I have a customer who I cleaned for about a week ago and she says the house has a musty smell. She's not sure if it's dog odor, dog pee, or what.
I thought I would go back and spray the carpet with Tea Tree oil, 20-40 drops per gallon mixed with a bit of alcohol.
What would you do?

I would go back and investigate the scene.
was there/is there adequate air flow?

did you cimex/encap the residential scene? did you use HWE? if HWE, did you overwet?
there are a number of scenarios that are possible.

if you cimex'd , you could possible have just scrubbed and left it all right back in there.
There is a time, about 90% of the time in the residential market, that a good HWE extraction, a FLUSH, is neeed.
Thats the difference between commercial work and residentials.
and even commercials, many of them, get the build up due to bad maintenance, beyond our work, and need a flushing and thorough extraction beyond what encapsualtion of any type can do.
If you cimex'd/encap'd this particular job, there in may lay the problem for starters.

take a moisture meter.. mandatory on all vans. Poke around and see what you come up with.

then if YES< the TT oil is a possiblity or a number of other good urine chems on the market.

It may be that she lives all 'shut up' and it just stinks with no air flow and if the dog has a problem, its only compounded.

turn on the ceiling fans. open the windows. box fans. get air moving.

this will help a little.



Steve Dobson
ProFloor
Custom Cleaning Services

Hey Bo,

Yes. Tea Tree used in that manner should work nicely for you.




Rick Gelinas
encapman

Good answer, Dobs. Only one area of concern that I see. If the musty odor is coming from that old staple, mold, then the last thing you wanna do is start blowing air all over the place! . That being said, investigate thoroughly. Unless you hwe and left enough dampness in the carpet to keep it wet for 3 or 4 days, there should not be a mold problem from your cleaning. It's definitely possible she already had an existing problem you didn't know about that was aggravated by the cleaning. Be thorough on your follow up visit.