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chrisv664
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| Posted: Oct 16 2008 at 12:38pm | IP Logged
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I have no idea why, but the berber carpet in our family room has suddenly taken on a bad odor. I am sure it smells like cats, but since we don't have a cat,I don't know why this would be. Does anyone have an effective means for removing odor from carpets? This happened another time after we had shampooed the carpet and I think the wetness made it worse. I tried Arm and Hammer pet deodorizing powder and it masked the smell for a few hours, but this morning.. its baaaaack! We are having houseguests at the end of the month for a family wedding and I am hoping we can remedy this by then. It is really 
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Chris
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Burning The Candle At Both Ends
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Jess
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| Posted: Oct 16 2008 at 12:43pm | IP Logged
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Have you tried sprinkling baking soda on it and letting it sit and then vacuuming it up?
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Jess
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organiclilac
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| Posted: Oct 16 2008 at 12:53pm | IP Logged
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When a friend's dog had a major accident on my carpet, the odor lingered long after I had done everything to clean it. (Including going back and forth over that spot with the carpet cleaner for like an hour!) I finally made a spray of vinegar and water, with a few drops of tea tree oil, and I sprayed that area several times a day. Within a few days, the odor was gone.
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Booksnbabes
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| Posted: Oct 16 2008 at 9:48pm | IP Logged
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My SIL and BIL (three dogs, two birds, assorted lizards, and a guinea pig) swear by Nature's Miracle. You can get it at pet stores, and it's at amazon too.
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chrisv664
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| Posted: Oct 17 2008 at 7:40am | IP Logged
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I just did a google search on carpet odors and discovered there is a certain bacteria which thrives in the latex backing of some carpets. And guess what... it has the same odor as cat urine... yuk! I am sure that is what is going on here, so I need to find out if there is a solution. So far, no luck.
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Chris
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Servant2theKing
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We've had very good luck with Fantastik brand OxyPower Multi-Purpose Cleaner. It says right on the label that it can be used to clean carpets (only disclaimer is that some Oriental rugs may discolor). It works very well on anything with enzymes that are difficult to clean (sour milk, urine, various food stains that are usually tough to get out). It's much less expensive than products marketed for pet urine (less than $3 for a 26 oz. spray bottle). Since it seems like your problem may be related to a bacteria it may be worth trying, especially since it contains hydrogen peroxide. We've used it on various carpets in our home and have always had good results. Good luck!
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Matilda
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If it is a bacteria, the tea tree oil mixed with vinegar and water might be your best solution. Both vinegar and tea tree oil are natural bacteria fighters. When my son had an infected ingrown toenail removed, the doctor told us to soak it in a solution of warm water and vinegar to keep it bacteria free.
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sewcrazy
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I use Borax on carpet odors all the time. You need to let it sit for 24 hours, and it will dry up all the bacteria causing odors. Then you just vaccum it up.
LeeAnn
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JennGM
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| Posted: Oct 22 2008 at 1:37pm | IP Logged
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Is this an inherited carpet? We didn't discover there was cat urine until we moved it. The odor comes out when it gets wet or disturbed. Just in case it might be cat, here's what we did. It takes a lot of time, though.
Get a blacklight (the pet stores sell this) that will show these kind of stains. Then there's various brands of pet urine killer. It basically eats the bacteria, but it takes time and several applications. But it does work eventually.
The other problem is that the pad might be soaked with the urine, so when you clean the carpet, the smells come through.
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Angi
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We noticed our living room smelling like cat one time. About a week later we realized that there were cats living in our crawl space. They were causing the smell.
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chrisv664
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| Posted: Oct 22 2008 at 5:09pm | IP Logged
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Angi, I was suspecting the same thing, but we had sealed up the entry to our crawlspace last year (after checking for cats and dh assures me there is no way anything as big as a cat could have found its way in.
It has gotten a lot better with a combination of steam cleaning, antibacterial spray, and baking soda. Which reminds me.. I need to go vacuum!
Thank you to everyone for your very helpful suggestions!
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Chris
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: Carpet problem
