Odors in Carpeting

On most carpets, what appears to be a surface problem generally involves at least the

• carpet's nap and
• backing,
• nearly always the padding, and
• often the floor under the padding.

The padding acts like a sponge for the urine residue. This is because most padding is made of a composite sponge material that can hold a large volume of liquid. As the liquid slowly evaporates (though the carpet) and spreads into an ever widening circle in the padding, the urine residue (mostly urea salt) deposits and accumulates in the padding.

Repeated applications of urine result in more concentrated deposits and larger areas of residue. When the padding becomes saturated with liquid in an area, the liquid soaks into the flooring under the padding which allows the carpet above to stay wet for a much longer time and produce much more odor.

This is why a urine contamination problem can go undetected for weeks or months and then all at once become a big problem. If you have an Oriental carpet with an odor problem, check out the Oriental Carpet page

Urine contamination of carpet will eventually weaken and destroy the carpet backing. Regardless of how effective OdorXit is at eliminating organic odors, it will not restore rotted carpet backing to its former condition. We could make some real money if we could restore the backing! I.E., there is a point of no return for contaminated carpet.

This point is often punctuated by the carpet splitting as it is being reset on the tack strip, or as a piece of furniture is moved across the room. Carpet, like padding, can also become so loaded with contaminate that it will simply overwhelm OdorXit's ability to neutralize the urea salt stored in the carpet. This situation is usually reserved for folks who are rehabbing real estate and home buyers that notice an odor when initially inspecting a house. Please refer to the Case Studies on this site for a picture examples of what can happen.

Recovering contaminated padding

Because of its ability to hold liquid like a sponge, home carpet padding is almost never recoverable. The amount of concentrated contamination, the physical makeup of the foam, and the relatively low cost of replacement padding, make even attempting recovery a loosing proposition. The cost of the OdorXit aside, your time is more valuable than the cost to replace the padding including labor!

Because padding is relatively inexpensive and easy to handle, we recommend that you cut out the contaminated padding and replace it with new after the odor problem is resolved. Spray both the floor and the back of the carpet and give the OdorXit overnight to work.

Recovering contaminated Car padding

Car padding is very often recoverable because it is made of an entirely different material, not foam. Additionally, the number of times urine is applied to the carpet and padding in a car is generally very low. But remember, the OdorXit solution must come in direct contact with the contamination in the carpet, padding and flooring.

• Mixing carpet cleaner containing surfactant will make this process much easier since it reduces the surface tension of the water, making it wick into the carpet and padding much faster and completely.
• Then let the carpet dry,
• sniff it to make sure you've goten the OdorXit Concentrate to all the stinky areas,
• then repeat in the stink areas if necessary.

Cat Scent Marking On Carpet

Cat scent marking spray on carpet is a problem that is detectable right away because it is not necessary for it to accumulate like urine to become a problem. Except for the urine portion of the marking, it does not soak through the carpet like urine It generally lays on top of the nap and on the wall. Treating spray is addressed on the Pet Hormonal Spray Page.

Dog Urine Contamination

When you consider that a 30 pound dog can expel 1/2 cup of urine per incident, and one incident is rarely the case, the amount of diluted OdorXit needed could be 1/2 to 1 gallon for an area 2 feet in diameter. Unfortunately, dogs nearly always use the center of the room or a door way. This makes accessing the padding more difficult. But remember that

the OdorXit solution must come in direct contact with the odor producing sources in the carpet and flooring even after you remove the padding.

Leaving the padding in place and treating just the carpet will often reduce the odor to a manageable level but will almost never eliminate all of the odor. Further, if the padding is wet (like it is most of the time) it will stay wet for at least weeks, and sometimes months, damaging both carpeting and flooring and possibly creating mold. Then the odor cycle starts over again. Direct a fan on the carpet to let it dry, leave a ceiling fan, set something tall under the carpet to raise it so air can flow and dry the carpet sooner.

Cat Urine Contamination

When cats have contaminated a carpet, it is often along the wall and in the corners. This being the case, the carpet, padding and flooring are not the only elements involved. As an example, when wall to wall carpeting is involved, there is a wooden tack strip that is nailed to the floor and has tacks sticking up to hold the carpet in place. Urine will stain the wood and rust the tacks as pictured. Notice that the urine stained the bottom of the tack strip as well. In a case like this, replace the contaminated tack strip.

