Potty training your new pup can be hard and result in lots of accidents all over your house. But even dogs that have been potty trained for a while can still have accidents. Any messes that your dog makes should be cleaned up properly in order to prevent damage to your floors.
You can consider yourself somewhat lucky if you have hardwood floors in your house, as they are much easier to clean up dog poop from than carpet is, especially if the poop makes a huge mess. But even if you’ve cleaned up the poop itself, it can leave behind unpleasant odors that need to be removed as well. That’s why we’ve written this article to teach you how to get the dog poop smell out of your hardwood floors.
The 4 Top Methods to Get Dog Poop Smell Out of Hardwood Floors
1. Enzymatic Cleaner
| Materials Needed: | Enzymatic cleaner for pets, clean cloth |
| How Long Does It Take: | A few minutes |
One of the most effective methods for getting the dog poop smell out of hardwood floors is to use an enzymatic cleaner. Any enzymatic cleaner will do, but one specifically made for pet odors will be your best option as these often contain additional ingredients that help discourage your pet from re-marking in that same area.
After cleaning up the poop, all you have to do is spray the floor where the poop was, let the cleaner sit for three to five minutes, then wipe it up with a rag. Enzymatic cleaners work for old odors and large messes too, however, you may have to scrub just a bit more to get it clean.
2. Baking Soda
| Materials Needed: | Baking soda, vacuum cleaner |
| How Long Does It Take: | About an hour |
Baking soda is one of the most effective ways to remove any type of odor from any surface, and that includes the smell of dog poop on your hardwood floors. Plus, you don’t even have to go out and buy anything because you likely already have baking soda at home.
To remove the smell of dog poop from your hardwood floor, all you have to do is sprinkle baking soda over the area where the smell is. Let the baking soda sit for about an hour to give it time to fully absorb the smell. After an hour, just vacuum the baking soda up. If the odor still remains, you can repeat the process as many times as necessary to remove the smell.
3. Vinegar and Baking Soda
| Materials Needed: | White vinegar, baking soda, spray bottle, clean cloth |
| How Long Does It Take: | A few minutes |
If you need to actually clean up poop from your hardwood floors and remove the smell as well and you don’t have an enzymatic cleaner, you can create a mixture of baking soda and vinegar. To do this, add one cup of white vinegar to one cup of water in a spray bottle. Then, add in two teaspoons of baking soda and shake the bottle to mix everything up.
First, pick up any poop with a paper towel if necessary. Then, spray the mixture on the floor where the odor is and let it sit for about five to ten minutes. The vinegar will help to clean and disinfect the area while both the baking soda and vinegar remove the odor. After ten minutes have passed, use a clean cloth to wipe up the area.
4. Vinegar and Grapefruit Essential Oil
| Materials Needed: | White vinegar, grapefruit essential oil, scrub brush |
| How Long Does It Take: | 15 – 30 minutes |
If the poop smell is accompanied by a stain, you can also try mixing together white vinegar and grapefruit oil with water. The vinegar will help to remove the stain while the grapefruit essential oil will help to disguise the smell of the poop as well as the vinegar.
To use this method, fill a bucket with warm water, add one cup of vinegar, and several drops of grapefruit essential oil. Mix the ingredients together then dip a scrub brush into the solution and use it to scrub the floor where the stain and odor are. Depending on the size and age of the stain and how strong the odor is, it can take anywhere from a few minutes to 30 minutes or longer to remove the stain and odor completely.
Conclusion
Removing the smell of dog poop from a hardwood floor is generally not that difficult. However, if the odor has been there for a while or it is accompanied by a stain, it may be a bit harder to remove. The most effective way to remove it is by scrubbing the floor with an enzymatic cleaner specifically made for pet odors.
But if you don’t have an enzymatic cleaner and don’t want to go out and buy it, there are a couple of household products you can use as well. Whichever method you choose, we hope that you’re successful in removing any unpleasant pet odors from your hardwood floor.
Featured Image Credit: Dominik QN, Unsplash
