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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think if a carpet is pissed on it should be replaced?

148 replies

GeometricGiraffes · 09/11/2019 14:57

Or at least professionally cleaned?

I'm taking an adult human here. Not a puppy or something.

It's been 'cleaned' by the pisser but I can still smell it.

It's an old carpet anyway but AIBU to want SOME money towards it being replaced or the pisser to pay for it to be professionally cleaned?

OP posts:

Puzzledandpissedoff · 09/11/2019 15:59

How the hell did it get to a square metre puddle? Assuming your loo's also upstairs, surely even a drunk would keep staggering towards the bathroom rather than let it all go in one spot??

Anyway, since it's on the landing, can you at least cut that piece of carpet/underlay out so the boards can start drying? At least it wouldn't be as noticeable as if it was in the middle of the lounge carpet or something ...

Crunchymum · 09/11/2019 16:00

I assume you have told them that you aren't happy with their cleaning efforts and have asked them to pay towards a professional clean.

SleepyKat · 09/11/2019 16:00

If you’re replacing it anyway then I think it’s a bit grabby to ask for money towards it. Obviously if the smell is so bad that you can’t cope for a few weeks then they should pay for cleaning. But I think asking for payment for cleaning and then not having it cleaned is.....taking the piss!

Sycamoretrees · 09/11/2019 16:01

At the very least you need an enzyme cleaner specifically designed to break down urine. Pets at home have the spray and it's very effective for eliminating the smell of urine (and vomit if required!). Quite frankly he should be buying you a new carpet, asap, and apologising for ever more.

IrmaFayLear · 09/11/2019 16:03

Ha ha, SleepyKat!

I get that you are mad, OP, but if, say, Granny had weed on the carpet would you ask her to buy a new one? Or the parents of a child? If it had been a brand-new carpet you would have a point, but to ask someone to pay for the replacement of an old one... no, you can't do that.

BoomBoomsCousin · 09/11/2019 16:04

It’s reasonable to ask for it to be cleaned so it’s no longer stained and doesn’t smell. It isn’t reasonable to insist on a cash payment that you actually put towards your new carpet but it’s fine to do that if he’d prefer to give cash than do the work. It sounds like he had a go at cleaning and wasn’t any good at it - if he cant do it he needs to pay for someone else to and in that case it would be pretty awful of him to insist the money was spent on the cleaning rather than subsidizing the new carpet. But if he has a mate who cleans carpets or he wants to have another go with a rental machine or something that’s not that unreasonable of him.

The whole grown adult so drunk they piss on the carpet is another matter, though. I would probably be wanting someone who acted like that to pay for something nice by way of compensation for them being so disgusting too - I just don’t think you can insist on it.

cardibach · 09/11/2019 16:05

As others have said, take the landing carpet up now so the boards can dry and don’t get more smelly. You can cope without a landing carpet for a month or so with no ill effects! I wouldn’t want to put a new carpet down on the boards without airing them anyway - and if it’s co pressie. Board not actual boards some may need replacing. It would be reasonable for the pisser to pay for that.

Span1elsRock · 09/11/2019 16:08

Cleaning is a waste of time, as the smell will be in the underlay and floorboards underneath......... I'd rip it up quickly and get the floorboards drying out.

MollyMorals · 09/11/2019 16:11

A grown adult urinating on a carpet is beyond grim. It will have soaked to the underlay. Sorry, there’s no way I would have that carpet remain in my home and whoever did it needs to replace it. Jesus Christ what type of people urinate outwith the toilet?

It doesn’t matter if the carpet needs replaced, the person that urinated on it should have to replace it. FFS they many have no standards but you have OP.

MrsFoxPlus4Again · 09/11/2019 16:12

Baffled at the amount of people being able to afford new carpets like it’s spare change. Haven’t had any guest wetting themselves here but definitely don’t have the money to get a new carpet anytime the dogs, cats or kids might have a accident.

cantfindname · 09/11/2019 16:12

Household insurance? Pisser to pay the excess?

thatwouldbeanecumenicalmatter · 09/11/2019 16:14

Perfectly reasonable to ask for the cost of cleaning and put towards a new carpet.

