| No matter how great your pet is and how much you | | | | Using the materials outlined above, here is what you |
| love him, there will be times when he will mess on | | | | need to do: |
| your floors. It doesn't matter whether you have a | | | | * Remove all standing urine by blotting the area with |
| dog, a cat, or a hamster, and even if you've | | | | a paper towel. |
| thoroughly trained them, it's going to happen once in | | | | * Use white vinegar and scrub the entire area to |
| awhile. So how do you keep your hardwood floors | | | | reduce stain and odor. |
| looking great when they get difficult pet stains? | | | | * Rinse thoroughly with warm water. |
| It's especially true that older pets and those left | | | | * Blot totally dry with paper towels. Remaining liquid |
| alone for long intervals can have accidents. If these | | | | could cause the floor to warp. |
| accidents happen on hardwood floors, you can have | | | | * Apply stain and odor remover to keep your pet |
| a lot of trouble removing them. If you catch the | | | | from going there again. |
| stains soon enough, they'll be relatively easy to move | | | | Getting Rid of Old Stains |
| with the right cleaning. Old, dried-on stains are going | | | | Most likely older pet stains will have already seeped |
| to present a greater dilemma, although they can be | | | | down into the wood flooring as well as the |
| removed if you're prepared for a bit of hard work. | | | | sub-flooring. What you need to do in order to see |
| One of an animal's basic instincts is to mark out his | | | | how deep it went is to sand the stained area until |
| territory. This means that if you once had a pet that | | | | you get to a point where it isn't stained any longer. If |
| left stains on the floors, a new pet will try and follow | | | | the stain has gone down below the floor surface, |
| suit. Therefore, it's essential that you remove all pet | | | | then the entire stained section of floor will need to |
| stains from floors in order to keep your new pet | | | | be removed. Depending on how much damage was |
| from smelling them. | | | | done, you may have to refinish the entire hardwood |
| Fresh pet stains are easier to remove, because they | | | | floor. |
| have not yet had time to be completely absorbed | | | | A stain that has been there for a number of years |
| into the floor. There are special stain-removers on | | | | has allowed urine and odors to penetrate the |
| the market which you can buy. Just make sure that | | | | sub-flooring. If you're carefully you might try using |
| the product you select isn't one that is going to | | | | commercial bleach on the area. Make sure you have |
| damage the finish of your floor. The other tools you'll | | | | gloves and know what you're doing before trying |
| need to eradicate the stain are paper towels, warm | | | | this, though. If you've had to sand stains out of the |
| water, and white vinegar. | | | | floor, resurface the area with shellac-based primer. |