The Odor Control Process in Detail

Posted on Nov 17, 2016

In order to guarantee the removal of odors from carpet there are many factors which we must be aware of and take into consideration.

• The level of severity.  This will dictate the method of treatment and chemicals we will use.
• There are pockets and porous areas within the carpet backing that once wet will not absorb or accept additional solution.  This is a very important factor in successful odor removal treatment and is almost always a factor when treatment failures occur.  Because of this you will find our recommended treatment procedure always requires that chemicals be applied only when the carpet is completely dry.  This is why treatment may sometimes be done over a series of days.
• Even though many products available on the market claim to do the same thing, there is a vast difference in their level of performance and biochemical formulation.  You can be assured that , we use only the best products available.
• It is imperative that we locate and treat all contamination or success cannot be assured.  Please be sure to tell us everywhere that the pet may have access or spots that you may suspect.

Due to the complexity of removing odors, this guidebook has tried to give you an idea of the steps necessary to effect complete removal of Pet Odors. In many ways mold and mildew are similar. Cigarette odor may require additional equipment, please be assured that we are the best defense you have against those pesky odors.

In order to deal successfully with pet odors the degree of contamination needs to be determined. Let’s consider the “best case” scenario first.

Little “Fifi” used the carpet once & did not return to the same spot, and you cleaned it right away. This is classified as Light to Moderate Contamination.

Light to Moderate Contamination

The urine will not have permeated heavily into the carpet, and will not have seeped into the carpet pad and sub floor.

In this situation with the carpet completely dry, we will perform the following steps:

1. Saturate each contaminated spot liberally with a Urine Pre-treatment.
2. Allowing as much time as is available for the product dwell time*
3. Hot water extraction – clean the area.
4. Apply deodorizer to contaminated area.

*Note:  Dwell time refers to product working time.  When it is not possible to allow 24 hours dwell time and cleaning must be done at the time of treatment, we will treat urine spots first and allow the treatment to work while we set up for the rest of our  job (pre-spraying traffic areas, etc.)  During the cleaning process we will lightly clean contaminated spots so as to leave sufficient active product in the carpet to complete the odor removal work.

This is always the first line of defense for the customer and usually is the least expensive.  It may not remove completely the odor and the customer must understand that further steps may be needed for complete removal.

Moderate to Heavy Contamination

This condition exists when the pet has repeatedly used the same spot.  The carpet backing, padding, and the floor have been saturated by urine.

If  the carpet is completely dry, then when you touch the area, your hand should not feel sticky or oily.  This indicates that even though the odor is bad there isn’t a build up of lipids (fats), that will prevent successful treatment.  In this situation, we will perform the following steps:

1. Disengage the carpet from the area.
2. Remove the contaminated pad.
3. Clean the flooring.
4. Liberally apply a barrier to the contaminated floor and tackless strip.
5. Install new pad.
6. Apply a specialized carpet sealer to the carpet backing in sufficient quantity to penetrate both the primary and secondary backing.
7. Re-install carpet over new pad.
8. Apply specialized enzyme and deodorizer to face fibers.   We use sufficient quantity to wet face fibers only.  We do not need to penetrate the backing here it has been encapsulated with the barrier product.
9. We allow at least 24 hour dwell time.
10. Clean via hot water extraction.
11. If stains remain, we will treat the spot with the appropriate urine stain remove to eliminate the visible stain.

Heavy to Extreme Contamination

In this situation the pet has made the carpet a virtual toilet.  When the carpet is dry you can feel the sticky, oily residue.  This residue is the fats accumulated from many re-contamination’s.  To successfully clean, we must follow these steps:

1. Disengage the carpet.
2. Remove contaminated pad and tackless strip.
3. Saturate the carpet front and back with Extreme Urine Pretreatment.  We also apply it to the floor surface.
4. Allow 30 minutes dwell time.
5. Very thoroughly extraction-clean the carpets front and back and clean the floor surface.
6. Allow the carpet and floor to dry completely
7. When the carpet is completely and thoroughly dry, we seal the flooring with a pigmented odor barrier sealer.
8. Apply a barrier to the carpet backing in sufficient quantity to saturate both primary and secondary backing.
9. Re-install carpet over new pad.
10. Apply /enzyme and deodorizer to carpet face fibers in sufficient quantity to wet the face fibers only.
11. Allow at least 48 hour dwell time.
12. Extraction clean.