Typical smelly rugs that need our in-house rug cleaning treatment are mainly caused by urine, worse if it’s pet urine.
When you have pets or young children at home, urine accidents on your rugs are almost unpreventable. Immediate attention to urine accidents on rugs are very crucial, especially pet urine, as urine is considered one of the worst spillage to occur on any fabric furnishing because of urine’s high acidity level which makes it easily absorbed by the carpet fibres.
So what should you do when urine accident do take place on your rug?
Step 1.
Immediately remove as much of the excess urine as possible, if there is any, by placing layers of kitchen paper on the excess fluid and blotting the remaining urine using a clean damp white cotton cloth. Do NOT wipe the excess urine as you risk spreading the urine to other parts of the rug.
Step 2.
Lightly spray soda water or diluted white vinegar solution (1 cup cool water with 1 cup of white vinegar) onto the urinated area. Do not over-wet the affected area. Then use a clean white damp cotton cloth to start blotting the area again to extract any remaining urine residue.
CAUTION: If you notice rug dye transfer into your cotton towel, then you have to stop spraying the rug with any fluid, gently blot the affected area and dry using hair dryer as quickly as possible. A hand-woven rug like those Oriental and Persian rugs should not get too wet during stain removal process as you may risk getting your rug infested with mold or mildew.
Step 3.
Dry the damp area with hair dryer on medium heat. You may use soft hair brush to brush the rug fibre to prevent them from clumping down when dry. Sprinkle generous amount of baking soda into the affected rug area and let them rest overnight. Vacuum thoroughly the next day. If your home is exposed to direct sunlight, you may sun the affected rug (the bottom side facing the sun) to neutralize remaining odour.
The above suggested steps do not guarantee urine odour removal from your rug as these steps are merely surface cleaning suggestions which you can perform at home immediately after accidents occur.
Generally, smelly rug caused by urine require deep rug cleaning by rug cleaning professionals because when rug has been urinated, the fluid may have penetrated into the bottom of rug which can’t be cleaned at home. It is highly recommended to immediately engage your trusted rug cleaning service provider when accident occurred to thoroughly remove urine residue and prevent stains from forming.
Urine stains are difficult to remove; even the professionals cannot guarantee urine stain removal especially old urine stains. So the faster you contact a professional carpet cleaning company, the higher the chance of removing the stain.
