. When that happens, the best way to deal with it is to pull back the carpet and pad, apply an enzyme treatment and allow to dry completely before putting the carpet back in place. Use fans to speed drying.

pet carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning

Of course, replacing everything is the best answer, but that costs much more and if you still have the little perps, your problem will re-occur.

Call a pet trainer. You may spend less in the long run and you will benefit from more than clean carpet. Old dogs can learn new tricks. And pet trainers tell me, old dog owners can learn new tricks too!

So You Want to Clean Your Carpet Yourself

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Many Bay Area residents are understandably reluctant to have an unknown carpet cleaner in their home during the current COVID-19 lockdown. One option for carpet cleaning during the coronavirus shelter-in-place is to clean your carpet yourself. DIY Carpet Cleaning.

very low moisture carpet cleaning is better

My first advice is don’t. Call a pro. Sure you can rent a Rug Doctor, but it’s like power washing your patio with a garden hose. Just not as powerful. Call a pro that uses very low moisture (VLM) carpet cleaning (like Advanced Dry Carpet Care: (707) 575-0114). If you can’t find a VLM cleaner in your area, employ a cleaner that uses hot water extraction (HWE), also known as the truck-mount system. This is the method used by Stanley Steemer, Coit and most smaller carpet cleaning pros. It’s a traditional, common method for carpet cleaning, though not the best.

But if your budget or health concerns won’t allow for calling a pro, follow these guidelines for safe and effective DIY carpet cleaning.

Gather what you’ll need:

  • Vacuum cleaner
  • Carpet extraction cleaning machine (ex. Rug Doctor)
  • Carpet cleaning detergent
  • Hot water
  • Fans
No spots return with our carpet cleaning methods

Do it right and you can see dramatic results!

Ready? Here’s a step-by-step guide for effectively cleaning your carpet yourself:

  1. Vacuum the carpet thoroughly while it’s dry. Once soil is wet, it is more difficult to extract.
  2. Pre-treat spots and traffic lanes with detergent and water mix. Brush the solution into the carpet and allow 10-15 minutes dwell time.
  3. While you’re waiting, mix detergent and hot water and pour into the machine.
  4. Use the machine according to its instructions to apply cleaning solution and extract.
  5. Open windows and point fans at the carpet, especially the traffic lanes.
  6. If spots remain, try cleaning them with a stronger detergent, like Folex. For a simple 3-Step Spot Cleaning video and instructions, go to: advanceddry.com/spot/
  7. Keep everyone off the carpet until it’s dry. This includes pets. If you can’t wait, wear clean socks to avoid re-soiling.
  8. Your carpet should be dry within 24 hours. If it takes longer than 48 hours, definitely call a pro. Mildew is forming and mold may follow, which will ruin your carpet.

Avoid common mistakes:

home carpet steam cleaners
  • Avoid using a detergent that is not designed for carpet. You may get the dirt out, but not the suds. The remaining sticky residue will result in re-soiling.
  • Avoid using too much water. Some people, seeing that one pass does not get the carpet clean, go over it a second and third time. These machines add water/solution, but do not extract much. More passes leaves more water and the risk of mildew and mold.
  • Don’t bother with the home models from Bissel, Hoover, etc. They squirt water/solution on to the carpet but have weak extraction. Weak jets + weak suction means you’ve only added water and soap to dirty carpet.

Call or Text for Professional Carpet & Rug Cleaning

(707) 575-0114

See also:

Spot Cleaning Mistakes

Three Ways to Wreck Your Carpet

Frequently Asked Questions

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Carpet cleaning preparation. A few minutes of preparation will help us provide the best results when we clean your carpet and rugs.

What’s included with carpet cleaning service?

carpet cleaning preparation
  • Pro-grade cleaning of carpeted rooms and closets
  • Removal of dirt, debris, and spots
  • Deodorizer – No fragrance added
  • Removal of furniture out of rooms to be cleaned as much as is reasonable.

How long will the cleaning take?

The more rooms you need cleaned, the longer the job, but the whole process usually takes 1-3 hours. Once the cleaning is done, it can take 2-3 hours for carpets to dry completely, depending on airflow. Then, you can put furniture back in place and walk on your carpet. 

Should I vacuum before the pro arrives?

No need. We will vacuum the carpet. That’s the first step in the process of carpet cleaning. 

Do I need to move all my furniture?

