May, 2020 | BCS Cleaning Specialists

Oh dear, it’s that time of year again! You drift off to sleep only to be woken by Felix singing at the top of his lungs outside your window that he’s looking for a lady. And when he doesn’t find her, he comes home through the cat door and promptly expresses his displeasure with the situation by spraying urine on the side of the couch. So what can you do to rescue your poor beleaguered couch and carpets from feline anointing?

If you’ve been out for a few hours, chances are that your kitty’s urine stain may have been sitting for a while. As soon as you discover it, it’s important to clean it right away. If you wait too long, on top of being straightforward nasty-looking, bacteria can start to grow in the affected area, which leads to nasty stinks.

Here’s one way to remove cat urine from carpet:

•Soak up the urine stain using paper towels or a cotton cloth. Press firmly into the stain using an old shoe or something disposable. This will help absorb as much urine as possible from the carpet.

•Using white vinegar and water, mix a solution in a bowl (50% vinegar, 50% water). You’ll want to mix enough of the solution so that it can reach deep down into the carpet’s fibers.

•Pour the solution onto the urine stain. Using a scrubbing brush, work all of it deeply into the carpet, scrubbing vigorously. The vinegar should help to neutralize the ammonia in the urine.

•Blot the urine stain using a paper towel, pressing firmly into it.

•When that section of the carpet is dry, take one to two handfuls of baking soda (depending on the size of the urine stain) and sprinkle it onto the stain.

•Mix one-half cup of three percent hydrogen peroxide with a teaspoon of dishwashing detergent and apply to the stain. You can use the scrubbing brush again to thoroughly clean the carpet.

•Once dry, vacuum the area.  

One big thing to be aware of is that bleach or bleach-containing products can actually have the opposite effect on un-neutered cats, since the ammonia they contain smells eerily like cat pee to a cat, which can just set them off again. So make sure to use a non-bleach cleaning product when you’re trying to remove the urine.

If you’ve done your level best and the stain or stink is still noticeable, or the cat just keeps spraying in the same areas, give BCS a call at 801 561 1730. Our carpet professionals know how to completely remove smells so cats won’t home in on the same areas over and over again. 

Other than that, maybe consider finding your kitty a lady friend? Just a thought….

Okay, so you absolutely MUST get to the bathroom and it’s surrounded by a carpeted and newly-cleaned savannah. So how do you get across your carpets without upsetting them?  Oooo you’re gonna love this solution – it’s easy, cheap AND fun!

Grocery bags! I kid you not, plastic grocery bags are a godsend for dealing with damp carpets. Put them on over your socks (or even over your shoes if you’re dashing in and dashing out) and tie the handles around your ankles. Leave a handful of them by your front door so everyone can wear the latest designer fashion footwear while your home is in drip-dry status. 

Grocery bags are completely underrated and underused for this purpose – they work like snowshoes for carpet, distributing your weight somewhat so the carpet doesn’t get horrendously compressed in its damp state, while protecting the damp fibers from any dirt on your socks or shoes. Plus you can get around your house! Yay!

One important thing to note if you’re going to try this suggestion – plastic grocery bags are SLIPPY! So make sure you move slowly and hold on to something stable as you move around, especially if you have to get down stairs.

Also try to stick to the edges of the room while the carpet is still damp – high traffic areas are already prone to fiber compression and you obviously want your carpet to dry looking as new and fluffy as possible. Help it out by not walking in its damp state on already high traffic areas. 

If you’re ready to book your next carpet-preening session, give BCS Cleaning Utah a call today on 801 561 1730– we’ll have your carpets ship-shape in a jiffy!

Yes, I know – when you work from home or are simply AT home, it seems to take an age for carpets to dry. It’s like watching paint dry. Only longer, because doesn’t paint dry within a couple of hours? Anyway, I digress…. Usually, carpets will be completely bone-dry within 24 hours, but often they are usably dry within 4-6 hours, depending on the type of fibers in your carpet and how absorbent they are (and how much ingrained dirt the technician had to work loose).

If you simply must traverse your carpeted expanse before they are dry, use plastic grocery bags tied to your feet to protect your newly-preened flooring. Just take care not to rush about and make sure to hold on to something – plastic on feet can be quite slippy! Bear in mind that if you walk on the carpets too soon after they’ve been cleaned, you can depress the carpet fibers so they dry kinky, much like laying on wet hair. Try to stick to the edges of the room where possible, as this can especially be an issue in heavy traffic areas that are already prone to bent carpet fibers.

Your carpet cleaning specialist will also be able to give you a more accurate assessment of your grocery-bag-gliding timescale after the service.

In the meantime, if you’re ready to book your next carpet-preening session, give BCS Cleaning Utah a call today on 801 561 1730– we’ll have your carpets ship-shape in a jiffy!

If you’ve ever been to Home Depot for paint and had the paint chap try to up-sell you to the Uber-Pigment-Double-Primer-Easy-Wipe paint option that’s a mere $30 extra per gallon, and had the gall to stick to your guns and the cheaper paint option, you’re not alone. And well done, you! And then six months later, when you discover a plethora of scuff marks all over your walls that (shockingly) don’t come off with soap and water, you slightly kick yourself for not having made life easier on yourself and bought the super-upgraded paint option. 

All is not lost, however! You’ve come to the right place. At BCS Cleaning Utah, we are experts on All Things Cleaning, and we have three easy-peasy solutions for all your wall scuffage issues.

1   Mr Clean Magic Eraser sponges. 

If you’ve never used these, they are a MIRACLE invention. Simply dampen the sponge and rub over scuffs, scratches, marks – basically any foreign body clinging to your walls – and watch them disappear.

2   Non-Gel Toothpaste

If you don’t have a Magic Eraser sponge or they’re against your principles or you’ve tried them and they didn’t work, non-gel toothpaste may be the magical solution to all your wall-related woes. Squeeze some onto a cloth, massage it over the scuff or stain, and then rinse and dry. Toothpaste is mildly abrasive, and the tiny little beads contained in each squirt will gently and evenly remove foreign bodies from your walls.

3   Baking Soda

Ah yes, that miracle cure-all! If you’ve tried the above and neither worked, or for some reason BOTH are against your principles, try making a thick paste with baking soda and water. Apply it to the wall on a soft, clean cloth, massage into the mark and then rinse and dry.

When you’re ready to schedule your next deep-cleaning for carpets or sofas, call BCS at 801 561 1730.