Our next project that we are currently working on is a pretty challenging pet urine/odor restoration job.  This picture is symbolic in that I have only peeled back the corner of this one room, as I am only going to do a couple of paragraphs for this post until the job is completed. 

Pet damage is such a common problem in this part of the country.  Our winters are long, and people want to keep their animals indoors which results in pet stains and odors on the carpet more often than in a warmer climate.  I am not here to blame the renters themselves as every family has reasons as to how and why this could happen to a carpet.  I always tell our customers that we are not here to judge you or your pets.  We just want to fix it so you can avoid the potential cost of replacing it.

Did you know that flooring is typically the most costly component of your home?  If you do the math, on the low end with carpet, carpet pad, and installation your cost can range from $2.50/square foot on up and for a 1,000 SQ. FT home, you are into it $2,500.00 

When we get a phone call about this type of a job, we always want to thoroughly inspect the damaged areas in order to give a proper audit of the condition/potential costs of the job to be done rather than just quote a price per foot over the phone.  The process, and some important information on these procedures is to follow after this particular job has been completed.  We are in the middle of our busy season for this type of work.  In fact there are two more just like this that we are scheduled to do in this coming week.  Stay tuned...

RYC, out.

Nothing like peeling back the carpet and finding all sorts of smells and stains after a few rounds of pet urine deposits to brighten your day.  This job was a large undertaking and in order to get us to where we are, I will provide some pictures and explanations of the processes and will attempt to entertain the reader at the same time.

This job is for ~1325 Square feet of carpet that is in a staircase and a basement.  The owner hired us initially to clean the carpets after the previous renter had moved out.  We were informed that there were 'some' pet stains and that a regular cleaning was all that was required.  In this situation there are a number of routes that a professional carpet cleaner can take. 
1) Clean the carpet like the customer asked.
2) Ask additional questions about the condition of the carpet in regards to odors/stains.
3) Turn down the job for liability or lack of experience reasons.

In this case I informed the customer that I am happy to clean their carpet, however I do also specialize in pet damage, i.e. Stains, odors, etc.  It may be best to not steam clean the carpet so as to not disrupt any smells that may be in the padding and/or carpet backing.  In some of the upcoming photos for this post, you will see what I am describing. 

The customer agreed that in order to make sure that the previous renter would receive as much of their deposit back as possible let's just start with the low moisture cleaning and I offered to apply a deodorizer afterwards that could possibly mask any leftover smells.

Urine can hide anywhere, even along walls, and baseboards.  This is at the base of a staircase where a few animals had deposited urine, vomit, and various other pet wastes...

This tack-less carpet strip is deteriorating due to urine salt build up that had started to rot the wood of the board.  Lots of bacteria and smells can hide in these tack boards.

This is a shot of some carpet padding that has been completely saturated in pet urine that has dried into salty residue.  The odor coming off of this pad was pretty intense.  I however do use a respirator when performing most jobs like this because its well, disgusting, that's why. 

When urine is deposited, it comes out alkaline and dries into an acid salt, which can attract bacterias and cause sickness for kids and adults.  It is ALWAYS a good idea to replace carpet padding when the urine stains are larger than a few puddles here and there.

After pee-ling back the carpet padding, you can see that the urine damage was so bad, that the concrete floor was even stained and salted with residue.  In this case like others before it, we can seal the floor with an odor barrier product that is similar to lacquer.  It seals in the smell and reduces the chances that the next dog that moves in will urinate here in the future.

This is shot is a great example of what i mean by urine salts.  This is a pile of a mixture of urine salts, and carpet backing residue.  Most carpet manufactures make their backing out of latex.  Friction can break down latex and urine stains can accelerate this process.  This powder is in your carpet if your animal lives inside the house and has urinated.  This builds up over time and attracts bacteria and can irritate allergies if not properly removed.

This is what the carpet backing in the hallway looked like after we pulled it up.  This is one of the most severe cases of pet stains that we have been asked to clean up.

This is another example of the urine salt build up in the carpet padding in the hallway.

In all cases where pet damage including urine stains, vomit, and odors are concerned.  I always recommend that the backing be treated as well as the pile side of the carpet.  This makes sure that we are dissolving the urine salts and bacterias that are embedded in the carpet.  The chemical is applied with specialized equipment that allows us to control the mixture to make sure that it is as effective as it was intended to be.  We do not "Water-down," the chemical to make it go farther when we apply it.  This chemical is not cheap.  We tell most customers that if we can clean and deodorize the carpet for less than 60% of the cost of replacing it then it is considered cost effective.  We will know whether or not this will work before too much cost is incurred.  Usually after this chemical application process is complete it is evident if it has worked and we can either proceed with the deodorization process or start with new carpet.  Normally we only ask for the labor completed plus the cost of chemical to this point so that the customer will not be charged for our service in addition to the cost of new carpet.  In this case, the customer was going to buy new pad anyways, so that cost would obviously be considered if the treatment were not effective.

This is an AFTER shot of the same room as a few pictures before.  You can see the difference it made in breaking down the stains, salts and odors.  Well you cannot actually smell the difference, but since I was there, you will have to take my word for it...  It smelled lots better.



This job was performed on Star Valley Ranch, Wyoming.

RYC, out.

