We love our furry friends. But we sure don’t love the number they do on our house. Despite all the precautions we can take, pets can take their toll on our home. And of course, the more pets you have, the more that can happen. Whether you plan to sell your home in Albuquerque, you no doubt still want to keep your home in top shape and stay on top of pet damage. Here’s a few tips to help you and your pets stay happy in your home.
Wood Flooring
If you have hardwood floors, they’re no doubt sealed with polyurethane. This can act as a barrier, but it’s not bullet-proof. Urine stains and scratches can still show. But you can fix these.
You can cover surface scratches with a stain-filled marker. For deeper scratches, you need to use wood filler and sand them down. When you re-stain the damaged area, start with the lightest stain you can, let it dry, then stain again until it matches the surrounding area. For larger areas that have scratch damage, you can sand the whole area and re-stain it, making sure to match the rest of the floor.
Urine damage is a bit more tricky. It can cause discoloration and can smell awful. If your floor has a lighter stain, you can sand the area, clean it with wood bleach, and refinish it. You may have to replace the boards in darker stained areas if you can’t scrub out the stain.
Walls
If your furry friends have caused any damage to the walls, you can fix this as well. Wallpapered areas may not be able to be repaired, so you may have to re-paper the whole wall. But with sheet rock or paneling, you can more easily repair the affected area. Sand the damaged area to remove any debros and make the surface smooth. Fill in any holes with spackle, using several layers depending on the level of damage. Make sure you let each layer dry completely before applying a new one. You can use a hair dryer to speed up the drying. Once you have area repaired, you can then cover it with primer and paint it.
Furniture
If your dog used your chair leg for a chew toy, this too can be fixed. Start by prepping the area by using a utility knife to score it with hatch marks, scraping away any frayed edges sticking out. Then use a bit of auto-body filler to fill in the damage. Apply the filler, let it dry a bit, then slice off the excess and reshape it. Sand it smooth once it dries completely.
Then you can mix colors of acrylic paint and coat the are with 2 -3 layers, giving it a wood grain appearance. Then cover with clear coat and rub gently with steel wool to give it the right level of shine.
The Yard
The nitrogen in your dog’s waste can cause quite a bit of damage to a lawn. You can reduce that damage by regularly watering the lawn to keep urine from soaking in. Raking your lawn in the Spring to remove debris and waste can also help. Sprinkle grass seed over areas that look bad.
If you follow these simple tips, you can keep your pet damage to a minimum and keep everyone happy.
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