Welcome To Our
ANSWERS
Page
This page contains my
answers to questions we've received from customers. Click on any of these
topics to jump down the page to the answer. Some may be posted in
their entirety, while some may be edited for brevity and focus, but
without changing the gist of the question or answer.
1.
This is a question about using DooDoo Voodoo to attack the carpet,
pad and subfloor in an apartment after an aging dog soiled it a lot
and the apartment maintenance many told the tenant that the problem
was "SEVERE." This answer discusses sub-surface extraction
with the Water Claw vs. conventional cleaning, and gives the
customer a few options to try to extend her money and DooDoo Voodoo.
QUESTION & ANSWER #1
Question:
"Hello,
I recently purchased your 1 gallon RTU mix and I'm looking forward
to using it. My dog will be 17 in 2 weeks and she has some major
"pee all over the apartment including where she sleeps" problems.
She's had accidents for the past couple of years but nothing on this
scale. She's forgotten what it's like to pee outside.
Just to illustrate how she is, she went under my dining room chair
the other day and got "stuck." All she had to do was back out the
same way she went under but she couldn't think to do that. She cried
for me to come rescue her, which I did. She's got the classic
symptoms of Alzheimer's. My dog seems to be forgetting the basics of
being a dog as my mother forgot the basics of living. Other than her
soon-to-be 17 year old thinking process and her need to pee all over
my apartment carpet, which is all wall to wall from front door to
back bedroom, she's still the best dog in the world to me and I love
her to death.
Unfortunately for me, when I've cleaned my carpet in the past, I've
used other pet odor carpet cleaners that I thought were doing the
job of cleaning and deodorizing but apparently haven't been. I'm
apparently suffering from nose blindness because I thought the pet
odor cleaner I was using was working until the maintenance man came
into my apartment the other day to check my smoke alarms and told me
I had a SEVERE pet odor problem. I had to surf the net to research
why I couldn't smell it and found out it's nose blindness. Being in
the business you're in, I'm sure you know that term very well. It
was news to me, however. I can't figure out how I didn't smell the
odor not being taken care of by the other pet cleaner until I
apparently developed this nose blindness, but I didn't.
Thankfully, your website came up as I was researching different
carpet cleaning options. I read every single word of what you wrote
and I read every single testimonial. I'm keeping my fingers crossed
that your product is going to be the miracle I need because my odor
problem has apparently been going on for at least 2 years now and I
am going to be in mighty big trouble with the powers that be here if
I can't get rid of it.
I received your product, very quickly I might add, and I read your
booklet from cover to cover. I do have one question, which probably
has an obvious answer to it but so what if I look stupid, I'm asking
it anyway. Here goes:
When I clean my massively huge apartment carpet, I rent a commercial
carpet cleaner from my local grocery store as I don't have my own. I
normally mix the pet cleaner in with the water, lug the bucket back
to the carpet cleaner, reattach it, and clean my entire apartment
carpet that way. Since I've read your booklet and I seem to have a
severe odor problem, and I actually own a 1 gallon pump sprayer that
I was going to use for gardening but won't now, I thought my best
option was to apply the DDVD directly to the carpet via the pump
sprayer. I have got A LOT, and I do mean A LOT of area to cover
because obviously to me now, I've failed to properly clean in the
past. My question is, if I apply DDVD directly to my carpet via the
pump sprayer, do I just use warm water in the carpet cleaner? I want
to make sure I'm cleaning this carpet in the correct way.
So, now that today's stupid question is out of the way, I want to
thank you for taking the time to read this email. I have a good
feeling you may be the answer to my prayers and if by some odd twist
of fate this doesn't work for me, I just want to say that I think
what you're doing for animals is a wonderful thing. So many people
look at animals as disposable and it's a real pleasure to know that
there is someone out there like you being part of the solution.
Thank you very much for your time.
Sincerely,
(Name Withheld)"
Answer:
Hi, and thanks for
contacting us.
Thank you very much for sticking with your doggie even though she's
exhibiting age-related issues. You're a peach of a dog mom and
she's lucky to have you --- all these years, but especially right
now, which is when she needs you most.
