# New Flooring due to potty issues?



## Summergirl73 (Sep 18, 2011)

We are considering our options for flooring. I missed the mark on the rules of potty training a Malt (our big guys were MUCH easier lol), and now our carpet smells yucky. I have bad allergies and this causing a breathing problem for me. We've had only a couple of poo accidents and so there are no visible stains, but the urine smells are definetly there. We have a carpet cleaner that we've used a lot. We've used the great urine cleaners and we've used vinegar. The smells are still there. 

Our options: 

Chem-Dry: I'm waiting on an estimate, but I think their pet odor removal is quite costly. 

Replacing the floor with either hardwood or laminate (I wish DH would agree to tile, but that's a no go). 

Oh ~ we are following a firm CRATE TRAINING SCHEDULE these days and that is working exceptionally well....duh, should've listened to that wisdom a while back.:smilie_tischkante: Lesson learned. 

Any recommendations? My thought is to just replace the Living Room carpet (around 300 sq. ft I think) with laminate. This way if there is an accident, I can get it up a little more quickly than if it were on carpet. Do you all find this to be true? Thanks for your feedback, it is most appreciated.


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## BellaEnzo (Nov 1, 2011)

I'm sure it'll def be easier to clean on laminate, but remember laminate can't take too much water or any liquid because it will eventually warp and start coming up. If you have the means, I'd go with real hardwood that can always be sanded and stained if need be and it's a lot easier to fix if something were to happen. With laminate there is no way to pull up a little section and fix it, at least with it looking good, you have to do the entire floor over again.


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## Sylie (Apr 4, 2011)

My experience with Chem-dry was a disaster. If you do go with them check out the company very carefully first. This dreadful person was a fraud, he used up all the (40 gallons) hot water and left half of it on the floor. Not so dry. Other companies that promise odor removal use stuff with a strong fragrance. The problem is that it has probably saturated the padding and maybe even the flooring underneath. 

I'd go with hardwood or bamboo.


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## LJSquishy (Feb 27, 2008)

I don't know if you have Zero-Rez in your area, but they are compared to Chem-Dry a lot and every review says Zero-Rez is much better. Whichever company you go with, make sure they don't use chemical-based cleaners (by the name, Chem-Dry sounds like they would) as it will actually set in the stains more and will also attract dirt even after the carpets are cleaned. I know Zero-Rez uses water-based safe cleaner that is safe for pets, humans, etc. They say you can even literally drink the cleaner and it won't hurt you.

It is worth paying $100-$300 to try and salvage your carpet first before just replacing it, unless you both agree you'd rather have a hard surface floor. I have hardwoods in the main floor of the house and love them aside from the fact that the dogs leave nail scratch marks in the finish. If we have the floors refinished that will go away, and it would only cost around $500 or so, but that is one maintenance cost to think about. If you needed the floors sanded way down and then refinished, that can get really expensive. I would definitely not do laminate -- if liquid gets in the cracks and under the floor, your floor is ruined and you will need to replace that section. Plus, laminate floors sound fake, when you walk on them, they don't sound like real hardwoods. They have come a long way in making them look real but you will pay a pretty penny for a style that even looks remotely real. Hardwoods can be finished on-site so there is nowhere for liquid spills to go so they will remain on the surface. But, hardwoods are more expensive. You don't have a huge area to cover so that might be in your budget.

Edited to add: if I could rip up the carpet upstairs, I would do it in a heartbeat! I like the coziness of carpet, but it is a pain to clean. You can get an area rug if you want coziness, and it is much cheaper to replace an area rug than it is to replace a whole room or house of carpet. Hardwoods are easy to clean -- just vacuum, then damp mop with a steam mop or Eco-friendly & PH-balanced cleaner. If you switch to hardwoods or laminate, you will never go back to carpet...the amount of dust you will see on your hard floors will gross you out that all of that was lingering in your carpet!


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## spookiesmom (Mar 28, 2010)

I have laminate all over, and love it! I'll never have carpet again. If it is in a place where exposed to a lot of moisture, it will warp. My floor by the back door gets wet when it rains. DHhas never figured out how to wipe his feet. The dogs didn't do it!


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

I'll never have carpet again either. I have tile throughout my house except in my bedroom which the door is kept closed unless we're in bed.

