Imagine waking up in the morning to find the vomit of your dog or cat on the floor of the room where you receive guests or in the hall when you descend the stairs of your house.
There would be no major problem if your floor is ceramic or polished cement, but wooden floors usually absorb liquids and keep bad odors. If you are not careful, you can leave traces of vomit in the joints of the wood and it will be even more difficult to fix.
In this article, we bring you a step-by-step guide on how to clean your pets’ vomit most effectively, without leaving stains and eliminating all kinds of odors. Let us begin!
Tools & Materials You’ll Need
- Rubber gloves
- Disposable spoon
- Paper towels
- Trash Bag
- Bucket
- Hydrogen peroxide
- Enzyme cleaner
- Cleaning cloths
- Toilet
- Mop
- Baking soda
- towel
- cleaning brush or toothbrush
- Vacuum
- Sponge
- Warm Water and floor cleaner
You must gather all of your supplies before beginning the cleanup job as you will have to work with floor cleaners, water, detergent, or various liquids in the process.
You must be as quick as possible so that those liquids do not affect the affected area and the stain remover is as effective as possible.
Removing Vomit Stain: Step-By-Step Guide
For your floors to be free of stains and odors, you mustn’t skip any of these steps. These steps help you avoid making any mistakes and become an expert when it comes to cleaning vomit or other liquids from your wooden floors.
Step 1: Clean up solid waste
The key to removing bad odors from your wooden floors is to act quickly throughout the process.
If you woke up in the morning to find your pet’s dried vomit, then speed is no longer a priority, but how careful and effective you are with the cleaning process will be a determining factor.
But if your pet has just vomited, then you need to act as soon as possible. Do not leave this task for later, since every second counts.
The first thing you should do is collect solid waste. For this, we advise you to put on some rubber gloves and collect the vomit residue with a disposable spoon.
Some people prefer to use rubber gloves and collect the vomit with their own hands. But for those people who find this task difficult or are very disgusted to do it with their hands, we recommend a spoon or any disposable implement with which you can effectively collect the solid parts of the vomit.
Another great solution is to use a vacuum cleaner. There are very powerful vacuum cleaners that can even suck up liquids. If that is your case, then forget about the gloves or the disposable spoon and make use of your powerful vacuum cleaner to make this process faster and more effective.
Step 2: Dry the liquids
In this second stage, we must take care of eliminating all the liquids from the vomit. You will need to use plenty of paper towels and a sponge with good absorbent properties.
When cleaning you must be very careful. Most people start by rubbing the liquids off with a rag but what they are doing is spreading it into the joints of the wood.
Therefore, you should place a paper towel on top of the vomit and wait for it to absorb all the liquid. You can help the process by gently putting pressure on the liquids.
If you prefer to use a sponge, the process will be the same, but we emphasize again the need to be gentle. pressing from the top down and not rubbing the vomit to the sides.
This second step is only to absorb the liquid, then we will move on to the cleaning process where you can be more thorough and make sure that there is no residue or bad smell.
Step 3: Remove stains with hydrogen peroxide
Wooden floors tend to stain relatively easily, but there is no need to worry because we have hydrogen peroxide for that.
Place a clean towel or rag on the affected area and soak it in hydrogen peroxide. The liquid will cause the stain on the floor to go directly to the rag or towel, ridding your floors of any stain.
It is not recommended that you leave the liquid in contact with the wood for a long period. Give it a few minutes to take effect and then wipe the area quickly with a damp cloth.
The product should be tested before use, as some of these cleaners can leave streaks on hardwood floors. We recommend that before using the product you test it in an area of the house that is not visible or that is worn, to check that it does not leave stains.
Step 4: Finish the process with an enzymatic cleaner
No matter how neat and effective the cleaning process has been, it is inevitable that small vomit residues remain on the wood, so to remove those microscopic particles, we will use an enzyme cleaner.
Enzymatic cleaners help break down residue on your floor and will finish the job left undone by the hydrogen peroxide.
Mix the enzyme cleaner with a little bit of water, then start cleaning the floor with a broom or an old toothbrush. Rub vigorously for a few minutes, then wipe off with water and a clean cloth.
Step 5: Finish by drying the affected area
Use a dry cloth or abundant paper towel to dry the area where you have worked. Circularly pass the cloth several times until you make sure it is completely dry.
Continue the process until the vomit smell and stain are completely gone. Go back to the previous steps if there are still stains.
However, if you are unable to remove the stains or the smell, you should call a professional cleaner.
Conclusion
We hope that with these simple but effective steps, you can combat those vomit stains on your hardwood floors. Remember to act quickly and do not skip any of the steps described in this guide.
If this article has helped you understand how to clean up pet vomit so you can keep your hardwood floors shining and beautiful, please let us know.