Dear Eri-

There was a period of my life in which I had a carpeted Ferret Room.
I came to regret it, yes I did. I think that most people who have
carpeted Ferret Rooms come to regret it. The carpeting in my Ferret
Room was not expensive, but it was handsome. It was an inexpensive Home
Depot 9X12 Rug on top of a wall to wall carpet, and the colors blended
harmoniously. I am enormously affected by color. I was "sold" from the
get go. I probably would have ignored good advice at the time. Such is
human nature.

Regrettably, my Ferrets utilized every corner of the rectangular room
as a latrine. The urine soaked through the carpeting and burned the
finish of the wood floor beneath. Yes, Nature's Miracle is a fine
product, but there is only so much it can do. It couldn't penetrate the
urine-contaminated carpet padding. The smell was most notable on hot,
muggy days. This was the case for years, until the carpet and pad was
torn up, and the floor beneath replaced. The wood itself had to be
*replaced,* not just sanded down. The urine penetrated deeply. It was
just like having house cats relieve themselves on your wooden floors.
You can't just sand that away.

You say that you are intimidated by the thought of ripping up the
carpet in that room. Hon, you will be ripping up that carpet. And
it will be such a *relief.* Your home will instantly smell so much
better. You will feel so much cleaner. This is my guess.

Now, My experience is not the ONLY possible experience. If there is
someone or some (ones) who have had good results with a carpeted ferret
room, please speak up. Your knowledge could really be useful here,
because you really wouldn't want Eri, who is a nice lady, to go through
what we did! Smeared poo that would dry to a thin crust, interested
carpet beetles, humid days that were against the Geneva Convention, and
even *after* the carpet was up, the realization that the job wasn't
over, it was just beginning. The tack strips had to come out, the
wood itself had to be assessed. Could it be saved? If there is just a
subflooring like plywood, obviously new carpet is going to have to be
purchased, stretched, and put into place...This is not fun.

So please, if your carpet story has a happy ending, SPEAK UP!

Thank you.

Alexandra in MA

[Posted in FML 7482]