Urine can be detrimental to rugs and especially natural fibre rugs. The high pH of aged urine can chemically burn natural fibres and cause severe breakdown in the backing of rugs. We handle urine issues on a regular basis. However, it should be stated that there can be some obstacles when it comes to urine in rugs and the higher the quality of the rug, the trickier things can become.
There are two parts to the urine issue -
- Stains if applicable - Urine stains cannot always be removed. This is especially true of urine in natural fibres such as wool and cotton. Urine, although acidic when fresh, quickly dries to a very high pH of around 11.2 as it forms urea crystals. In wool this can be detrimental to the fibre often causing permanent chemical burning that cannot be removed. These release ammonia odours and harbour numerous bacteria.
- ODOURS Sometimes there are no stains even evident but the odour can be overpowering. The crystals that form around urine bacteria must be broken down before we can effectively kill off the bacteria. Carpet cleaning on it's own will not have much effect on urine. Carpets and rugs need to be soaked in a urine treatment and I have, on some rugs had to use several different types of treatment to get a positive result. That means it can take time to beat urine and needs to be done at our facilities.
Please watch this video to get a clearer understanding.
Cost is based simply on time and material used. After decontamination treatment the rug is cleaned to remove residues. We clean all rug types including Persian/ Oriental hand woven rugs and household rugs. Our standard cleaning charge is outlined here
Most urine affected rugs will cost between $50 and $70m² depending on the severity of the contamination and will undergo a drenching in antimicrobial and be allowed to sit for a time to allow the antimicrobial to penetrate the urine crystals and break them down. The rug is then bathed, pressure cleaned and extracted which takes a considerable amount of time. Finally it is cleaned and then hung in our drying room with commercial dehumidification and dryers.
What if the urine is only limited to a small area?
In the case of light contamination, it may only need a small area treated. In these cases we are able to use the same process as above and limit it to affected areas and minimise the cost. It needs to be mentioned that, often where contamination seems to be in one area, there are other areas that go unnoticed. Detection can be very difficult in rugs but we have detection equipment such as UV Black Lights and Moisture Detectors to aid us.
Rugs will naturally undergo cleaning after any decontamination. You can find out more about this service here...
https://carpetcleaningservices.co.nz/blog/rug-cleaning-general-information (with a minimum of $150).
SPECIAL NOTE on Shag pile rugs: By nature, in shag pile rugs, especially high density shag it can be very difficult to remove all dry particulate soil and dander. We will do our utmost but this is the nature of shag pile. As part of that nature it can also be difficult to fully remove urine contaminants successfully.
Naturally, all of this takes time but our intention is to produce the best possible result rather than the best price.
Please let us know if we can assist further with your enquiry.
Kind regards
Carpet & Upholstery Cleaning and Restoration
The way it should be done...
0800 100 400
http://www.smart.kiwi/
027-5432 -117[email protected]
