If your pet pooped on the floor and it's solid, life isn't too hard. Just get a few paper towels*, dispose of the solid waste, grab your favorite cleaner for your hardwood (either what the manufacturer recommended, dilute vinegar, or a dilute cleaner like Murphy's Oil Soap).
If it's diarrhea you're dealing with, Bill Masters, owner of Diamond Carpet Care, suggests scraping up as much of the feces as you can, and then allowing it to dry out overnight. “The next day, scrape up again,” he says Then use a solution of 2-3 drops of Dawn dish soap, 3 oz. of white vinegar and 16 oz.
Cleaning dog poop off hard surface floors like tile and wood is much easier than carpet. Simply pick up all bits of poop, then use an enzymatic cleaner to scrub the floor. It's important to do a thorough job so your dog doesn't keep coming back to the same spot.
If the diarrhea is on a hard surface, you can simply remove the majority of it, and wipe the rest down with disinfectant or an enzymatic cleaner. We also recommend using this dog poop scooper from PetMate for picking up poops in your yard.
Soak the spot on the concrete with hot water, preferably boiling. Sprinkle one cup of baking soda over the top of the stain. If the stain is bigger than 6 inches, apply an extra half cup for every extra 3 inches of stain. Scrub the baking soda into the stain with a hard-bristled brush, and let sit overnight.
On hardwood: In this case, grab some 3% hydrogen peroxide once you've picked up as much poop as you can. Rub it in with paper towels and repeat until the stain comes up. If it's seeped into the cracks in the floors, you can use a toothbrush to scrape up the hard-to-reach places. Throw away the toothbrush after use!
Use Vacuum Rather Than Broom Instead of sweeping with a flicking motion that can spread pet hair, opt to vacuum your floor with a hardwood floor attachment or hard flooring setting. This will eliminate most hair, and you can buy a simple, lightweight vacuum for this daily cleaning instead of a heavy-duty machine.
In most homes, the best wood floor cleaner is plain old soap and water, and the only tools you need are a broom, vacuum, and mop. The best mop for wood floors is a microfiber flat-head or string mop you can easily wring out.
Just follow these tips for keeping floors clean with pets.
Untreated accidents lead to urine stains, discoloration, and odors that are extremely difficult to remove. Urine can permanently damage your hardwood floors' polyurethane coating and lead to expensive repairs for homeowners and loss of pet deposits for renters.
Engineered Hardwood Floors The sub-layers of engineered flooring can be of the same species or of different species, while the top layer is always high-quality wood. The durability of engineered floors means that they can better withstand scratches from your pet's nails.
The acid in animal urine or vomit can damage the finish and the wood floor boards. Large, active dogs with long, sharp nails digging into hardwood can cause scratches and dents. Spilled food or water, when left for extended periods of time, can seep into hardwood plank seams and lead to unsightly water damage.
Our recommendations for pet-friendly floors include: Choose a harder floor… Selecting a floor such as Hickory, Hard Maple or White Oak can protect your floor from damage, as these hardwoods are less susceptible to scratches than softer woods like Pine, Cherry or Black Walnut.
Brazilian Walnut or Ipe Whenever you want the hardest hardwood, domestic species tend to be the way to go. However, Brazilian hardwood flooring is universally hard and dense. Ipe, often called Brazilian walnut, is hard enough that it is even used on outdoor decks.
Vinegar can clean all kinds of wood. Vinegar makes an excellent wood cleaner because it won't damage wood finish or warp wood like other products do. Cleaning with vinegar is a green alternative to the sometimes toxic and expensive cleaners offered at the store.