Why You Should Always Have A U.V. Light Inspection Before Renting Or Buying A Home

Sometimes giving people bad news is an occupational hazard.  Earlier this week I had an appointment with a young couple that had just bought their first home and wanted the carpets cleaned before they moved in.  It’s a very beautiful home, and the carpet appeared to only be a couple of years old.  The house has creme-colored plush carpeting throughout, and there wasn’t a single spot or stain to be found.  It honestly didn’t look like most of the carpeting had ever been walked on at all.

But something smelled…. bad.

The smell was real subtle, but very pungent, and I could only catch an occasional “whiff” here and there.  The walls had all been freshly painted, and everything was EXTREMELY clean.  We exchanged a couple of “do you smell that?”s, and I was done trying to guess.  I pulled out my U.V. flashlight.

When I closed the blinds and turned the black light on, the room lit up like Christmas in a Disco Tech.  It looked like the alien from the “Predator” movies had rolled around the floor with a bloody nose… or… whatever he has where his nose should be.  In other words, there were glowing spots on about 80% of the carpet.  Once kneeling down, the odor was much more noticeable, and it became obvious that it was all caused by pet urine.  

There was similar urine contamination throughout the entire home, and I had no choice but to advise them to remove and replace all of the carpeting and padding.  Without even seeing the sub-flooring beneath the carpeting, I advised them to seal it with Kilz or a similar product before installing any new flooring.  This would be the only way to avoid odor possibly contaminating brand new flooring.