Urine Removal on Upholstered Furniture

October 19, 2009

Why is urine removal on fabrics so difficult to achieve?

The two conditions created by a pet or child accident are:

The Stain
The Odor

This could be distastrous!

Urine (as well as other body fluids) has the ability to not only add color (usually yellow stains) to fabrics, but can also destroy or bleach out the factory dyes in the fabric. If the urine has destroyed enough dyes cleaning won’t be of much help if you require the upholstered piece to be “as good as new”. Most pigments added by the urine can be safely removed on synthetic fabrics as well as flat woven cotton. Staining on silks and wools may not be able to be safely removed. Unfortunately the results of stain removal varies from upholstered piece to piece.

Some things that affect stain removal are:

Amount of fluid released-the more frequent/amount of release the more difficult to remove.
Health of the pet/child/adult-is the pet/person on medication, eating a special diet? Even the age of the pet/person affects results.
How long has the urine been on the fabric-generally speaking, the longer the urine remains the more difficult it is to fully remove.
Previous removal attempts-has anyone tried stain removal with an inappropriate detergent, possibly setting the stain and making 100% removal impossible?
Style and condition of the fabric-delicate or true “dry clean only” fabric are more difficult to work on than wet cleanable fabrics.

Odor Removal:

Many times urine odor (especially from male cats) cannot be fully removed because the fluid has penetrated the fabric and gone into the stuffing material making it almost impossible to treat. Upholstery with natural backing/stuffing materials hold onto the odors more tightly than some of the more modern synthetics. To fully eliminate odors a cleaner has to make contact with all effected areas-applying odor eliminators to springs, straps and filler material is not always possible.

To help contain urine odor from penetrating deep within the item:

Blot up the spill quickly-contain the liquid
Remove and air out cushions as soon as you discover the spill-don’t allow the liquid to migrate into the other areas of the furniture.
Don’t over apply ANY cleaner/spotting agent-over wetting a fabric can move the urine deeper into the hard to reach areas

Be careful what you use and don’t overapply!

Don’t add perfume cleaners to the fabric-some supermarket cleaners react with the urine and can make the odor (& stain) more difficult to remove-Have the piece professionally cleaned.