We've been through similar symptoms to what you describe, both with
cats and dogs. It's sad to watch, but we were able to take comfort
in seeing the animals still derive pleasure from us and various
aspects of their lives. When they no longer did, and couldn't
control their bodily functions at all, we knew it was time to help
them over the rainbow bridge. We'll have quite a greeting party
when it's our turn. ;-)
Thank you, too, for being so diligent about reading the
approximately 1,000,000 pages of info on our site and in the box
with your DooDoo Voodoo. Also, thank you for your kind words
about our animal work. We absolutely agree with you that too many
people look at animals as disposable (for instance, the
VETERINARIAN'S WIFE who said she wanted to get a different cat who
would better match their new living room furniture and carpet, for
crying out loud). We do operate by the Golden Rule and we enjoy
being able to help people and animals. I do hope DooDoo Voodoo
is an answer to your prayers.
I'm sorry to hear that you've developed the nose blindness. They
say that aerobic exercise (to increase bloodflow) can be like
hitting the reset button on your smell receptors. Jumping jacks for
everybody! I'm curious: what does your apartment smell like to you
when you first return home after being away for a few hours? From
what I've read, they say that once you decide that a smell is
important ("The maintenance guy said the place stinks, so I'd better
pay attention to the smell!"), your nose/brain mechanism starts
placing more emphasis on your ability to smell the joint. Perhaps
you'll find that's the case now that the fellow brought it up to
you.
Now, to the matter at hand. You asked no stupid questions; quite to
the contrary!
Here are some of my questions: Are you on the first floor or
above? Is there concrete below your carpet/pad? Does your doggie
pee against things (walls, chairs, etc.) or does she tend to go in
the middle of the room?
The RTU you received is mixed strong @ 2oz. of Concentrate per quart
(meaning, there are 8oz. of Concentrate in your gallon of RTU). If
your contamination is severe, you'll benefit from the strong
mixture. Some people can get by with a weaker blend, but if your
maintenance fellow made such a comment as he did, well, strong is
good for you.
My concern, then, is not that DooDoo Voodoo isn't the appropriate
product for you, but rather whether you have enough product to
adequately treat the amount of square footage needing to be
treated. You could consider cutting the RTU gallon with warm water,
but even if you went 1:4 and ended up with 4 gallons of RTU (@ 2oz.
of Concentrate per gallon of RTU), I fear that you still won't have
enough product. Your next question will be: "ok...then how much
does it take to do ___ square feet of apartment carpet?" In
professional circles, it is sometimes said that it takes a gallon of
RTU cleaning solution and 37.5 gallons of water to clean 300 square
feet of carpet. Thus, it is also said that a typical steam cleaner
can use about 125 gallons of liquid to clean 1000 square feet of
carpet. (Though it's true that a professional steam cleaning wand
may go through more water than a rented or purchased DIY cleaning
machine, which can be expected to operate at lower pressure.) So,
you need to figure up how many square feet you have and see if you
can find out how many gallons the grocery store machine goes through
per ___ square feet of carpet.
Here's some easy math for you. Say you have 1000 square feet of
carpet in your apartment and want to clean it the conventional way
(meaning, that you don't saturate the pad and subfloor), and you
want to mix your DooDoo Voodoo strong at 2oz. (of DooDoo Voodoo
Concentrate, not RTU) per gallon. You'll use 125 gallons of water,
containing 125x2oz of Concentrate = 250oz. of Concentrate (about two
gallons of Concentrate). If you wanted to mix the DooDoo Voodoo
half that strong, you'd use a gallon of DooDoo Voodoo Concentrate.
Note that these numbers pertain to standard carpet cleaning, in
which you don't saturate the pad and subfloor. If you want to do
sub-surface extraction, which does saturate the carpet
backing, pad and subfloor, you could easily triple those numbers.
Thus, as you can see, having a gallon of RTU likely won't be enough
for your job. Will it be better than using simple carpet cleaning
shampoo in the machine? Sure, absolutely. But it won't be as
effective as using the proper strength of mixture.
Normally, at least with self-owned machines, I don't recommend
putting DooDoo Voodoo in the machine, but rather applying it with a
pump sprayer, as you're already aware. The primary reasons for this
are two-fold: (a) when applied with a machine and immediately
extracted, there's not enough "dwell" time for DooDoo Voodoo to do
its work; and (b) I don't want people drying out their machines'
rubber seals, though this concern can be minimized by running fresh,
warm water through the machines right after using DooDoo Voodoo with
them. If one sprays DooDoo Voodoo with a pump sprayer, lets it
dwell (long enough to penetrate, but not long enough to dry on the
surface), then extracts it, I have far less concern about
potentially drying out the seals. In your case, the machine will be
a rental, but this advice is still pertinent.
