Removing Pet Urine From Wool Rugs

Your beautiful expensive wool area rug once your pride and joy now is an embarrassment because of the urine smell that you cannot get out. Why is it so difficult to get urine out of wool rugs and how do you eliminate that terrible odor?

Here are your answers.

I have been a professional carpet cleaner in Anchorage Alaska for over 30 years. Through experience we know that these tips will work.

Why is it so difficult to get the smell out?

Wool is of course a natural fiber and is very different from other synthetic fibers such as nylon or polyester. If you were to look at a strand of wool under a microscope you would see why it holds onto the smell. The stalk of a strand of wool is covered with little pockets. These pockets get filled with soil and in the case of urine issues they get filled with urine crystals. It is very difficult to get the urine out of these pockets. Another problem is that what looks like a small amount of urine on the surface is actually a lot of urine because most of it is hidden in the pockets. Many people including less experienced carpet cleaners do not use enough cleaning solution because they are treating what they see.

Also it is pretty easy to turn a medium sized urine problem in a wool rug into a bigger urine problem if you spread the urine all over the carpet.

There are certain steps that need to be taken to remove the urine and the odor.

The steps . . . .

Remove the dirt first- Because of the pockets, wool rugs are always much dirtier than they appear. If you clean a wool rug full of dirt, you will make mud. It is much easier to remove the dry soil before you start the urine treatment.

Concentrate first on just urine spots- Using a rented portable steam cleaner flush and extract repeatedly the visible urine stains using urine pre-spotter purchased from your local carpet cleaning supply store or a ½ cup white vinegar to one quart of warm water solution.

The less sure way but less complicated way

From your local carpet cleaning supply store purchase at least a gallon of enzymes specifically for eliminating urine odor. Using a watering can saturate the area of urine with the enzymes, gently agitate, let sit for a couple of hours. Flush out the spot with fresh water, extract and then repeat the process until no more yellow urine or urine smell comes from the carpet. Using a cleaning solution obtained from your local carpet cleaning supply store gently clean the rest of the carpet. Hang the carpet up where it can dry quickly. Use air mover fans if possible. If wool carpets stay wet too long they will brown. If fringes on carpet are stained use a 50/50 mixture of water and hydrogen peroxide and clean the fringes. Be careful not to get this solution on the colored part of the rug.

The more certain and more complicated method

Remove dry soil from carpet, flush out as much of the urine as possible. Build a small pool with 2x4s and plastic sheeting. Fill with warm water. Lay the rug in this pool and add the bio enzymes. Gently agitate and let sit for eight hours. Remove water/ enzyme mixture from pool and then flush out the carpet with a lot of fresh water. If urine and urine odor are gone, extract as well as possible and then hang to dry using fans if possible. If you still detect urine or odor repeat the process.

Good luck.

This article was provided courtesy of Power Clean Carpet Cleaning in Anchorage, Alaska. For more info on pet issues and carpet cleaning simply for carpet cleaning questions in general, be sure to visit AKpowerclean.com>. They’ve been cleaning carpets for over 30 years!