Carpet Cleaning Broadbeach: Pet Stains That Warm Water Had Set

A new customer, and marks that were already set

This was a new customer in Broadbeach, booked for a carpet clean. The carpet is natural fibre.

A lot of the marks across the lounge room were pet stains. By the time we saw them, the acidity in them had already caused permanent markings in the fibre. They were set.

The customer had cleaned the marks with warm water. That is a completely normal thing to do, and nobody is expected to know it is the wrong move. But warm water sets them.

Why warm water sets a pet stain

A pet accident is acidic. Heat sets an acidic stain into the fibre instead of releasing it, so the instinct to reach for warm or hot water is the one instinct to ignore. Steam is the same.

Natural fibre makes it more sensitive again. Natural fibre takes up colour readily, which is exactly why it stains readily. Once the acidity has changed the colour of the fibre, that change is in the fibre itself, not sitting on top of it.

The difference between soiling, which comes out, and staining, which does not, is covered in more depth in pet stain carpet: will it come out?

What we did on the day

An antimicrobial enzyme treatment went through. It is the step up from our standard antibacterial enzyme treatment, for heavier, more established soiling like a carpet with a number of pet stains in it. The enzymes break down the organic matter at the source rather than masking it.

The products were matched to the natural fibre, because the wrong product risks the fibre rather than just giving a poor clean. Then it was extracted back out, with a rinse so nothing is left behind in the fibre.

Soiling lifts. A permanent marking does not. Where the acidity had already changed the fibre, cleaning cannot put the colour back, and it is fairer to say that plainly than to promise otherwise.

What to do next time

We take a few minutes on every job like this to walk the customer through the right process, so the next accident does not end the same way.

Blot straight away. Press paper towel or a clean cloth on the spot to lift as much as you can. Speed matters more than anything else.

Cool water only. Never warm water, hot water or steam on a pet accident.

Do not scrub. Scrubbing spreads it sideways, pushes it deeper and roughens the fibre.

Be careful what goes on natural fibre. If you are not sure a product suits your carpet, do not guess.

If in doubt, check our pet odour guide in the help centre, and if you cannot find the answer there, call us. We would much rather answer a quick question than see a mark set that could have come out.

The pest control: German cockroaches under the kitchen island

This visit was a general pest control as well as the carpet. The customer had cockroaches, and on inspection there was evidence of German cockroaches.

They were getting in under the kitchen island. The tiles there had come apart, leaving gaps of close to 1.5 centimetres between a broken tile and the base of the island. That gave them free rein.

It is common in apartments. Any crack or crevice in a wet area, around the sink, the plumbing and the pipes, becomes a conduit cockroaches use to move through a building. A gap like this one, right beside the water and the food, suits them perfectly. So the treatment went in where they were living and moving, not just where they were seen, and fixing the broken tiles is worth doing too, because it closes the gap they were using.

A standard general pest treatment covers cockroaches, ants and spiders, and comes with a report. Our 6 month cockroach warranty applies to Australian cockroaches. German cockroaches are handled differently, and we explain what that involves when we inspect. Our pest control page explains how we treat the two, and for a German cockroach job in a house, see where they were breeding in Burleigh Waters.

Carpet cleaning Broadbeach: what it costs

Carpet is priced on the rooms, counted one per room, with the treatment added where it is needed. The minimum call-out fee is $145 plus GST, the same across the Gold Coast to Tweed Heads area, and you get an estimate rather than a quote.

More detail is on the carpet cleaning page and our carpet cleaning and pest control Broadbeach page.

Frequently asked questions