Eliminating Dog Odor

[Mark McQuiston]

Hi all,

My previous tenants had a couple of dogs and long story short, when they moved out, the house had a potent dog smell. My initial thought was that the smell was rooted in the carpeting. I had the carpet professionally washed, and applied a couple of different odor eliminators over the last month. My new tenant is still complaining of the smell and I'm looking for feedback on how to approach this. It seems that my options are:

1. Try another type of cleaning product/technique

2. Replace the carpeting and pad

Thanks in advance for your time.

Best,

Mark

[Sam Shueh]

It soaked through sub floor will stay there for years. 

May be baking soda and lemon juice.....

This is a strong argument not to allow pets or service animals.....

[Heather Rodden]

Seems small, but did you change the furnace filter? I change mine and spray febreeze on it. But carpet does hold smell :( sprinkng baking soda, and leaving it for about 24 hours to absorb some of the smell can help too. We have the same issue in a house, after our short term tenant moves out we will be ripping carpets and putting hard flooring down.

[Mark McQuiston]

@Heather Rodden - yes the filter has been changed - no luck. :(

The baking soda idea is interesting! Thanks!

[Heather Rodden]

@Mark McQuiston I also put bleach in with the carpet cleaner. It got rid of the smell, but unfortunately they had too many stains from nail polish, and gum Ground in for a long time.

[Chris Szepessy]

Is it urine smell or just the smell of dogs? If it's urine, there's a good chance it soaked into the subfloor and there's a little more involved than just replacing/cleaning the carpet. If it's just the smell of dog and you've had the carpets professionally cleaned, then ripping it up and replacing it might be the best option. Maybe replace it with wood or laminate. 

[Mark McQuiston]

@Chris Szepessy

Just the smell of dog. Thanks for the input.

[Susan H.]

Originally posted by @Mark McQuiston:

@Chris Szepessy

Just the smell of dog. Thanks for the input.

Did the carpet cleaners use a solution specifically for pet odors?

In addition to the baking soda suggestion, try washing all tile flooring (assuming you have any) with a vinegar solution. Odoban and Simple Green can also be effective.

Good luck! 

[Jay Johnson]

@Mark McQuiston hey Mark, try a product called OdorXit. Give the company a call before you order, tell them the scenario and they should be able to send you the right product with instructions to hopefully bail you out of this. Good luck

[Peter B.]

@Mark McQuiston

A few years back  we picked up a ozone generator for this very reason. It has saved me thousands on carpet replacement.  Just make sure to follow instructions. 

We just had a severe dog odor apartment. I locked it on for a couple days ,came back it was almost entirely gone.  

[Scott Rogers]

I own a carpet cleaning company. Odors are possible to remove but in many cases costs to do so exceeds replacement cost. 

Typically when you clean a carpet you are cleaning the surface of the fiber, and if the carpet is maintained properly this is sufficient, How ever a abused carpet will have soils, oils, urine ect. absorbed into the fiber, into the backing, into the padding and even into the subfloor.  Cleaning the surface of the fiber will make it look better and even make it smell better in most cases, but chemical application and subsurface extraction may be required to correct the issue. These can get very costly and if the carpet is over 5 years old or excessively worn or stained then replacement is a better option.

Ozone can be use to mitigate many of the odor issues quite successfully  foggers can also work. both of these have side effects and can be dangerous if precautions are not taken.  Do lots of research.

Even after carpet replacement odors can reappear in extreme situations if the subfloor and air system are not properly cleaned and sealed (wood subfloors). This is especially likely in high humid areas where phantom smells will appear on high humid days.