Getting rid of the pet 'smell' in a home.

sakura · Aug 20, 2008

We are moving into a new rental house. The owners are super pet-friendly (one is a vet student). The house is perfect for us (fenced yard, great location) but it definitely has that 'pet smell' that we would like to get rid of. They have hardwood floors under the carpet and they said we could rip up the carpet but my SO doesn't want to deal with that unfortunately. The carpet is in good shape so it's not a bad thing to have there.

I was thinking we could sprinkle baking soda all over the carpets and keep the windows open for a day to get some air in there (it's been vacant for a little while). Then we were going to vacuum up the baking soda. We were then going to use a black light to see if there are any pet spots even though none are visible, and then attack those with an enzyme cleaner.

What else should we try?

sohni · Aug 20, 2008

My realtor told me about a ozonator type machine that you can rent. If you run it in the house overnight it is supposed to get rid of smells.

forensic · Aug 20, 2008

Go over the place with a black-light too, make sure there's no 'missed' spots.

littleraven7726 · Aug 20, 2008

In places like that we run our carpet shampooer over before we move in. That usually takes care of residual smells.

abunaisakana · Aug 20, 2008

I agree about the carpet shampooer. My old apartment was two bedrooms to a hall with bath and then another two and bath on the other side of the living room. After the other hall's toilet overflowed all the way into the living room carpet my dog started peeing on the carpet (which was new and shocking behavior) and I finally figured that even though our management had rather shoddily cleaned it and WE couldn't smell anything that since the carpet must smell like urine to her she figured "Hey, if everyone else is peeing here..."

Anyway, I rented a Rug Doctor from meijer (local super center) and bought the pet formula shampoo and when I finished our carpet was THREE SHADES LIGHTER and completely 100% smell free and the dog never peed on the carpet again.

Short version: I am in love with the Rug Doctor and greatly believe in its powers of cleaning and deodorizing. Someday I will be able to afford the home version, oh yes.

sakura · Aug 20, 2008

Originally Posted by abunaisakana

I agree about the carpet shampooer. My old apartment was two bedrooms to a hall with bath and then another two and bath on the other side of the living room. After the other hall's toilet overflowed all the way into the living room carpet my dog started peeing on the carpet (which was new and shocking behavior) and I finally figured that even though our management had rather shoddily cleaned it and WE couldn't smell anything that since the carpet must smell like urine to her she figured "Hey, if everyone else is peeing here..."

Anyway, I rented a Rug Doctor from meijer (local super center) and bought the pet formula shampoo and when I finished our carpet was THREE SHADES LIGHTER and completely 100% smell free and the dog never peed on the carpet again.

Short version: I am in love with the Rug Doctor and greatly believe in its powers of cleaning and deodorizing. Someday I will be able to afford the home version, oh yes.

How much was it to rent? This would be nice to do before we move any furniture in.

abunaisakana · Aug 20, 2008

Honestly I don't remember, it was more than a year ago but I remember not being like "OMG $$$"... although I was going in desperate which of course makes me more willing to spend money but I think I would remember if it was a huge amount. The rental was only for a period of 24 hours which kinda sucked but I ended up turning it in late because of a snow storm and the people didn't care since it was in a "reasonable time frame". I'm sure fees and rental time varies by place.

Weirdly, meijer doesn't show up on rug doctor's site for searching for rental locations and gives me one in an area only kinda next to me even though all meijer stores have the rug doctors (from what I've seen). So in addition to using their tool I would call stores in your area you think might rent (meijer, target, walmart, etc etc) to find out for sure.

abunaisakana · Aug 20, 2008

I should also say: Get the anti-foaming... stuff when you buy your machine's shampoo. I've heard bad things if you don't use that stuff.

*pepper* · Aug 21, 2008

I would for sure carpet clean (although the landlords should have done this before you move in) add some Oxyclean to the solution, it is great if there are any stains (and stains you don't see)

Also, has it been painted? if not, I would for sure wash the walls and paint. Also make sure the air filters have been changed. You can put a half a dryer sheet up with the air filter. Open up windows to air out the place, that could help some too.

jack31 · Aug 21, 2008

Coming from experience.

Treat the house and cats for fleas before you move in!

The people who rented our house before us had dogs and apparrently their dogs had fleas. The fleas laid dormant in the basement until our cats had access and now we've been fighting fleas and tapeworms for a month!

Luckily my dad works for Orkin Pest Control so it hasn't been too bad to handle. But we have to do 3 months of flea treatment ($80) on the cats and the tapeworm shots cost us $43 a cat!

The next move we make we will be sure to treat prior to moving in and the cats will get flea treatment again just in case...

Leslie

darlili · Aug 21, 2008

Most Ace hardware stores have Rug Doctors for rent - and in my area the major food stores also have them. I want to say just last year it was about $25 for a 24 hour rental (my Ace was great - they told me if I took it first thing Saturday morning, I had til Sunday evening to return it) - and ask them about how much it would cost if you keep it longer - I can't remember if it was the full or prorated amount. It honestly is easy to use and you'll probably be astounded at the dirt you'll pick up- I wish I could afford the home version myself. Might not be quite as good as a real professional rug cleaner, with a truck mounted system, but it is pretty darn good for the price.

Do vacuum well before you use any carpet cleaner.

If the walls have been permeated with any smells (cooking, smoking, whatever), it's always suggested to use Kilz as a primer before painting - that tends to seal off odors in the old paint job.

proudmomof3cats · Aug 21, 2008

The Rug Doctor works really well, we use it at the vets office i work at and it works amazingly. I would get that.

Manda

mews2much · Aug 21, 2008

We had a Carpet Guy come here and it was 107 for three rooms. He said they must have had a longhaired pet because all the fur clogged his machines. We have the thing with the black light also.

grissom · Sep 3, 2008

Some one mentioned painting your walls. There is a special sealer paint out there (Your paint store should have a better memory than I regarding what it is called) but it seals in all odors: pet, smoke, mustiness, ect. We used it in our basement and it now smells better than the rest of our musty old house!

Getting rid of the pet 'smell' in a home.

sakura

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sohni

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forensic

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littleraven7726

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abunaisakana

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sakura

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abunaisakana

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abunaisakana

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pepper

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