[oliver collins]

Hi guys

Hoping for some advice i recently cleaned a bedroom fully man made carpet,using a scrubber, and dryer after the clean i used citrus freash from extracta, the customer was delighted with the results inculding a large living room diner carpet as well that was a 80%20 wool carpet which came up great and did not smell at all.

However the bedroom carpet started to smell two days later, the smell has almost gone now, but has left me stratching my head as to why it started to smell of cat wee.

PS I didnt overwet it or use too much powder. I have been carpet cleaning for 5 years and have been on plenty oftraining  courses Any Ideas anyone Oliver Collins

[russell james]

perhaps the cat sneaked in after you cleaned it?

[craigp]

Thing is with synthetic carpet is its inert, so wont obsorb as much prespray, as say a wool. This means its alot easier to overwet a synthetic carpet as the prespray, if over done, will go straight down to the backing.

I'm not saying you did over wet, but you could have. but its most likely there was alreadly mildew in the carpet, soon as it got wet it activates the smell.

Solution is simple, Prochem microsan, spray on leave to dwell 15 mins extract, it will kill any odour causing mould/mildew/bacteria.

student basement flats use it anyhow because your almost certain to get this problem in these damp/dirty places, saves coming back.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

If the customer as had an issue before then you can bring it to teh forefront again like a cat problem or a drink or food spill, medicine is a good one, sometimes when I clean calpol from carpets you can smell it.

Offer to spray some disinfectant on it and buff it off so it dries quickly.

Shaun

[oliver collins]

Is it possible that the citrus has reacted with somthing in the carpet any ideas
Oliver Collins

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Highly unlikely, I think it's a problem of spillage.

Shaun

[Jim_77]

Was it the same carpet as in the other rooms or a different sort?

If it was a different carpet, it could be the type of latex used in the construction.  Some adhesives exhibit a funny smell when wetted.  I cleaned the whole of a school a few months ago, all was fine except a few small offices where it STANK like vomit shortly afterwards.  After my remedial attempts we were certain it wasn't bacterial, either from vomit or otherwise, what I'd done first time round should have dealt with it, let a lone the second and third attempts.

We simply put it down to the adhesive used to lay the carpet - maybe they ran out of their normal stuff when they came to do these small rooms and used a different one

[Doug Holloway]

Hi Guys

Some adhesives do produce foul smells as they degrade, formaldehyde based resins for example smell like fish, amine .

It's either a spillage as Shaun says but this assumes they have a cat, or degradation which will be increased by over wetting.

Cheers

doug

[Ken Wainwright]

Doug's post above highlights one of the more prevelant reasons.

In rare cases I have found that over use of products such as Shake and Vac can cause problems.  The residues are never completely removed, especially after poor vaccing technique/regime by the home owner has allowed them to be well trodden into the carpet's base.  When water is added, after drying there can be a terrible odour that declines over a period of about a month. The one's I have experienced though have been more like a dog that needs a bath, even when there are no animals in the house. I suppose a it's possible also to smell like a cat.
The industrial chemist I consulted said the same as Doug. Formaldehyde being the common link mixing with other known and unknown contaminants.

Safe and happy cleaning
Ken

[The Great One]

Hi

Spray in Microsan or Sta Kill, leave for 15 mins, extract.

Regards

Martin

[Jim_77]

Martin, that'll work if it's bacterial but will only prolong the problem if it's not!