Washing Concrete Stains

Have you ever passed by a slab of concrete that just reeked of animal piss? Dog and cat urine can tend to seep into concrete and the smell can permeate the entire area. In this article we’re going to look at a couple of ways to clean that smell out of concrete and return the neighborhood to normal.

The first step is to find the spot with the animal urine. The easiest way to find a pee spot in concrete is with a UV light. This has to be done in the dark, as UV lights won’t work under strong light. The stains will have a blueish or greenish tint under the black light. Once you’ve scanned the room and found the pee stains, outline them with something, like a string or chalk. Make sure to check the walls as well, as sometimes a dog will lift up its leg and pee on a wall.

If the pet has peed recently and hasn’t fully seeped into the concrete yet you’ll be able to soak up a lot of it with newspapers or paper towels. Once the excess urine is disposed of and there’s only the wet spot left on the concrete, you’ll want to use a disinfectant spray or wipes to clean the surface. Be sure not to scrub it aggressively, as this will only force the urine to seep deeper into the concrete. Also avoid using ammonia. Ammonia already has the smell of piss and it would be redundant to try using it to clean urine. You can try using water and bleach. For every 2 cups of water, use 1 tablespoon of bleach.

If the urine has already completely dried by the time you find it, you’ll need to use Trisodium Phosphate to get it out. Protect your eyes and skin by wearing working goggles and rubber gloves. Get a gallon or 2 bucket of warm water and a scrub brush, add half a cup of TSP to each gallon of water. Then get scrubbing!

I hope this article was helpful and you’ll be able to successfully use it to get rid of those nasty urine stains in your concrete.