This is a specific conversation about Pet stain and odour removal — what actually works — ask about yours and get one honest answer for your exact situation.
inparticular.ai
Treating the subfloor before new carpet goes down is genuinely one of the smartest things you can do — and the only products worth using are enzyme-based cleaners. Everything else just masks the smell, and if any odour survives under your new carpet, it'll come straight through and your pet will zero in on the same spot all over again. Before I point you to the right product, tell me: what animal are we dealing with, roughly how large is the area, and are there specific spots you know have been heavily used, or are you treating the whole floor as a precaution?
It's a dog — a four-year-old Labrador. There are a couple of obvious patches near the door where he used to have accidents when he was younger, but I want to treat the whole floor really to be safe before the carpet fitters come next week.
inparticular.ai
Good call treating the whole floor — Labs are big dogs and even small accidents soak deep into subfloor boards, so invisible contamination is very real. For a whole-room treatment like this, you want a product with a high enzyme concentration that you can apply generously without it costing a fortune. What's the subfloor material — is it wooden boards or concrete screed?
inparticular.ai
Perfect, that's useful to know. Wood is porous, so the enzyme solution needs to dwell for a decent amount of time to work into the grain — you're not just cleaning the surface. My recommendation is Simple Solution Extreme Pet Stain and Odour Remover — get the large 4-litre concentrate. It's a professional-strength enzyme formula, the concentrate means you can dilute it to cover the whole room economically, and it's specifically built for porous surfaces. For your known hotspots near the door, apply it undiluted, let it sit for 10 minutes, then work outward at the standard dilution across the rest of the floor. Let the whole thing dry completely before the fitters arrive — ideally give it 24 hours with the windows open.
Should I do anything to the floorboards themselves, like sanding, or is the cleaner enough?
inparticular.ai
If the boards are heavily stained and you can see the discolouration, a light sand of those specific areas before you treat will help the enzyme penetrate better — but it's not essential everywhere. The enzyme cleaner is doing the biological work of breaking down the odour compounds, not just sitting on the surface. The main thing is not to rush the drying time. If you treat, let it dry fully, and the room still smells when you get down close to the floor, do a second application on those spots before the carpet goes in. One treatment is usually enough, but a Lab's puppy-phase accidents can go deep.
That makes sense. How much of the concentrate should I buy for a living room — it's probably about 25 square metres?
inparticular.ai
At standard dilution, 4 litres of Simple Solution Extreme concentrate will cover well over 25 square metres comfortably. Buy one 4-litre bottle — that gives you enough for a full even treatment of the room, a heavier application on the hotspot patches, and a little left over for a second pass if you feel you need it. You won't need two bottles unless the floor is heavily saturated in multiple areas, which doesn't sound like your situation.