As you may have seen on our site, there is another method of
cleaning that might prove even more effective for your situation:
sub-surface extraction. In this scenario, the carpet and pad are
saturated, then extracted with a device called a Water Claw, which
is capable of removing over 90% of the moisture from the carpet &
pad. Carpet, pad and carpet backing get the cleanest they can
possibly be, plus they dry much faster than with a conventional
cleaning. This is as close as you'll get to running your carpet,
pad and subfloor through a washing machine. Operators charge more
for sub-surface extraction than conventional extraction, which may
seem like a larger expenditure than renting a machine yourself, but
your "SEVERE" situation may warrant a sub-surface extraction if it
smells as bad as the maintenance fellow said it does.
As you've seen on our site, due to gravity and physics, pet urine
spreads out in the backing and pad:
![](images/Urine_Carpet_Diagram_ETS.gif)
This is why previous
products/cleanings may have failed you, and why a sub-surface
extraction yields a more complete cleaning than you will attain with
a professional "wand" cleaning or the type of cleaning you'll
achieve with a rental machine. Neither of them can pull from the
carpet backing, pad or subfloor like a Water Claw can.
As you've read, concrete and other subfloors are porous, thus they
soak up urine quite nicely. They also contain dirt and organic
material that are food for the bacteria that urine contains and that
develop as a part of the breakdown process. This is another reason
why sub-surface extraction is so beneficial, as well as why we urge
people to consider sealing their subfloor with BIN (by Zinsser) or
other similar products that are designed to seal in odor and to seal
out future contamination. This is something for you to consider, as
is replacing your carpet pad. (Replacement pad and labor are not
all that expensive, really, so it's not as big a deal as it sounds
like.) DooDoo Voodoo alone, particularly in conjunction with a
sub-surface cleaning, can work WONDERS for most of our customers.
I'm simply ramping up my advice based on the maintenance fellow's
opinion that your odor issue is "SEVERE."
Now, don't misunderstand me. Though it may sound like I am, I'm not
trying to talk you out of cleaning your carpet with a rental
machine. If you rent a machine, are thorough and use DooDoo Voodoo
appropriately, your environment will be much cleaner, healthier and
better smelling than it is now! It's just that it won't be as
clean, healthy or better smelling as it could be with a sub-surface
extraction.
If you call around and are put off by the prices you receive for a
complete sub-surface extraction, there is still a way for you to
benefit from it, but at a reduced cost. With a blacklight,
ascertain the areas where your doggie has significantly soiled.
Mark those areas with removable painter's tape (blue or green,
typically) and have a carpet cleaning professional only Water Claw
those areas. You then clean the whole place with DooDoo Voodoo and
the rental machine. (BTW, while you're at it with a blacklight,
check your walls, couches, furniture, etc., for the characteristic
vertical streaking or other tell-tale signs of soiling.)
If having spot sub-surface treatment is still is too salty for you,
you can spot treat your worst spots with DooDoo Voodoo, let it
dwell, spray an area at a time with your pump sprayer, then go over
the area with your rental machine. This focuses more DooDoo Voodoo
on the worst spots, while still yielding an overall cleaning.
To answer one of your questions, yes, you would use plain
warm/mildly hot water in the machine. Not scalding hot, though.
Speaking of the rental machine, is the one you rent the type you
simply push/pull over your carpet, or does it have an accessory
hose? If the latter, find out if its hose size is 1.5" or perhaps
2" (the most common sizes for carpet accessories). Also, see if you
can find out how much "water lift" it generates. (This is a rating
of its suction power.) If it has an accessory hose the right size
and develops enough water lift, I might have another option for
you. See what you can find out, then let me know.
So, you have a variety of options to consider. If you have further
questions or want to provide me answers to the questions I've asked,
feel free to get back to me.
I applaud you for your sticktuitiveness and for being supportive of
your doggie as she ages. She is indeed one lucky dog to have such a
caring mom.
Eric
|