Now in my current house, but in previous houses I've had both hardwood and laminate. The laminate is easier to clean, but you do have to be careful of moisture. I would go with hardwood if it were me.

I've previously tried almost every kind of carpet cleaning available and once the urine is in the pad, it's impossible to get out. As Sylvia said -- Chem-Dry did not work at all for me. And if you have allergies, carpet is the worse flooring you can have due to the dust,etc.


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## Furbabies mom (Jul 25, 2011)

I have hardwood and tile where the fluffs are. Even though they are pee pad trained sometimes they miss the mark. My hardwood has several coats of polyurethane on it so the urine doesn't soak in and I just soak it up and wipe it with white vinegar and water solution. I never could get the urine smell out of a carpet in my old house no matter what I did or how much I spent on products. I would think a hard surface floor would also be better for your allergies.


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## Canada (Jun 4, 2009)

Are certain kinds of hardwood more resistant to staining?
Or does it just depend on the finishing?


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## Furbabies mom (Jul 25, 2011)

They used to not put a polyurethane finish on hardwood just a wax and buff it. I think now there are finishes on them so they are more resistant to stains. My husband did our floors and they were already stained and finished. He could of done unfinished and we would od sanded, stained and put polyurethane on it but that takes too long before you can use it. There are so many choiced with hardwood from a rustic wide plank pine to a formal high gloss. We have oak(it's a harder wood) with a satin finish.


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## Summergirl73 (Sep 18, 2011)

Thank you guys for all the feedback. We've decided to just try Chem-Dry tomorrow and see where that takes us. We'll spend a $200+, but that's a bit easier on the pocketbook right now than $2500+. I'm going to use their whole house cleaning and get the Purt? treatment. They guarantee that if after about 7 days or more, if you smell anything, they will come back and re-treat it for free, so it was too tempting not to try. In the end, I think we will likely end up with hardwood floors, but since we may have to buy a car in the near future, we are going to try to put off the expense for as long as necessary. Cross your fingers and I'll keep you posted on how it's going. 

Oh BTW, Bella is doing great with her crate training and with me being on a firm schedule with her. She's not even used her UgoDog once, since I've been taking her out regularly. Hope it keeps up and that her bladder is getting stronger every day .


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## Snowbody (Jan 3, 2009)

Bridget - we're a household that has allergies and asthma and at a support group we had a very high end consultant come in to talk to everyone about making their homes allergy free. They hated carpet because of dust mites but were absolutely dead set against using any kind of big shampooing/carpet cleaning with liquid. They said you can never get it all out and it's a huge breeding ground for mold and mildew. We have wood floors and some throw rugs and it makes clean up a breeze.


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## Summergirl73 (Sep 18, 2011)

Hi Susan,
I completely agree about ditching the carpet. Asthma and Allergies (along with my heart condition) is a miserable combination  . Ok my pitty party is over lol. Frankly, I've only agreed to do the carpet cleaning to show my husband it will not work. He said we could do whatever I wanted to, but he definetly thought cleaning the carpets will do the trick....sigh. Anyway, I fully suspect before years end we will have to rip the carpets out. I HATE chemicals! I clean with mainly vinegar and lemon. I will use bleach when needed, but I don't like to. 

In the meantime, is it okay if I come sleep on your couch in NYC? I promise to spoil Tyler beyond repair  . lol


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## Snowbody (Jan 3, 2009)

Summergirl73 said:


> Hi Susan,
> I completely agree about ditching the carpet. Asthma and Allergies (along with my heart condition) is a miserable combination  . Ok my pitty party is over lol. Frankly, I've only agreed to do the carpet cleaning to show my husband it will not work. He said we could do whatever I wanted to, but he definetly thought cleaning the carpets will do the trick....sigh. Anyway, I fully suspect before years end we will have to rip the carpets out. I HATE chemicals! I clean with mainly vinegar and lemon. I will use bleach when needed, but I don't like to.
> 
> *In the meantime, is it okay if I come sleep on your couch in NYC? I promise to spoil Tyler beyond repair ;*) . lol


_Sounds good to me.:chili::chili:_ AHEM :angry:....that was Tyler typing. But of course Bridget I'd love to meet you as well.:thumbsup:


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## LJSquishy (Feb 27, 2008)

I think you're making the right decision on trying the carpet cleaning first. Even if it is just a temporary solution, you will be able to start researching for the future down the line on what hardwoods you pike, etc. Let me know how the carpet turns out!


