Do You Want to Remove Pet Stains From Your Hardwood Floors?

By Christopher W Smith

A majority of American families have welcomed pets into their hearts and homes. No matter how cherished a pet may be, it still needs to be trained to use a litter box or go outside when the urge prompts. Regardless of how well trained your pet is, there will still be occasional mishaps. If you're in the habit of leaving your pet home alone for long hours, or if you have an older pet, the inevitable is bound to happen.

For people who have hardwood floors, this can present a real problem. You've probably learned that if your pet has an accident, you're going to end up with a stain on your hardwood floor that is going to be difficult to get rid of. Relax! Pet stains can be removed from hardwood floors. By getting a few special tools together, you'll be able to remove a fresh stain quite easily. Older stains will take a little more work, but they, too, can be removed with a little effort. Before beginning, always remember to test your stain removal method on an out of sight piece of flooring to make sure you won't cause any damage.

Most pets have the instinct to mark out their territory within your home. This is especially true if you have old pet stains which your new pet will be able to smell. Your new pet will want to leave his mark on top of any old pet stains to establish that the territory now belongs to him. Any time you remove a pet stain, be it fresh or old, you need to get rid of all the odors that will attract your current pet's territorial instincts.

Removing Fresh Pet Stains

Since fresh pet stains will not have soaked into the floor yet, they are easy to remove. To take care of pet stains when they first happen, you'll want to keep the following items on hand: paper towels, white vinegar, warm water, and a product that contains bacteria and enzymes which will eliminate both the stain and the odor from the area. When shopping for this product, read the label carefully to determine if it was formulated for use on a hardwood floor. Some of the stronger products on the market will actually damage your floor, so make sure you avoid them.

When a pet stain happens, grab your materials (you may want to keep them all assembled in a small pail), and use the following method to eradicate the stain and odor:

* Use a paper towel to blot away any standing urine.
* Scrub the stain with white vinegar which will help eliminate both stain and odor.
* Use the warm water to rinse the stained area.
* Once again, blot up any liquid using paper towels. You want to dry the area quickly and thoroughly so that you don't incur any water damage. If you leave water standing for too long, you may begin to see some warping.
* Use the stain and odor removal product you purchased to treat the area. By doing so you'll lessen the chances that your pet will find the area attractive again in the future.

Eradicating Old Pet Stains

If you have stains that have been around long enough to have soaked down into the wood and sub-flooring, you will need to sand down into the stain in order to determine how deep the damage went. If you find that the stain is gone after just a bit of sanding, you will probably be able to refinish just that area. If the damage is too deep and too extensive, however, you'll have to take out that section of the flooring and then possibly need to refinish the entire floor.

Stains that have been left for long periods of time will have left odors that eventually permeated the wood and the sub-flooring. You can often treat these areas with commercial bleach, but if you do that, protect your skin with rubber gloves, and make sure you know what you're doing. If it comes down to the fact that you're going to have to sand and resurface the whole floor, use a shellac-based primer which will give you the results you're looking for.

Do you want to find out more about how to install laminate floors? Refinishing Hardwood also has information on how to clean hardwood floors.