How To Clean Pet Urine From Hardwood Flooring

Posted on: 7 October 2016

Hardwood flooring is an extremely popular and luxurious flooring option for your home, creating a natural and warm aesthetic in the rooms in which it is installed. However, despite its natural durability, hardwood flooring can be susceptible to damage from liquids. Pet urine is one of the most common causes of discoloration and damage to hardwood flooring, and can create unsightly stains and leave a lingering odor if not properly cleaned up. Thankfully, there are several things that you can do to stop this from happening.

Cleaning

The first thing you need to do if your pet urinates on your hardwood flooring is clean it up. Use paper towels to blot the urine up, removing as much liquid as you can as quickly as you can. Avoid wiping, as this can cause small amounts of pet urine to get into the seams between the boards of your floor, where it can dry into the wood.

Scrubbing

Next, you need to wipe down the area with a cleaner designed for use on hardwood. These specialized cleaners will not damage the finish of your floor and are available at most hardware and grocery stores. However, if you don't have a specialized cleaner, you can make use of a mixture of half common cleaning detergent and half baking soda to create a similar effect. Scrub the area vigorously, using a soft bristled brush as to not scratch the wood, to remove any remnants of the smell of pet urine from the area. After scrubbing, rinse or mop the area and let it air dry.

Vinegar

If the smell still lingers on the exposed area, you can use a mixture of half white vinegar and half warm water to kill it (avoid using higher concentrations of vinegar, as it can bleach the color out of your hardwood flooring). Sparingly apply the mixture to the affected area, and let it sit overnight. The vinegar is naturally antibacterial and acidic, and will break down the remaining urine while also covering up the smell. After it has sat overnight, mop the area and blot dry with paper towel to ensure that no vinegar remains. The smell of vinegar may remain, but will fade within a day or so, leaving your hardwood flooring as good as new. Alternatively, if you don't want to risk ruining the stain of your flooring, you can apply hydrogen peroxide to a rag and leave it on the affected area overnight to create a similar effect.

For more flooring tips, contact a company like New York Hardwood Floors.

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