This^^

And second PPs saying you're going to need to lift the carpet and underlay asap to assess the damage to the floorboards. From experience with cats wee, we had to treat the wood multiple times over a few weeks and thoroughly air it - and that was a tiny cat wee not alcohol reeking piss.

Zippyx · 09/11/2019 16:14

YANBU to get a quote for cleaning and put towards replacement. Best course of action, really.

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 09/11/2019 16:15

I assume this is either your husband/partner or an adult child?
Fucking disgusting either way and of course they should put money towards getting it cleaned burnt or replaced, any decent human being would offer without having to be asked!

Gross.

ThatMuppetShow · 09/11/2019 16:17

Baffled at the amount of people being able to afford new carpets like it’s spare change.

Carpets can be as cheap as anything, but regardless, I would rather put a cut off bit on the bare floor until I can afford a new one, as opposed to keep a urine-soaked flooring stinking the house down.

thatwouldbeanecumenicalmatter · 09/11/2019 16:17

Forgot to say I'd be worried its soaked into the ceiling below if its on a landing as well. (Bitter experience of knocking over a half full bucket of water in a bedroom - the water ended up trickling through a crack in the ceiling below.)

Puzzledandpissedoff · 09/11/2019 16:17

Come to think of it, how long ago did this happen? Because if it's long enough for them to have sobered up I'd have expected them to have made an offer to make things right by now

YouJustDoYou · 09/11/2019 16:19

I've found male piss stinks far worse than female piss (no idea why), so I would imagine a man pissing on a carpet would definitely warrant a replacement.

StanleySteamer · 09/11/2019 16:23

You can hire carpet cleaners from dry cleaning shops. Get the pisser to go fetch it, pay for it, do it then take it back.

Lesson learned!

codenameduchess · 09/11/2019 16:27

I think yabu to ask for money for a clean that you don't intend to get done. You were planning on replacing the carpet anyway so you're not replacing because they pissed.

And are you really going to leave a carpet that 'reeks' down until after Christmas? Surely get the pisser to actually pay for a clean or hire a carpet cleaner and clean it themselves?

Windygate · 09/11/2019 16:28

@GeometricGiraffes your suggestion seems very reasonable. Is your ex houseguest refusing to pay up?

Pretzelcoatl · 09/11/2019 16:29

I haven’t read all of the replies, but I was a carpet cleaner way back when I was in university. If it’s been cleaned and you can still smell it, pull the carpet back and replace the underpad.

Boysey45 · 09/11/2019 16:30

I'd want a new carpet and say that if they don't give me the money then I will tell everyone and I mean everyone what they have done with photos.
Obviously if it was someone who was ill or infirm then that's different.
if they have the money to get that pissed that they cant make it to the toilet then they have the money for a new carpet.

StanleySteamer · 09/11/2019 16:31

If the guy had been "on the piss" then normally his piss wouldn't be too strong, unless he woke up still drunk, and got disoriented/taken short.
Secondly, a full bladder holds just over a pint so I doubt you'd have a problem witt the ceiling below. A bucket hold about 2 gallons i.e. about 16 times as much. You said 1 metre squared, this means it has run a long way sideways and will not have gone deep.
Agree with all remarks re underlay and airing the floor boards. If the house is old and has proper floor boards, you could turn them over once you've taken them up and cleaned them. If it is chipboard flooring then it is much worse, unless the chipboard was sealed. Plywood no worse than floor boards just harder to take up. All can be replaced. Best of luck!

Lucked · 09/11/2019 16:34

I think if it reeks you can’t wait till after Christmas!

For tonight I would dump a tub of bicarbonate of soda on it and hoover in the morning. Repeat as necessary and rent a carpet washer from B&Q or a supermarket in the morning.

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