Colour

Yellow pigments (urochrome) in urine are not the only reason urine stains look yellow. Over time the bacteria feeding on the urine (uric acid) produce the distinctive ammonia smell through metabolism. The alkalinity of these metabolites can cause yellow staining in two other ways.

Firstly, is by mobilising dye pigments in Jute backed carpets that then wick to the fibre surface causing a dye stain. Alkaline cleaning products can also quickly cause this Jute dye transfer to the fibre surface. Again this yellow/browning is generally very easy to remove.

The second major cause of urine yellowing is bleaching of the original carpet dyes from excessive or long term alkalinity. The blue and red portions of carpet dyes are affected first, leaving the yellow dyes largely intact. Our guaranteed colour repair service is the perfect answer to these stains.

Odour

Again the breakdown of uric acid to ammonia and carbon dioxide is the principle source of odour in urine stains. It is accelerated on hot humid days as heat and moisture make an ideal environment for the bacteria to proliferate.

Vinegar is sometimes suggested as a cure to pet odour. This is simply not going to work long term. The acetic acid in vinegar can neutralise ammonia to its acetate salt but not uric acid. The uric acid will continue to be metabolised into ammonia in a continual process.

Dealing with urine successfully will require sufficient neutralising of both acidic and alkaline components. Our treatments also include an oxidation step as well as a bio-enzymatic process which both aid in the complete breakdown of the urine deposits.

Lastly it is important to understand that a pet stain can be much like the tip of an ice berg. It is very common for a pet to return to the same spot out of habit. Often the owner might not even realise it is happening repeatedly. So a small visual stain could be 5, 10 or even 20 times bigger in the underlay below the carpet. The urine can also soak into floorboards and concrete floors too.

We can offer a written conditional guarantee with urine odour removal and remember the sooner you act, the more cost effective it is to fix.