Vomit odor question

A

AdamJoe

New member
I've got a question to anyone who has ever had to deal with vomit in a car. I have to pick up a customers car tonight for an interior detail. The problem is that her 5 year old ate to much chocolate for easter and heave all over the back seat. Its a Nissan Altima wiht cloth seats. My customer said that she cleaned it up, but there is still that putrid smell in the car. Since I havent had to deal with this before, I was wandering what I should do.



At first I thought about normal upholstry cleaning and maybe using an ozone generator, but I would have to rent one for $45 and I'm not sure if that would work with vomit.



Any suggestions would be much appreciated!
 
Don't those Ozone generators help mostly with issues related to mold and mildew?



I'm betting that the putrid smell has to do with stuff that is still in the cracks and nooks of the seat, as well as in the areas around the seat. Some liquids probably got absorbed through the cloth, into the underlying foam.



So, I think you have two choices: 1) Deep clean the seats with some kind of steam cleaner (like the Little Green Cleaning Machine - or a something of that ilk), 2) Cover the smell up with a stronger, but more pleasant, smell.



I've had some similar issues with furniture in my home (which my cat did bad things too). I found the only real solution was to steam clean the furniture.
 
if you have an Oreck store near you they have a cleaner that breaks down animal vomit and feces and deoderizes-would work or you could try Fabreze
 
I have had a lot of success with Oxiclean type products for vomit. I have a vague memory of people suggesting bicarbonate of soda.
 
Ozone generators work well because Ozone reacts readily with lots of biological materials, whether it's live mold and mildew or leftover yuk. Think of it as a kind of gaseous bleach.



Any pet store will have a myriad of products specifically formulated for removing pet (i.e. biological) odors and stains.





PC.
 
Yeah, there are products made just for this that work rather well. Check TOL for products of this kind if you don't find any locally.



Generally, you need the product to contact the source of the odor. This can mean real saturation if the stuff has gotten down into the padding/etc.
 
Well,



I think after everything that you all have thrown at me (thanks by the way), I think I will have to settle on the Suggestion by wannafbody. I have to pick up the car in about 3 hours so I have limited time to purchase a product. Luckily there is an Oreck vaccum cleaner store in my area and they said they have 2 bottles left of ther enzyme treating odor eliminator. They said that I have to thoroughly saturate the area with the chemical and blot it dry. Plus it only costs $10 a bottle compared to the $45 rental fee for the ozone generator.



Thank you all very much for your quick and informative suggestions.
 
I've done it before and usually just regular shampooing gets rid of the smell completely. If you want to be sure you can always try some odor elimator or ozone.
 
You need to be sure and check EVERYWHERE to make sure there isn't any lingering vomit that she missed while "cleaning it up". Check under the rear seat, inside the seat belt buckles, the seat belts, under and between the front seats and basically everywhere and anywhere that the puke could conceivably be. Also, be aware that you are dealing with biological material and you should observe some basic safety precautions (gloves, long sleeves, face mask). This is a bigger deal than most people nake of it. You really need to have a hot water extractor or dry vapor steamer to properly correct this problem. I always start by finding the affected area and pretreating with a mild all purpose cleaner. Extract the area with just plain hot water. This will rinse and extract the majority of the problem and not spread the material around the car. You would not believe how many odor removal jobs we get that are just fixing what someone else did when they tried to fix the problem and just made it worse by spreading the material all over the interior. After you have extracted the area, treat the affected area with a problem specific chemical (check with your local janitorial supply company) and proceed to shampoo as normal.
 
Great post Shineshop:xyxthumbs



Just as he stated this is NOT as simple as a shampoo or cleaning then spraying some air freshner. You need to kill the bacteria crud and then even inject the foam padding of the seats with the germicide....kill...kill......KILL!!



Most pro's charge extra for this because you are basically dealing with hazardous materials.



Anthony
 
About ten years I ago I faced the same dilemma. A friend who'd had too much to drink had unloaded in my Turbo Coupe.



I shampoo'd the devil out of the interior but was not quite able to completely kill the smell.



In desperation, I tried something that I had in the house for cleaning up behind pet 'accidents'. At the time, I had a seven month old female Borzoi who was quite problem to housebreak. So, I'd been cleaning up a lot of accidents about that time.



I am writing this from work, so I don't have the jug handy to get the name, but this is ostensibly an enzyme formula which attacks the bacteria causing the odor. Worked great on carpeting....worked great in the Coupe. I've not had to deal with such a problem (car or house) since, but it worked so well that I have always kept a jug of the stuff around the house, just in case.



It is sold by the gallon jug at just about any pet supply store (PetsMart, etc.) As I recall, it was not at all overly expensive....$8 or 10 per gallon, last I bought any. I'll try to remember to check and post the actual name later on this eve.







....BH
 
I had the worst one ever a couple of months ago. Brand new Chevrolet Equinox that some asshat puked all over after a wine tasting party. It was everywhere - headliner, windows, seats, carpets, in the front, in the back, anywhere it could be - it was. Truly disgusting and it was the guys company car to boot. Try explaining thta one to the boss.
 
Finally got around to digging out the jug. The solution I was referring to earlier is "PetZyme". Still available at your local PetSMart....saw some on the shelf yesterday.



.....BH
 
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