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## michellerobison (Dec 17, 2009)

We have carpet here, since we're up north,fine if you have a couple dogs but a lot of work if you have 5... When we move to Florida.No CARPET... our former Florida home had tile throughout,it was great. WE just kept a few area rugs here and there...and loved it...

If it wasn't for the cold weather in winter,I'd have tile in this house... We have tile in our kitchen and I love it,use dot have carpet in the kitchen...not my choice. Soon as we moved in it was the first thing to go....

We have hardwood in the entry hall but it's a little higher maintenance.
If it were me,I'd go with all tile,easy to maintain and clean up and lasts for years...


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## gopotsgo (May 21, 2009)

Don't waste your time or money using Chem Dry or any similar company 2 try 2 clean the carpet. The only hope U have if U insist on keeping the carpet is 2 take up the carpet, replace the padding ( which is were the urine has soaked 2 & the source of the smell ) as well as wash the carpet with water based cleaners. Nothing else will come close 2 actually getting rid of the smell. I would also recommend switching 2 wood floors, tile floors tend 2 B 2 cold. Good luck!


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## The A Team (Dec 1, 2005)

We got rid of our carpet after my old Bichon girl (Lacy) passed away. Near the end, she was incontenant and it was hard to keep garments on her (she had a strange shape for a girl:blush

Now we have hard wood throught out the house. Well except in the "man cave" There we have a vinyl that looks like hardwood.

I used to clean up the accidents with a spray bottle of white vinegar, but someone told it wasn't good for the floors. (huh)...the floors look fine to me and I had been using it for a few years. But I switched to Pledge floor cleaner spray....now that can't be bad for the floors!!! 

I like the wood floors, but it's not so great for Archie's bad legs.


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## LJSquishy (Feb 27, 2008)

The A Team said:


> We got rid of our carpet after my old Bichon girl (Lacy) passed away. Near the end, she was incontenant and it was hard to keep garments on her (she had a strange shape for a girl:blush
> 
> Now we have hard wood throught out the house. Well except in the "man cave" There we have a vinyl that looks like hardwood.
> 
> ...


Actually, Pat, the Pledge cleaner is worse for your hardwoods! It is not an all natural cleaner and it will build up residue layers on your floor. The best method for cleaning is using just water, like a steam mop. It is true that vinegar can damage the finish on your floors if it is not diluted enough. If you must use a cleaner of some sort, you can use something more natural and biodegradable And water-based like Minwax Hardwood Floor Cleaner or Bona. You should really only need a cleaner once per month or so in between cleaning with steam. It will be safer for your babies, too!


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## allheart (Oct 3, 2008)

I know I am going to be the odd man out, and I think, becuase of my one experience with my Kara (RIP), hubby and I are just probably way to over cautious. Not only is this the house of beds LOL, but ugh, the house of throw rugs. Underneath is hardwood floor.

What happend to my Kara, was she was playing, flipping, dancing, you know how are babies do that . Well, she tore her ACL, hubby and I will never forget that day. The pain for her was ungodly. I guess that's why hubby and I are a bit over cautious. Keep in mind, which we didn't know, as Kara strutted a beautiful walk, and never showed any sign of LP's. But when she tore her ACL, it was then we found at she did have an LP's. So perhaps they are more prone to injury, with luxating patellas, but hubby and I just don't want our babies to experience what Kara did, so we have throw rugs down, that are stationary, so when they are playing, they don't slip and slide. It's just something hubby and I do, and may not be necceasry, but that one experience, will never leave us.

I know this doesn't answer your question, we just replace the area rugs when needed. I pad train my babies, Mia truly was the only one that had accidents, Leo, blew us away, never had an accident, and Ana just followed suit, and went right on the pad. 

Again, this is not to scare anyone, or reccomend not to have floors, just sharing my one very overprotective experience.

Do I like the area rugs all over the place, NOOOOOO. But I do have some peace of mind that it may lower the risk of an injury happen. Not to say it will happen on bare floors, we just don't want to take that chance again.


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## Summergirl73 (Sep 18, 2011)

Allheart....WOW that is so sad and yet really helpful information to know. I will definetly keep it in mind for our "one day" wood floors. We'll budget for great floors and great throw rugs  .

