Bad Carpet smell

Etjada
by Etjada
The carpet in one room in the house I just moved into smells bad. (Might be cat pee). All carpets have already been professionally cleaned. Anything I can do to get rid of the smell? Really don’t want to rip up the nearly new carpet.

  14 answers
  • Njlou Njlou on Mar 24, 2018

    Cat pee is impossible....you will shampoo forever, it will get wet then moldy, and will also warp the wood below. Lost cause. If possible cut out the section and replace with a piece from under a sofa etc.

  • Janet Pizaro Janet Pizaro on Mar 24, 2018

    use a enzyme cleaner,,,Nature miracle available from pet stores

  • Crystal Cochrane Crystal Cochrane on Mar 24, 2018

    I had this problem too, so I sprinkled baking powder all over the carpet and left it over night, them vacuumed the floor. Next I mixed carpet shampoo for pet odors, peroxide and hot water together and shampooed the carpet. It worked for me. I hope if you try this it will work for you too.

  • Ken Ken on Mar 24, 2018

    I'd talk to the professionals who cleaned the carpet. They will have a solution for your odor issue and may not have realized that their cleaning process was not sufficient. They deserve an opportunity to make it right.


    Lacking that, here is a site that addresses old urine in a mattress. The advice to use sunlight obviously won't work, but other advice may help:

    https://pets.stackexchange.com/questions/2603/how-can-i-get-old-cat-urine-smell-out-of-a-mattress/2708#2708



  • Gail Tilton Ogden Gail Tilton Ogden on Mar 24, 2018

    I have tried all of this. The smell ALWAYS comes back. Ditch the carpet. Get hard floors.

  • Millie Millie on Mar 24, 2018

    Get Kids and Pets product. it will remove urine and almost anything else that smells.

  • Wendy Wendy on Mar 24, 2018

    If its not a light carpet try coffee grounds. Sprinkle liberally and leave on for a few days or until smell is gone.

  • Laura Cooper Laura Cooper on Mar 24, 2018

    I agree, cat pee is near impossible. My guess is that they replaced the carpet but failed to seal the subfloor. I use Kilz on the subfloor. A black may help you locate the exact problem area.

  • Laura Cooper Laura Cooper on Mar 24, 2018

    *black light*

  • Ebbjdl Ebbjdl on Mar 24, 2018

    There's several good cleaners, for this problem. They usually have you spray so it reaches the matting underneath. Check them all out. I use miricle spray with oxy power. I clean mine with laundry detergent, just a little, with a soft brush.

  • Jennifer | CrazyDiyMom Jennifer | CrazyDiyMom on Mar 24, 2018

    Ugh.....cat pee. :( I agree, they likely replaced or just cleaned the carpets, but that pee gets way down in there. Through the pad and sometimes into the subfloor underneath. I wouldn't bother trying any "remedies", they won't work. You will probably need to replace the carpet, pad and seal the subfloor if you want the smell gone.

  • Msc12149616 Msc12149616 on Mar 24, 2018

    We had a tenant with a cat, that wasn't that keen on using the litter box. We had tried everything under the moon to get the smell gone, nothing worked. We ended up not only tearing out the carpet and pad, but also the sub floor, in a couple of places in had seeped into the joists, also cut out the pieces and replaced those, the used wood flooring to restore, lengthy project, but not pricey and the smell was finally completely gone.

  • Christel Christel on Mar 25, 2018

    If you think it is cat urine, you need to get a cleaner specific to breaking down the urine enzymes. Our cat sometimes has accidents so I use it regularly. Leaves a nice clean smell.

  • Sharon Sharon on Mar 25, 2018

    If you don't have a carpet cleaner, rent one and fill the water reservoir with a pet enzyme cleaner. I like the tablets you mix with warm water as the solution if much stronger in removing odors. https://www.amazon.com/Jackson-Galaxy-Stain-Eliminator-Fizzion/dp/B019YMYNR0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1521953550&sr=8-3&keywords=jackson+galaxy+stain+and+odor+remover