Dogs are great companions to have around, and their loyalty is priceless. Yet, they’re just animals that need care, and owning one can be a big responsibility. Forget the regular visits to the vet, healthy diet, and grooming routines. Having a dog or any other pet can make your living spaces messy and unpleasant.
An example is when they pee and poo around the home, leaving a pungent smell on your concrete patio. Because you’ll need to clean up, you must understand how to clean dog urine from a concrete patio.
You can remove dog urine smell from a concrete patio in several ways. You can use an enzyme cleaner, known as the best urine remover for concrete, furniture, etc., among other easy DIY methods. With that said, let’s guide you on how to get rid of dog urine smell outside concrete.
Table of Contents
Why Urine Is So Bad For Concrete Patio?
Naturally, concrete is dry and tough, as all cemented slabs are known to be. Concrete is also a porous material, meaning that any liquid that comes into contact with it be it water or urine, gets absorbed into it and can saturate it.
For water and other consumable liquids, this is relatively safe. But it becomes something else regarding bodily fluids, especially pet urine. Dog urine can sleep down into the concrete and cause stubborn stains, emitting unpleasant smells.
This may not only alter the aesthetics of your concrete patio and other outdoor floorings, but it can make outdoor living unpleasant due to the urine smell.
If left as is, the potent stuff may stay dormant inside your concrete for a long time, emitting the repulsive odor due to dehydration from moisture. You’ll not dream of spending time, leave alone having guests over on your patio.
If you’re already dealing with such a problem and not sure how to get dog urine smells off the patio, your frustrations will be a thing of the past after implementing the tips in this guide.
How To Identify Urine Odor Stains In Concrete?
To completely remove dog urine smell from patio, you want to use an enzymatic pet urine cleaner.
But most importantly, you want to be sure you know the exact spots on your concrete where the smell is coming from to ensure thorough cleaning.
Sometimes it doesn’t take much effort to identify the source of pet urine smell. It can be around the pet pen where they spend most of their time, while other times, you’ll need to sniff around the patio, driveway, garage, or backyard to be sure.
The challenge comes when you just moved into a new home whose previous owners had pets that left their odor all over the place. The previous homeowners may have cleaned the stains off, so it can be a lot of work trying to detect where the foul smell is coming from.
To help make things easier for you, we recommend using a UV light or a backlight to identify the affected spots quickly.
Close all doors and windows and switch off the backlights for garages and enclosed patios. Hold the UV light three feet from the ground and scan the floor from corner to corner.
Dried urine stains will be visible in different colors, including blue, yellow, or green markings on that concrete floor.
Mark out the stained areas you identified with dry chalk and scan the walls as well since dogs are known to pee on walls.
Things To Know Before You Clean Urine Odors
Before you embark on getting rid of pet urine smell from your outdoor living spaces, there are a few things you need to know. They include a few popular methods used to pet urine and stain off clean concrete patios.
You may want to use an enzymatic cleaner, or you could use an ionic cleaner. Other techniques include using odorzyme and TSP. Let’s examine these methods below.
Methods Of Removing Dog Urine From Concrete Patio
1. Using The Enzyme Cleaner
If you choose to use this method, first clean the entire concrete thoroughly with water and wait for it to dry. Next, pour enzymatic cleaners on the stained areas as per the instructions on the bottle.
From the instructions, you’ll know whether you should mix the cleaver with water or use it as it is directly from the bottle.
Allow the enzyme cleaner to sit on the stain for a minimum of two hours to ensure it is thoroughly soaked into the stain.
The longer it stays on the concrete, the better it will effectively eliminate the stain and the smell. If you live in an area with a hotter climate, be sure to reapply the cleaner as it starts to evaporate.
After two or three hours, thoroughly scrub the stained spot with the cleaner on it. Alternatively, try the following option.
2. Use Ionic Cleaner
If the first odor that hits your nostrils each time you drive through your gate or get in the house by the front door is a pungent smell, it may be that your pets have turned your concrete patio or driveway into the perfect peeing spots.
Fortunately, you can neutralize the foul smell and encourage them to mark their territory by cleaning up with an ionic cleaner.
For this method, mix about seven cups of vinegar, another seven cups of water, and one cup of baking soda.
Pour the solution on the stained areas and let it sit for a few hours until it’s completely dried up, then rinse by hosing it off.
Your outdoor spaces will smell fresh again, and your pets will just have to find another place to pee.
In addition, if you have unsealed concrete and want to clean up using this method, follow these steps for the best results:
- Ensure the floor is completely dry, and do not use any other chemicals besides the vinegar, baking soda, and water solution. If the unsealed concrete has adhesives or carpets, ensure they’re entirely scrapped off.
- Thoroughly sweep the floor to get rid of all debris and clear the place of any loose material.
- Clean the place thoroughly using the tips above for an ionic cleaner.
- Once all the order is gone, clean the residue from the floor with a sponge mop and water.
