We had some pee spots on our area rug while house breaking our dog. We rented a rug doctor steam cleaner and cleaned our rug but now I can smell dog pee just sitting on the couch. I can assure you we were very thorough in cleaning this rug; went over the area many times using over half a bottle of solution then ran just water several times to get up all remaining soap. I can understand that it seems we have loosened and spread around the pee, but if doing a through job with a steam cleaner doesn't work, what else can I do? Now I couldn't even spot treat since it is all over now. I would assume the pee is up but the odor remains. There is no carpet pad under this rug which I know can be the problem with carpet. This rug is only 6 months old, how can I save it?!
Water makes odors worse. The Rug Dr is a joke. 90% of the urine is in the pad or in your case, the subfloor, not the carpet. You removed none of it. I assure you. You have structural damage.
Rug okorder / ... I'll bet that rascal went in a place you didn't suspect or went recently.
Yes. Buy some enzymatic pet urine eradicator at pet store and saturate the smelly area. Let it dry completely, put fans on it to help. Wipe down all surfaces lower than 2 feet in kitchen, walls, baseboards in other rooms. Consider steamcleaning again, and put fans to dry the carpeting thoroughly. Put LL on notice in writing, what you have stated in posting, and what you want him to do for you. . . . .move to another unit when open, reimburse you for steam cleaning and enzymatic treatment, whatever.
The first problem is the Rug Doctor. The machine is way too underpowered to extract all the urine from the rug. It's like trying to boil a pot of water with a Bic lighter... same idea of being horribly underpowered to get the desired results, though it has the same basic method. A higher-end truckmounted unit is needed. The second issue is that cleaning alone will not eliminate odor. That's why separate deodorizers are available. Something with natural enzymes may counteract and neutralize certain odors. Also, all areas of contamination must be treated, such as the underneath of the backing of the rug. Another reason is that this kind of cleaning will bring odors up and out into the air (plus any heat will basically help activate odor causing bacteria), so you'll notice them more for a while. If your rug is made of wool, you may be smelling another odor as well. When lanolin (the sheep's body oil) gets wet, it puts off a strong odor... kinda like a wet dog smell. If that's the case, that smell will go away in a day or so. If it was an expensive rug, you may want to foot the bill for a professional cleaning company using the hot-water-extraction method and also have them deodorize it.
