Whether you are in the throes of potty training or your pet has an accident on the carpet, you want to clean up urine as quickly as possible.

However, my focus in this article is to give tips for removing human urine. If you need to remove pet urine check out this page on pet stain removal.
Step 1: Run the fabric, inside out, under the cold (not warm or hot) water to flush out as much of the urine as possible.
Step 2: Pretreat the stain with liquid laundry detergent containing enzymes, soaking for 30 minutes in cold water, or in the alternative pretreat with an enzyme pretreater. Do not use hot water.
Hint: If the stain is older, you may need to soak even longer, perhaps even overnight.
Step 3: Launder in the hottest water the fabric will allow to get out the stain, and either chlorine bleach if the fabric will allow it, or color bleach if not.
Hint: Make sure the stain is gone after washing, but before you place in the dryer or you may set the stain.
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There are lots of products out there for cleaning up urine stains, but which ones actually work the best?
You can submit your own urine cleaner review here to help everyone learn which products have worked (or not worked) for you.
Step 1: Blot any excess urine from the upholstery, being careful not to spread the stain or grind it into the upholstery.
Step 2: Mix a solution of two cups cool water, one tablespoon dishwashing liquid, and one tablespoon of vinegar.
Step 3: Using this solution, sponge the stain from the urine with a clean white cloth.
Step 4: Next, blot at the stain until the liquid is absorbed.
Step 5: Repeat steps 3-4 until the stain from the urine is removed from the upholstery.
If that removes the stain skip down to step 7. Otherwise, continue on with the next step.
Step 6: If the stain remains use an eye dropper to apply a few drops of 3% hydrogen peroxide to the urine stain, followed by a few drops of ammonia.
Hint: Test both the hydrogen peroxide and ammonia in an inconspicuous location of your upholstery to make sure it does not harm it before using either on your urine stain.
Step 7: Now that the stain is removed you should get plain cold water and a new white cloth and sponge the area to remove the cleaning solution, and then blot dry.
Hint: Be sure to get the upholstery only as wet as necessary to remove the stain from the urine.
You can get more information on how to clean upholstery here.
The instructions for urine stain removal from carpet is the same as for upholstery.
The instructions for removing urine from a mattress are quite similar to the instructions above for removing urine from upholstery.
You can also check out this article and video for removing urine on a mattress.
Do you have your own urine stain removal tip? If so, submit your tip about removing urine stains here, or read other tips already submitted.
Are you a stain magnet like me? If so, check out the A to Z Stain Removal Guide which gives directions for how to remove over 100 types of stains from all kinds of surfaces.
Below are examples of the most common stains discussed in the Guide.

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CAUTION: This website is provided for informational purposes only, and Stain-Removal-101.com provides it as is, without warranties or guarantees. Some stains just won't come out, and are permanent. Further, some stain removal methods can harm your item, so if the stained item is sentimental or expensive call a professional. See disclaimer of liability for more information.
See the A-Z Stain Removal Guide for even more types of stains.
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