3. Use TSP
Once you’ve identified the spots where your pets relieved themselves, you’ll need to prevent bacteria infestation or other residual urine elements.
Although enzymatic cleaners are great for cleaning up the stains and removing the smell, most do not help curb bacteria.
Therefore we recommend that you scrub off the affected surface with a much stronger solution of TSP (Trisodium Phosphate).
Measure a half cup of TSP and a gallon of hot water. This is a strong chemical solution, so you want to wear gloves and eye protection gear before you start to ensure you’re safe.
The TSP works by removing bacterial, urine residues, and most stains, but it doesn’t altogether remove stains. In most cases, uric acid crystals will be left behind after treatment.
Treating with TSP before cleaning is recommended as it allows the enzymatic pet urine cleaner to work more efficiently to remove the uric acid crystals.
Having mixed the TSP with water, it will become hot after a few minutes. Pour it onto the stained surface and scrub it off with a bristled nylon brush.
Ensure the TSP solution stays for at least 10 minutes or more to ensure it is thoroughly soaked in the concrete.
Naturally, the foil smell will double in intensity the moment you soak your concrete patio floor with TSP.
This happens when urine residue combined with uric acid crystals reacts and releases gas once it comes into contact with water.
With the treatment fully complete desired results, pour hot water on the surface and scrub off once again before vacuuming.
For this, use a carpet cleaner and repeat the process at least twice or thrice. This process is necessary to eliminate all urine residue and TPS solution.
Depending on the workload, follow the same steps for all the affected surfaces of your concrete: scrub, soak, rinse).
The next step is to allow the concrete to dry overnight, giving it a minimum of 2/24 hours. When it comes to rinsing, use a high-pressure hose to accelerate the process.
How To Completely Remove Dog Smell From Concrete Or Backyard: Quick Steps
Follow these easy steps to remove the dog smell from your concrete or backyard completely.
1. Get The Concrete Surface Ready
You’ll need to follow different procedures depending on which cleaning method you intend to use.
For example, if you’re using ion-based cleaning solutions to remove odor, saturate the affected surfaces with warm water and suction it with wet-vac.
Note that this method works best for recently dried surfaces only. Otherwise, if the dog urine on your concrete patio is old and dried (repeatedly peed on), you may want to use enzymatic cleaners.
Use vinegar or baking soda to clean the surface. The vinegar should be mixed with hot water to create a stronger neutralizer.
2. Treat The Stained, Smelly Surfaces
With the preparation done, the next step is to treat it with a urine-removal solution to ensure all bacteria are permanently dissolved and to remove residual acid and odors from the surface.
3. Seal and Protect
When you’re confident you’ve followed all the procedures given above for cleaning and sanitizing your compromised surfaces, it’s time to use a concrete sealer.
This process is optional but helps encapsulate and seal your concrete flooring to shield it from moisture.
Moisture will most likely activate and release any missed urine stains into the air. In other words, sealing helps contain any missed stains and keeps the pungent smell from being released into the air.
Finally, sealing helps provide general protection against future accidents. It’s also a better alternative to paint and helps improve the aesthetics of your outdoor flooring.
Why Is Dog Or Cat Urine In Concrete So Smelly?
Several reasons contribute to this phenomenon. First, unsealed concrete cannot prevent the emission of pet odors.
Secondly, concrete is a porous material meaning it can soak up and retain the urine for a long time, especially if it’s not cleaned up immediately.
The floors of most pet care facilities are made of smooth concrete to prevent this.
In addition, dogs and cats tend to scratch, dig and chew unsealed flooring bit thru can’t do that with sealed concrete.
The sealed concrete also doesn’t harbor fleas and mites from pets and is easy to clean. Pet urine, like other bodily wastes, is naturally smelly and unpleasant owing to ammonia and uric acid.
If it ends up in the wrong place, the smell can linger on for a long time until something is done about it.
So whether your dog or cat chooses to relieve themselves on your concrete patio or driveway to mark their territory, you can clean it up using several methods, most of which are highlighted in this guide. I a dedicated article on how to prevent cats from peeing on furniture: read it to avoid getting smells on outdoor furniture.
What To Do If You Can’t Remove Dog Urine Smell From Patio Using Normal Methods
If you’ve tried all the possible ways you can think of and still can’t get rid of dog urine smell from the patio, you might want to try a few new tricks, including the following:
1. Use The Garden Hose
For fresh urine that’s not dried up, you can easily clean up the place and curb the smell immediately by washing the area off with plenty of clean water.
Grab the garden hose and liberally spray water on the affected spots until the urine is thoroughly rinsed off. Note that this method only works on fresh urine that hasn’t dried up or stayed more than three hours on the concrete.
2. Try A Dog Urine Smell Eliminator
Dog urine smell removal solutions can rid your outdoor spaces of pungent pet smells.