Another area that can be involved is 2 by 4 that lays along the bottom of the wall. Urine will seep along the flooring or sub-flooring and under this piece of wood. Whenever the humidity goes up, it will smell bad! Again, the OdorXit solution must go wherever the urine went in order to stop the odor.

Carpet Recovery Procedure

On carpeting that is heavily contaminated with urine, OdorXit Concentrate is far from 100% effective for the reasons explained above. For superficially contaminated carpet you can start your carpet recovery effort with a carpet cleaning machine to apply OdorXit in combination with the carpet shampoo (2-3 ounces of OdorXit per gallon). There are many benefits to this method of application:

• The carpet gets cleaned,
• Much of whatever else was used previously to eliminate the odor is removed, and
• The wetting additive in the shampoo helps the OdorXit penetrate deeply into the carpet nap and backing.

Most upright carpet cleaning machines will do the job. We have used the Hoover Steam Vac home unit and it works well, but it costs well over $200. We have not used the new DirtDevil carpet cleaner or the Bissell carpet cleaners, but they seems to have the right stuff. Renting a cleaning machine is a good alternative. Ask for the up-right units that have agitators or beater bars. If the up-right units are not available, the tank type will do, but not as well.

All carpet cleaning machines will spray warm to hot solution of carpet shampoo and OdorXit onto (into) the carpet and then retrieve the excess solution and much of the dirt from the carpet. This is just what is needed for carpet contamination that has not gotten completely out of hand and ruined the carpet. The Hoover and Sears carpet cleaning shampoos have surfactant additives that, in combination with the cleaning machines agitator, help the OdorXit to penetrate much more deeply into the carpet than it would without the shampoo or the machine.

If the carpet seems to be clean but the urine odor persists, the odor is probably coming from the padding and flooring under the carpet or from spray/urine on the adjacent wall. Heavily contaminated carpet will almost always have to be replaced to achieve 100% odor removal..

Recovering Tack Stripping

Often, some or all the tack strip will need to be replaced because the urine on the tacks rust and weaken them very quickly. Additionally, the urine gets under the tack strip and travels a long way (sometimes several feet). OdorXit must get to this contaminate to remove all of the odor. Once removed, be sure and spray OdorXit Concentrate Solution on the floor where the tack strips were just removed and up on the walls.

Urine Contamination Under Walls

When there is urine contamination near a wall as in the tack strip situation described above, it is very likely that the urine went under the wall as well. Spraying OdorXit directly under the base board and drywall will usually result in enough volume of OdorXit to get to the same area the urine went. Drilling small holes through the drywall and wall plate and then injecting OdorXit will sometimes be necessary.

Testing For Urine

When it appears that the odor is completely gone, spray a mist of plain water everywhere you had urine contamination and wait several minutes. If you smell no urine odor, you are finished with the odor elimination phase. Now you can tape the new padding in place and reset or have the carpet reset on the tack strips. If you still smell urine odor, I hate to tell you, but in your spraying of the soluntion, you have missed a spot.

Your job now is to sniff until you find the spot or spots and spray again and repeat the process.

Carpet Restoration

Do not expect one of these household type carpet cleaners to restore badly soiled carpet to new condition. They are not capable of doing the same job that the professional machines can do, but are excellent for applying OdorXit and getting the majority of the dirt. If the carpet is odor free and still not clean enough, call in the pros and have it cleaned again. The professional cleaning will not effect the action of the OdorXit because it has already done all its going to do to the odor causing contaminants in the carpet.

Cleaning Carpeting Removes Dirt and Stain Repellents

As a result of cleaning you're carpets, all or most of the dirt and stain repellent has been removed. This will cause your carpet to get dirty much faster than before. Re-applying Scotchguard or similar replacement can restore the dirt repellent action to nearly new levels assuming that it is applied in sufficient quantity to do the job. Just spraying a can of Scotchguard on the room sized carpet is not sufficient quantity.

OdorXit Products Make Life Smell Fresh and Clean!