How To Remove Pet Stains From Hardwood Floors?

You might be wondering why pet stains leave almost permanent marks on hardwood floors. The reason is simple. The ACID in the pet urine is mainly responsible. Even if you read more and more guides around the internet, you will notice pet stain is the ultimate hard nut to crack challenge every pet lover faces. And the worst thing? Most of the solution doesn’t work!

Depending on how long the stain was on the floors and the type & color of your hardwood floors, the possible solution to remove such solution will vary. So, don’t be disappointed if you find no luck applying any single solution. I will inform you several alternatives that you may apply to remove such pet stains from your precious hardwood floors. Stay with me.

Possible Solutions To Remove Stains

There are 2 types of pet stains; one that may happen from the pet urine and the other that may happen from the pet feces. The first one is more likely to leave permanent marks unless you act first. The following alternative solutions to remove such stains have proven to work for several pet lovers. In fact, they are shared by such pet lovers.

1. Mere mopping or scrubbing won’t work to remove the stains once it is too late. So, the best solution is to clean the stain as soon as it happens using any regular cleaner. You have a pet in your home; you should stay alert for such incidents. Sometimes, you may find using a vacuum cleaner for pet stain very effective in this regard.
2. If the option mentioned-above works for you, there will still be the problem of the urine smell. To solve this problem, make a 1:1 solution of vinegar and water. Make the solution in a spray bottle and spray it on the spot. This should take care of the bad smell.
3. If the first 2 option doesn’t work for you, you need to go to the next level stuff! Yep, I am talking about the hydrogen peroxide. Go to your local drugstore and buy the 3% solution. Soak a clean cloth with the hydrogen peroxide and lay it on the stain. Leave it for several hours, and depending on how old the stain is, you may need to leave it for overnight.
4. If you don’t want to go for the hydrogen peroxide solution, there is still another way you can try. Make a wet paste of solution of baking soda and white vinegar. Apply the paste to the stain and leave it until it is fully dried. Then wipe clean it.

The Warning!

Pet urine stain is the most problematic in a sense that they either leave ugly white or dark ring-shaped marks. Also, the lingering smell is another concern for most pet lovers. As I said above, pet urine has acid that reacts with the finish of your hardwood floor.

Also, applying some chemical enriched formula can react with your hardwood floor as well. This is something that may happen and you need to be mentally prepared for it.

So What Should You Do?

Since the chances of damaging the original finish of the hardwood floor are high, you should mask the floor area to keep the damage to the minimum. Also, after the removal of the stains, you may refinish your hardwood floor finish.