Enzyme Deodorizers Not Working As You Expected?

   Why Doesn't This Enzyme Deodorizer Work as Promised?

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Three Tips to Get Better Performance from Your Enzyme Deodorizer

During this time, you may be asked to treat these odors in the home, with results that are all over the spectrum from great success to horrible failure, including times where the urine odor in the home is even worse after deodorization attempts!     

Some failures in odor control can come from treating carpets, rugs, and upholstery items that are just too heavily contaminated to be salvaged, (often attempted due to misjudgment by the technician). However, there are also many more cases where failures occur because of a lack of understanding of the following three fundamentals:

  (1) The problem.
  (2) The products.
  (3) The procedures.

Let's look at the most common (& effective) type of deodorizer used for urine odor control today: 

  Enzyme Deodorants

Enzyme deodorants use beneficial micro-organisms to digest urine residues and convert them to non odorous substances that will no longer affect the carpet and padding in a negative way.

They do, however, have some limitations that need to be better understood so that you can get the maximum benefit from their use:

# 1.    Pre-existing Chemical Residues:
Many of your customers will attempt to eliminate urine related odors with products that are highly alkaline (household cleaners) or common household disinfectant products. Both of these types of chemicals can inactivate your enzyme deodorants needed biological activity. Make sure you ask in a positive way if they had used any other products to treat the area before you were called.

NOTE:  A good way to get “the truth” is to ask: “What brand of spotter or deodorizer did you use to treat this when the accident occurred?” This type of question is non-judgmental, and presupposes that they did apply something. You will get more honest answers when you ask in this fashion.

# 2.     Dry versus Wet environment:
When you are treating areas of contamination where a simple no pre-cleaning will be necessary, most enzyme products can be diluted with warm water, which activates bacteria so that it will get to work on the urine residues.

In areas where residues have just been pre-treated and flushed out as discussed in both the 1st and the 3rd step, you may need to apply the enzyme treatment undiluted, since the water in the carpet will already be present as a “diluting factor”.

# 3. Heavy Contamination:
In some cases, you may have concentrated urine residues from repeated visits by the pet to one area that may overcome the enzyme treatments ability to handle digestion of the urine. This repeated build up of urine creates an alkaline environment that often interferes with the enzyme's ability to do its job.

For cases such as this, the application of an acidic urine pre-treatment, followed by thorough flushing with water, will remove much of the residue, and allow the enzyme to do its job effectively on the remaining residue. This is especially true with area rugs.

CONCLUSION:
Enzyme deodorants are still the safest, most effective and versatile of the deodorizers that you can use for treating urine contamination in carpet or rugs.

Unlike oxidizers and disinfectants, enzyme treatments may continue to digest urine residues in adjacent areas to those you have treated, and will do their job for hours and sometimes days.

Using the best possible products and by following these basic guidelines, you should be quite successful in treating urine odors, and keep happy customers who give many referrals as a consequence!