Many of us enjoy sharing our homes with dogs, cats, and other pets and could not imagine life without them. However, as much as we love them and love spending time with them, there are some aspects of being a pet parent that are a bit less fun. Namely, cleaning up accidents in the house, removing their hair from sofas and rugs, cleaning up the occasional vomit, and trying to figure out how to get rid of urine smell.

Our furry family members are certainly worth every minute we spend cleaning up after them, but wouldn’t it be nice to have some incredibly effective products and tips to make that clean up a bit easier? The problem we have found with most products we have tried for removing odors caused by vomit, feces, or urine is that they either just are not that effective or that they only temporarily mask the smell, and the odor inevitably returns. That is just a waste of time and money and leaves you with unwanted odors you should not have to live with.

This is where Urine Zero comes in. Urine Zero was developed by microbiologists to provide a safe, non-toxic solution for completely removing pet urine odors, as well as odors from feces, vomit, diaper pails, trash cans, and more. It is a microbial cleaner, which means it contains trillions of microbes that consume odor-causing compounds, such as the nitrogen that combines with hydrogen to make ammonia. Since ammonia is the cause of unwanted urine smells, introducing microbes that feed on nitrogen is an effective way to completely remove ammonia odors in affected areas.

If you are interested in reading more about how this works and to check out the results of the in-house tests we completed comparing Urine Zero with other products, go here.

If you are ready to learn how to get rid of urine smell on your artificial grass, keep reading.

How to Use Urine Zero on Artificial Turf

What you need:

• Spray bottle or a 1-gallon pump sprayer* (*recommended option)
• Urine Zero
• Water

What you do:

Step 1 – Remove Solid Waste

Remove solid waste, such as feces or vomit, as much as possible. This may include using a bag or scooper to remove larger debris, and then spraying down the area with a garden hose to remove smaller debris or waste that might remain on the blades of grass after using the bag or scooper.

Step 2 – Dilute The Solution

 You may already have a bottle/pump sprayer of Urine Zero diluted with water on hand for this type of situation. If not, you will need to mix one part Urine Zero with nine parts water in a spray bottle or pump sprayer. Make sure to mix the 10X concentrate prior to diluting. Urine Zero is a 10X concentrate, so it is worth measuring accurately to get the most value from your bottle of Urine Zero. The dilution ratio shouldn’t ever change but the amount of product used or the frequency of the product use may increase.

• It is important to stick to the dilution ratio: 1 part Urine Zero to 9 parts water (or equivalently 10% Urine Zero to 90% water).
• Prior to diluting into a spray bottle or pump sprayer, you must mix the contents well.
• We highly recommend using a 1-gallon pump sprayer as opposed to a small spray bottle. You simply cannot saturate the turf areas properly with a spray bottle and the affected areas ALL must be saturated for Urine Zero to work.

Step 3 – Apply

Spray the product liberally on the affected area. When using this pet urine cleaner on artificial grass, you want to fully saturate the area and use enough product to allow it to go below the surface to reach the class II road base or DG beneath the grass. This is particularly important if you are dealing with liquid waste, such as vomit, urine, or diarrhea that may have seeped below the surface.

• The best time to treat your affected area is when the sun isn’t out to evaporate the product (i.e. early mornings or evenings). Evenings, after the sun has gone down would be the very best time as it would allow the product to work throughout the night uninterrupted.

Step 4 – Let The Product Do The Work!

Leave the product on your artificial grass to allow the microbes to consume the odor-causing compounds.

Old + Stubborn Odors: If you are working on removing odors that have been on the grass for a while or are in an area frequently used by your pets as a restroom, you may need to repeat the above process a few times to thoroughly remove pet urine odors.

• If your artificial turf has weed cloth this will be negatively contributing to your odor problem as weed cloth should not be installed for pet areas as it soaks up the urine and is difficult to get out. Your turf installer should know to not install weed cloth if your pets will be peeing on your grass. The best solution would be to remove the weed cloth, especially if your pets have been doing their business on it for a long period of time.

What About Urine Zero Coverage?

As far as product coverage, it really depends on your situation (i.e. the amount of urine, how long the urine has been there untreated, the areas the urine has been able to penetrate, etc.). 

We have heard a wide range from our clients in terms of coverage they were able to achieve within their outdoor spaces which is why each person’s usage will vary based on their specific situation.

We recommend only treating the affected areas, as opposed to spraying all of your artificial turf at the same time.

Urine Zero feeds on the organic matter: urine, feces, vomit, etc. which is why we recommend only treating the affected areas so Urine Zero can get to work removing the odor.

A lot of our clients like to use a 1-gallon pump sprayer so that they can ensure the proper dilution ratio is taking place. You can certainly use a garden hose + sprayer attachment, however, you will want to make sure that you can dilute the formula properly. You will also want to ensure your hose it only turned on to 1/2 of its normal output so as to not waste any of the product. Typically, the amount of product that gets sprayed out will be determined by both the sprayer hole (ounces per gallon) setting, and by how many gallons of water you actually spray on your turf as you do an application. There will be some trial and error when using a garden hose + sprayer as everyone walks at a different speed, sprays a wider/narrower range, has different water pressure, has a different affected area they are treating, etc.

As stated above, the dilution ratio is 1 part Urine Zero to 9 parts water (or equivalently 10% Urine Zero to 90% water).

• For a 1-gallon pump sprayer, you will want to mix 12.8 or 13 oz of Urine Zero to 115 oz of water.
• For a 32 oz spray bottle, you will want to mix 3.2 or 4 oz of Urine Zero to 28 oz of water.
• For a 24 oz spray bottle, you will want to mix 2.4 or 3 oz of Urine Zero to 21 oz of water.
• For a 16 oz spray bottle, you will want to mix 1.6 or 2 oz of Urine Zero to 14 oz of water.

How Often Should I Use Urine Zero?

If you use artificial turf for dogs or cats, such as in a catio or dog run or just in your backyard where they spend time, you will likely be using Urine Zero regularly to stay on top of pet urine odors. Therefore, it is a good idea to keep your spray bottle filled and ready to go so that you can easily address odors in the future. Your pets will continue to do their business on your artificial turf so long as that is the area provided to them, which means you will need to continue to treat the affected area(s) to keep the odor at bay. As mentioned above, properly treating the affected area(s) once the sun goes down will leave you with a fresh-smelling indoor/outdoor space when you wake up in the morning(as long as this isn’t an old odor that will require multiple treatments). Please make sure to keep Urine Zero in a dry/cool location out of direct sunlight as well as keeping the container closed tightly when not used.

• Please note that applying the product one time and expecting it to continue to eradicate the new urine odor will not work. You will need to continue to treat the affected areas so it can consume/digest the new odor-causing bacteria.

Remember, you can also use Urine Zero to remove pet odors on carpet, rugs, and upholstery both inside and outside of your home, as well as hardscapes, such as paving stone patios. It can even remove unwanted smells in trash cans and diaper pails, so you may want to keep one spray bottle handy for outdoor surfaces and another inside with your cleaning supplies for indoor odor control.

If you have tried pet urine odor removers before and have not had much luck, you might be a bit leery about ordering a new product you have never tried. That is completely understandable. We have tried many urine odor removers without success, which is precisely why Urine Zero was developed. Our in-house tests showed that the microbes in Urine Zero had a growth rate of more than three times that of competitors when ammonia (a food source for the microbes) was introduced. This means more microbes to consume the odor-causing compounds and to completely eliminate the odor.