The guys are here cleaning the carpets right now and they are wonderful! They've been incredibly sensitive about my asthma and keep checking with me about the products they are using. One REALLY interesting thing did happen. I figured they'd try to upsell us on every product under the sun. Actually, they used their black light and could only find 1 TINY, TINY spot near the front door. They said they'd never seen anything like it. The only explanation they could come up with is that we extract any urine up immediately with our carpet cleaner (before using either Nature's Miracle or Vinegar). They were shocked and even when they did the sniff test against the carpet they couldn't smell anything. They did find a moisture reading on one spot (that I'd recently poured Natures Miracle on). I still had them clean the whole house and then PERT treat a few of the "known" potty places. We'll see in the next week or so how the odors go.


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## LuvMyBoys (Jan 2, 2012)

allheart said:


> I know I am going to be the odd man out, and I think, becuase of my one experience with my Kara (RIP), hubby and I are just probably way to over cautious. Not only is this the house of beds LOL, but ugh, the house of throw rugs. Underneath is hardwood floor.
> 
> What happend to my Kara, was she was playing, flipping, dancing, you know how are babies do that . Well, she tore her ACL, hubby and I will never forget that day. The pain for her was ungodly. I guess that's why hubby and I are a bit over cautious. Keep in mind, which we didn't know, as Kara strutted a beautiful walk, and never showed any sign of LP's. But when she tore her ACL, it was then we found at she did have an LP's. So perhaps they are more prone to injury, with luxating patellas, but hubby and I just don't want our babies to experience what Kara did, so we have throw rugs down, that are stationary, so when they are playing, they don't slip and slide. It's just something hubby and I do, and may not be necceasry, but that one experience, will never leave us.
> 
> ...


That is so awful! Poor little Kara!

We had a similar situation where Alvin was dancing around on the hardwood floors happily because I got out the leash and we were getting ready to go for a walk, his FAVORITE. All of the sudden he just flopped down, screamed, and lost control of his bowels and bladder. He wouldn't move his back legs and tried to army crawl with his front paws. We rushed to the Emergency Vet and he had ruptured a disc in his back. It was awful, poor little baby! We had to keep him still 23 hours a day, with no help from a cast or bandage.

LOOK MA - NO HANDS!









Now, Dusty seems to be scared of our hardwood floors. He won't play with Jasper on them no matter what Jasper does to him. He scrambles across the bare area to rugs as fast as he can.


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## Noah (Jan 6, 2012)

Oh I wish I had seen this earlier! I was about to rip out my carpet because of cat urine which is way worse than dog pee, until I discovered Urineout. The website is Planeturine.com and they have a try-it kit for $19.99 and it really works! I still haven't used the whole kit yet and my dog has had several accidents as well. I did have to treat the cat area twice, but it really got the smell out. I highly recommend this product!


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## CorkieYorkie (Apr 10, 2012)

Bridget, I am bumping up this thread because I was wondering how Chem-Dry's PURT service worked for you?

We are in a similar boat in that our condo has a pee funk that I notice every time I come home (fiance can't smell it, but I can) and walk past our 2nd bedroom, which Ozzie peed in a TON when we first got him. We got a Bissell spot-bot steam cleaner which seemed to work after we got the major areas, but I can still smell it now, especially when the weather shifts.

Out of common courtesy for our landlord, we plan to at least have the carpets cleaned for him. Worst case scenario, we don't get our deposit back. 

But I wanted to know some of your experiences with Chem-Dry... I noticed some of you said it didn't work, and some said they had horrible experiences... :blink: Also, we live in a condo so I'm hoping the cost won't be too high since it's not very big, but I guess we'll see!

I saw that Nature's Miracle sells a Carpet Shampoo for steam cleaners... anyone have any experience with this product? I read some bad reviews on Petco saying the solution wasn't good for their machine... but we use lots of NM for initial "accidents," but obviously the odor sometimes remains... I have the sinking feeling the urine has been trapped in the padding   

We are going to be looking at houses this summer... DEFINITELY going to be buying a house without carpeting on the first floor... and they will not be allowed upstairs!!


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## mdbflorida (Feb 28, 2013)

I just replaced my white tile with vinyl wood planks. Looks like wood but vinyl is final hahaha and it is fabulous and easy to clean. It is quieter than laminate and not as slippery.


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