These products come in big plastic jugs that you can attach to the garden hose and spray the backyard with water and the solution simultaneously.
Before considering this option, ensure the dog urine smell eliminator doesn’t contain harmful chemicals that may affect your pets, outdoor furniture, or plants.
3. Use Baking Soda
Sprinkling baking soda is a great option worth trying when you can’t think of anything else. Baking soda is known to absorb odors such as urine and poop smell.
For this method, add baking soda to a large container, cover it with a lid with holes, and then sprinkle it liberally on the stained surfaces. One good thing about baking soda is that it’s relatively safe for plants, grass, and even cement.
For best results, leave it to sit for several hours until it’s fully absorbed into the concrete. Another technique for using baking soda is to use it with a handheld disinfectant sprayer.
Put vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, and water into the sprayer and spray the affected spots where your dog peed on. Be sure to follow the instructions on the handheld sprayer to be sure you’re doing everything right.
4. Invest In An Artificial Dog Lawn Mat
If you still can’t get rid of dog urine smell from your compound after trying the above solutions, or if cleaning up proves to be such a tedious, repetitive chore, we have one last hack you might find more practical.
How about investing in an artificial dog lawn mat and training your dog to use it? This unique mat is made with a base and artificial grass that acts as an absorbent.
If you can teach your dog to pee on the mat instead of the concrete patio or even the lawn, you’ll be able to eliminate the urine smell once and for all.
Most pet owners use this product indoors, but it works just as fine outdoors. However, this option is ideal if you have smaller dogs; otherwise, you’ll need to buy several artificial grass mats and spread them together on the concrete patio or where your dog likes to pee.
To maintain this mart, be sure to clean it regularly with lots of soapy hot water. Another good thing about these special mats is that they come with a duplicate replacement mat to simplify the cleaning process.
Remember that this option is not cheap or convenient, but it’s very effective and efficient, and the smell of dog pee will be gone from your yard.
And yes, you’ll need to train your dog to use this product. We recommend putting them on a leash and walking them to the lawn mat whenever they want to relieve themselves.
How To Clean Dog Urine From Concrete Patio: FAQS
Does dog pee hurt concrete?
Concrete is a porous material. When it comes into contact with urine, it quickly absorbs the urine, then bonds tightly, and the fluid dries, seeping through the pores. This can make it difficult to eliminate the pungent smell.
How do I get urine stains out of concrete?
You can use water, lemon juice, baking soda, vinegar solution, or an enzymatic cleaner. While TSP is good for treating the stained areas, it doesn’t completely eliminate the stains. You can also use ionic-based products, which are just as effective.
Will bleach get rid of dog urine smell on concrete?
No. Bleach isn’t the best or safest solution for eliminating pet urine odor. It is ineffective since it neither treats the surfaces nor removes the smell. The best solution is enzymatic cleaner, TSP, and ionic cleaner.
What is the best disinfectant for dog urine?
There are several effective products in the market that you can choose from. Our best picks include:
- Rocco & Roxie Supply Co. Professional Strength Stain & Odor Remover
- Nature’s Miracle Advanced Stain & Odor Remover
- Bissell Professional Pet Stain & Odor Remover
- OUT! Oxy-Fast Stain & Odor Remover
- OdoBan Disinfectant
What can I spray so my dog won’t pee on the patio?
This is more of a preventative measure and depends on how well your dog is brought up. A well-trained dog will naturally go to the bathroom whenever they need to relieve themselves. But if it’s a young puppy, consider sprinkling some Citronella or spraying vinegar on the areas they’re likely to pee on. Cayenne and chili pepper may be extreme but works like magic, or you can simply plant some plants that your dog finds repulsive to keep them away.
Does vinegar neutralize dog urine from the concrete patio?
Yes, it works like magic. But you’ll have to spice it up with other ingredients such as baking soda and lemon juice for the best results.
Does dog urine soak into concrete?
Yes. Because concrete is porous, the urine will seep through the pores and get absorbed into the concrete if it’s not sealed. When it gets hot, the moisture will activate the uronic acids, producing a pungent smell.
Does lemon remove dog urine smell?
It does suppress the unpleasant stench but not entirely. It works best if mixed with other solutions like vinegar and baking soda. But lemon also contains antifungal properties that are great for killing bacteria.
Wrap Up: How To Clean Dog Urine From Concrete Patio
Pets are great to have around, but caring for them can be a chore. To maintain your home and make life easier for you and your dog, you’ll need a few practical tips up your sleeve to counter their bad bathroom habits.
If your pets can’t use the bathroom, you’ll have to do regular cleaning around the home.
That’s why we believe learning how to clean dog urine from a concrete patio requires some knowledge of the best products and processes.
So if you’re a frustrated pet owner seeking a permanent solution to the never-ending stench of pet urine on your concrete patio, you might find this guide helpful.
You can remove the smell of dog urine from your compound in several ways, so try them out until you find what works for you.
