So this isnt a parenting question, but as a group of moms I'm sure someone can help!! We recently moved into a rental owned by my sister in law. Awesome house, we're very happy to be here. The problem is their previous tenants were complete PIGS!!!! The carpet was new when they moved here and they stayed about a year and a half. When my sister in law came to see the house after they left she was appalled. She had it professionally cleaned TWICE. I have went through two bottles of febreeze, and a large box of pet odor remover carpet fresh. Theres only carpet in two rooms!! But it still totally smells like a dirty dog!! I have washed down the wood work, wiped down walls, mopped many many times. I just cant satnd it!!! We are having people over in two weeks for a party and besides not being able to stand it myself, I dont want this smell lingering! ANY ideas suggestions? I'm also pregnant, so for me the smell is amplified!! HELP :)
air cleaner. ask specifically for one that will remove dog odors. The carpet may be ruined by the dog. YOu may need new carpeting.
We had that in the house we bought - the problem was the padding under the carpet was just sopping everything up & not being absorbed. We ended up tearing all of the carpeting up in the house - that may be something you might want to talk to ur sil about.
I think the one time we had someone come out it was over $800 to steam & sanitize the carpets but that only worked for a little while. Good luck!
I wouldn't use chemicals that cause indoor pollution worse for you than the dirty dog smell. If it is only in spots you may be able to lift the carpet, cut away the offensive padding and replace. Use an enzyme to clean. if you have a dog they will smell it no matter what you do.
I'm afraid pulling up the carpet and padding my be your best bet. Ask your SIL to split the cost?
Before you replace the carpet... check the VENTS. And the AIRFILTER. It's usually really easy and fairly inexpensive to replace the air filter, although the vents are harder to clean. But if oily dog hair has gotten in either, you could strip the house down to the studs and still smell dog. Ditto and CURTAINS. Most can go through the wash, just have to be hung to dry (a pain).
If doing all of those doesn't take care of it, it sounds like it carpet replacement time... but as those are much cheaper fixes (and if they aren't taken care of the house will still smell), I would definitely try them first.
Same token, the carpet may be fine, but the padding underneath may be the culprit... or it may be both.
Good Luck.
R
It may be time for new carpet, since it is probably in padding and may also be the baseboards. You can try a carpet cleaner with a pet enzyme cleaner instead of soap and it may help. We have put nature's miracle in ours to clean areas with old stains that were here whren we moved in. Make sure if you use something for pets that it has an enzyme cleaner to break down the odors. Some vets also sell pet odor candles and they work well to pull all odors out of the air, but do get the pet odors too. I have used them at home and we used to use them at a vet's office I worked when there was anything extra stinky going on. To cover it for now if scented candles don't bother you try a few of those maybe and good luck.
Go to the pet store and get the enzime pet oder remover and follow the directions. If it is urine, this will get rid of it. Febreeze and carpet fresh will not do a darn thing for urine.
We have a cat that will soil if clothes are left on the floor! The smell is horrible but I used peroxide. You put this on and let it sit for about 30 minutes. It was like a miracle! You then take a rug cleaner with just water and the smell will be gone once it drys! It's amazing. The places that they soiled will show up white so you will be able to see exactly where they soiled! You may want to place boxes of baking soda around until it completely drys because of the odors it brings up but this worked for us and there is nothing worse than cat smell! I am also preg and yes the smell is intensified! I hope this helps!
my mom swears by this. she drives a big rig truck for a living and she was moving into a newer truck. the driver before her had dogs and smoked, so you could imagine the smell. she took a spray bottle and massengil douche and sprayed everything down, and it took the smell away.
I would bet that replacing the carpet and pad is probably the only way to completely eliminate the smell. BUT when my dog got skunked, I read to place dishes of coffee around to absorb the smell. It worked! (Not sure how long it will work but you can leave in out of the way spots...) Just take coffee from the can (not whole beans, the ground, not-used coffee) and put it on shallow pans/dishes. Good luck!
Same thing when we moved into our first home. Possibly, the pad underneath has been saturated with urine and no matter how many time you clean the carpet, you cannot get it out of the pad. If the carpet looks alright and has come clean, why not replace the pad underneath?
Tough one. Please be careful that you don't use cleaners that will add a toxic load to the already unpleasant smell.
I see a recommendation for Sol-U-Mel below, but you should know that contains 10% tea tree oil, which has been shown to cause breast enlargement in some boys, and may distrupt the hormone system in little girls, too. It should NOT be sprayed around as an "air freshener." It does have some reasonable uses, but they should remain limited. There's a similar-acting product called Citra-Solv that has so far not been shown to have negative health effects: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009LA744/ref=pd_lpo_k2...
I would agree with the other posts about replacing the carpet altogether. Since you are renting, you may want to ask your sister in law to replace it rather than you. It would normally be a landlords responsibility. If she was appalled, she’d probably agree. And as a homeowner and landlord, she would be able to write off the cost as a business expense.
If you want to try an alternative route, SOL-U-MEL is a miracle cleaner. It can be mixed with water and sprayed as an air freshener and odor remover. I spray it on our carpet to get out dog accident smells. It’s also a super power stain remover if used in its concentrated form. Good luck!
I have four dogs, I can imagine the smell. It is probably urine under the carpets. If you can locate the specific places in the carpet use try using bleach ( your need to get a spray bottle pull strands of carpet to lift teh carpet take the spray bottle and place it on the carpet). You can try vinegar and water I dont like this method (I dont like the smell of vinegar). Clothes detergent is great is carpet shampoo is great... dont use a lot. I hope one of these methods help you.
It may be that the carpet needs to be cleaned with an enzymatic cleaner that they sell at pet stores. That's usually the only thing that gets out the smells. If you have a carpet cleaner you can do it yourself.