Here at Restore Your Carpet, we are not just a carpet cleaning company.  We really, truly, are a full-service flooring company with answers and results.  We know how annoying it is to have to try to find multiple contractors when you have a problem with your carpet or other types of floor coverings.  This post is about solving a problem for a valued customer.  Read on...

Look at the lower right-hand portion of this photo.  You can see where a dividing wall that leads downstairs had a seam that for one reason or another has come undone. This carpet had a few things working against it. 
1) It was not properly maintained in regards to vacuuming.
2) This seam was placed next to a staircase.  The combination of these two things had cause the carpet to de-laminate from its latex backing.

In order to not cause any further damage to this carpet, I decided to steam-apart the seam in question with an iron and a wet towel so that I could see if it was possible to just stretch the carpet a little tighter and and re-seam it back together.  I did not know beforehand  what the condition was and my experience has taught me that until you know, take all necessary precautions. 

You can see here I am holding up the carpet from the carpet fibers and the latex backing is completely separated from the fibers.  This is called "Carpet backing delamination."  This happens often enough out there for a few reasons.
1) Over-wetting.
2) Pet damage.
3) Defective carpet.
Of course these are not the only reasons, just the most common.  In this case, who knows?  Either way, both sides of the original seam had delaminated to the point that I was actually surprised that it had held together as well as it had.

In order to make sure that I completely removed all of the damaged backing I trimmed this carpet back far enough to where I got a couple inched into the well structured latex carpet backing.  I of course used a straight edge to make the cut straight, then i applied seam sealer to all edges to ensure that the seam would hold and that there would not be a problem like this in the future.  Seal sealer is not a guarantee, just an important precaution. 

This is almost the finished product.  Of course you can see the patch because the carpet that I installed was new, and the carpet that was there previously was well worn from foot traffic and slightly faded from the sunlight that comes into the windows on the west. 

This is what the finished product looks like.  The carpet has been cleaned, groomed, and dried.  Now, the casual observer would say, that they could see the seam/patch, and I would of course agree.  However when you weigh the cost of replacing the carpet vs. a long-term repair solution, it really is not a question is it?  When I phoned the owner of this rental property to ask him if he could see the patch, he responded..."What patch?"  Which is satisfied customer talk for, I am happy with the job. 

If you or anyone else that you know is in need of a solution to your flooring problems, be they large or small, give Restore Your Carpet a call.  We have the answers for all your flooring needs.

This carpet repair was performed on Star Valley Ranch, Wyoming.

In Star Valley, Wyoming-307.887.0223
In Jackson Hole, Wyoming-307.774.0223
RYC, out.

This is pet damage of the worst kind.  This carpet is wool.  The customer has a cat that had puked in multiple spots and they attempted to clean it with a home based cleaner and have colored the stains pink.  This is a rental unit and they were not aware of the fact that this carpet is wool.  Needless to say, this is one of my next projects....  Stay tuned.

RYC, out.

 Today is Tuesday June 26, 2012.  I wanted to update this post.  It has been a full week since I gave the original estimate to this customer and the work was completed earlier today.  Before I post the after pictures I wanted to show the close up of this one since the chunks were still visible.  I know, this is disgusting, but, I wanted to iterate a point that was made on a forum of carpet cleaners to which I am an active participant. 

The comment was made about vomit stains that when the customer is a woman, the stains are always vacuumed up and the chunks are all removed, but when it is a man, the chunks are always left.  I had never thought about it, but the countless vomit jobs that I have cleaned up since I have been in the business prior to this one were not ringing any bells as to whether or not it was a man or a woman, or if there were chunks or no chunks....  That being said, this job, was a man, so for those of you keeping score at home, please take note.

This job is unique in a number of respects. 
1) the carpet fiber type.
2) the carpet pattern type.
3) the small amount of carpet that needs cleaning.

After extracting up the chunks, I started to work in some neutralizer chemical to cut some of the smell and to prepare it for a reducing agent.  I like this little carpet scrubber shark from Pros Choice, I have used this thing on so many stains and it is the perfect size.

Different stain, this one was pink.  This was also before the reducer was applied.  Why would a reducer be used on this particular stain?  The reasons is that since this is cat vomit, and cat food manufacturers dye their food, this is similar to a colored drink stain.

This is the orange colored vomit stain after the first round of the reducing process.

After two rounds of reducing agent treatment, the orange vomit stain was all but gone.

When using reducing agents like Pros Choice Red Relief, once the stain has turned to a yellowish color, it is time to stop and extract again.

After all the scrubbing, reducing, and final extracting, it was time to apply the low moisture cleaner to the carpet for the cleaning process.  I really like to use this CRB(counter-rotating-brush).  It really does a great job of applying/cleaning carpet.  You can see that all of the stains have been removed and the carpet is really looking great.

This is a shot of the final product.  I was happy, the customer was happy, overall it was a time consumer, but you have to admit that it looks great.

If you are having pet stains or odors on your carpet and you would like a no-cost/obligation estimate or carpet audit, give us a call, we are happy to help.

This pet damage carpet cleaning/restoration job was performed in Wilson, Wyoming just outside of Jackson Hole.

RYC, out.




The number to reach us in Star Valley is 307.887.0223
In Jackson Hole, WY-307.774.0223