Carpet cleaning w/pets

[Optimist]

I really do not like wall to wall carpet. It ends up stinking after a while and hides dirt, while collecting every kind of animal hair and water drip out there. I also hate carpet, because my dogs see it as an appropriate place to pee. Back at my old place I had no carpet, just plain wood floors. After that, I had cement floors. Now, I have carpet, and I hate it. (Not to mention it is that brown splotched 70's "basement" carpet. Never allow a man to choose carpet, they will buy the mossy oak cammo carpet, and you'll be stuck with it).

My 2 dogs are quite bad with "going outside." I suppose i won't sit here and place blame. For a long time, I did not have any kind of yard, and the 2 dogs were trained to do their business in a litter tray (a large washing machine drip pan with newspaper on the bottom).

Last month I accidentally broke my extractor "Bissell" type carpet cleaner. There are 2 beater bars, and they will not turn any more. It still puts down the water liquid and sucks it up though.

It is almost, no matter how much I clean the carpet, the stains never come out!

I bought this carpet cleaner that the "cat whisperer" said was the best type he had ever used, and so he reccommends it. "Fizzion" which comes in pills that go into the water like old fashioned alka selzers.

I then started to watch some You tube videos about cleaning stains from carpet, and decided that I would get a steamer. These are the ones who get way hotter than the boiling point of water. They loosen dirt, but you have to tamp it down with a microfiber cloth in bit by bit manner. PITA.

So yesterday the steamer came, and I tried my first experiment. I used the steamer on a section of carpet that was really built up with stains. It was okay, but I did not feel it was totally lifting up the stains (it was, but very slowly, layer by layer.)

I sat down to think about it, and decided that I would put hot water, with the Fizzion in the carpet extractor, and follow the steaming with the extractor, thus sucking up the loose dirt the steamer loosened.

So I used the steamer, then made several passes with the extractor, and in minutes, the carpet looked new! Seriously, this worked.

It is a pain in the butt, because a steamer can only clean small areas at a time, but this method can get rid of "pee" stains, as well as the bacteria that causes the smell.

So, I thought I would share this on the pet forum!

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I agree with the carpet rant. When I bought my house I took out all the carpet and replaced it with ceramic tile... except the contractor talked me into leaving it in the bedrooms, for "resale value." (I was young and not as stiff-necked as now.)

At that time I didn't have any fur people in the house. I vacuumed regularly and had the carpets professionally cleaned yearly.

15 years later I finally decided, yes, I do want ceramic tile in my bedrooms. I took up the carpet myself to save money on the contractor's labor. I rolled the pieces and dragged the rolls to the curb. I left a substantial trail of dirt the entire way out the door, and there were piles of dirt on the concrete slab where the carpet seams were. Just for the heck of it, I unrolled a piece on the street, upside down, and walked on it a little. Then I turned it over. There was a huge amount of dirt that fell out of the nap.

After the tile went down, my sinuses cleared up. I'll never have carpet again. I think it's a health hazard.

[Optimist]

totally!

They now have tile that looks like wood too. I am thinking that for my next house that is what I would like to use.

I have noothing aginst area rugs that can be rolled up and carted to the cleaners every year or so. I like the kind of area rugs made of cotton that are small enough to throw in a washer too. I have a gorgeous small flokati rug that is perfect for a bedroom. Those are nice too because they can be put in a regular large size laundromat front loader and then dried on a line (cold water and woolite).

[u bada]

Thanks for the tip! The other half does the cleaning (I know, lucky me) and he's always wrestling with the pee stains... we have two little doggies and whenever we're not home for extended amounts of time (say 8 hours lol) they decide it's ok to pee on the carpet... (and when you don't catch them in the act, it's pointless to curb behavior really)

First we live in a condo and it's rules to have carpet to buffer noise in the whole complex... secondly, we have so many fish tanks that it would be an utter hassle to try to empty and move them to switch the carpet to hardwood... or actually there are just much better carpet's these days, easier to cleanup, closer matted, etc...

so what do we do? we get a larger area rug that can be picked up an cleaned... it's softer and fluffier to concentrate their bad bahavior... OY

[orchidsarefun]

We have 2 neatos that run on alternate days ( robo cleaners ). With only 2 cats that spend most of Summer outdoors, it's surprising how much dirt/hair and fluff these cleaners collect. They are now indispensable.

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[estación seca]

You should start a sweater weaving or pillow stuffing business.

[Optimist]

I am amazed by how much fur the vacuum cleaner brings up. I have shown you all my 2 dogs and 1 cat, but my roomie also has a dog and a cat. The dog is a Shepard cross and absolutely bolts tons of fur every summer. After only a few minutes of vacuuming, the canister is full of hair and has to be emptied.

Well, like I said in the past, this is it for me and dogs. Once they are gone, I will not replace them. I will stick with one or 2 cats, lizards, and fish.

[Giggles33s]

I luckily have dogs that don't she'd (Amazing!). But a friend of mine has a husky that he has to keep shaved (due to our hot climate). His wife then spreads the fur out on the grass and the birds arrive one by one to snag some for their nests! It's too cute!

[Leafmite]

Our dogs (American Eskimo and Maltese-Poodle mix), are very good about waiting and asking to go outside so we do not need to worry about that issue. The American Eskimo, however, sheds profusely. Every day, I vacuum and sweep up hair. During certain periods during the spring and autumn there is even more fur! I have a feeling that this is why these beautiful, intelligent, affectionate and easily trainable dogs are not as popular as they once were. I have met a few Eskie-poodle mixes, though, that do not shed. Maybe that is the solution....

[Ray]

We had a fully carpeted house in PA. We replaced it early on, and 25+ years later it still looked good, it it was a hell of a lot of work.

In this house in NC, the only things that are not wood or tile are the runner in the entry foyer, a small rug under a coffee table , and bath mats. I really prefer this!

Bought a Dyson V8 Animal vacuum, and I can do the entire house in about 20 minutes.