Please remove small items such as trash cans, small chairs and lamps before we arrive. The more you’ve done to expose the carpet, the more surface area we can clean, and the happier you’ll be with the results. We can help you with larger items and in many cases we can clean underneath desks, tables, and partly underneath chairs, sofas and beds. We will not move large items, such as pianos, china cabinets, armoirs, antiques, entertainment centers, or fragile items. We can return furniture to original location when cleaning is complete if you request it.

What About My Pets?

We love dogs and cats and we are happy to meet yours and assure them that we’re the good guys. Please secure them while we’re working. We don’t want them to get hurt or re-soil the carpet while we’re working.

What if I have a very large room?

The estimates we provide assume that each room is up to 200 square feet. Some combination rooms (ex. living room/dining room) will count as two rooms. Once we survey the rooms we will be sure to let you know if additional fees apply before cleaning begins.

How is carpet deodorized?

We use natural enzymes to neutralize and remove odors such as vomit and pet waste. It’s part of our normal process when we use the low-moisture Teri-Towel system. If there are areas that are unusually spotted, let us know and we will pre-treat the area with an enzyme. If the odor source has reached the backing or padding, complete removal of the odor cannot be guaranteed.

What is Carpet Stain Protection?

New carpet usually comes with stain protection, which gives you more time to blot up spills and prevent stains. This protection wears out over the years and is further diminished by steam, hot water or high-PH cleaners. That’s why we do not use these methods.
We don’t provide stain protection after we clean your carpet. They contain PFAS chemicals, aka “Forever Chemicals” that harm the environment and create health hazards.

Why should I hire a professional to clean my carpets?

Carpet can get pretty filthy pretty quickly, especially if there are pets, kids, or lots of foot traffic involved. Although you can rent or buy your own carpet cleaning machine, they’re not as powerful nor as effective as the industrial machines used by professionals. Some off-the-shelf cleaners have a high pH, which can leave a residue behind or have other negative results. Hiring a professional carpet cleaner who has the professional-grade equipment, cleaning solutions, and deodorizers on hand means your carpet gets cleaned deeper and dries faster.      

Upholstery Cleaning for Pets

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upholstery cleaning for pets dogs cats urine odorA man called me from Santa Rosa with a special need. He has ten large wool rugs which he takes out to the Mojave Desert where he sets up a post-apocalyptic bar. He lays the rugs down on the desert floor so people didn’t have to walk on the sand. These rugs fill up with sand, especially since they would get three or four sand storms every season. He was wondering what would be the best method for getting the sand out of the rugs. He explained the rugs were not expensive and he didn’t want to spend money on it. He didn’t want my services, just my advice.

Upholstery Cleaning for Pets – Removing Urine Odor

That’s an unusual request. What I get more often goes something like this: “my dog had an accident on the sofa and I can’t to get the pee stain or urine odor out of the sofa. Can you help?” Pet vomit is another common problem for upholstery. We can’t blame the dog for everything. They’re not the ones spilling beer and popcorn on the sofa.

Get a free quote on carpet or upholstery cleaning for petsOf course, we’re happy to help. Dogs and cats bring us most of our business. For sofas, love seats and sectional sofas that have been loved on my a dog or a cat, we use hot water extraction (aka steam cleaning) and a proven formula that includes an enzyme, which neutralizes organic matter and knocks down odor. In some cases, we’re able to remove the stain that can result from pet urine or vomit. We’re also able to remove the baking soda or detergent pet owners have added to their upholstery, trying to mitigate the damage.

Besides upholstery cleaning for pets, we also provide pet odor removal for area rugs and carpets using our unique low moisture Teri-Towel system (Read More) with a formula that includes an enzyme carpet cleaning treatment. We serve the dogs and cats of Petaluma, Santa Rosa and Sonoma County, but we also go to Marin County and San Francisco. After all, there are more dogs in San Francisco than children (Source: KQED) and these dogs live like sultans!

Got a question? We’re happy to provide:

Free Advice on Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning for Pets
(707) 575-0114
or Contact Us

Back to the guy with the post-apocalyptic bar in the Mohave Desert, I recommended the old-fashioned method, which my mother taught me. Hang the rugs on a clothes line and beat them with a broom handle. There are fancy machines, but there’s not much that beats a good rug beating. No water, no mess. Just make sure you’re standing upwind.

Wow, the things we put our rugs through!