How to hide urine stains from a black light

Do you have pets that seem to love peeing all over your precious carpet? Sadly, if there are strict rules in your apartment or rental home, those pee stains can make you end up paying a fine or worse, you might even get evicted. This is the reason why it is imperative that you know how to remove urine stains from black light.

Does urine show up under a blacklight

A blacklight can be used for detecting different body fluids. It is also good tool to search for pet urine or ensure that a hotel room or bathroom is clean.

How to hide urine stains from a black light

In particular, cat urine glows extremely bright under the ultraviolet light. The presence of the element phosphorus in urine is the reason why it shows up under a blacklight.

Phosphorus glows in yellowish green when there is oxygen present without or with blacklight. However, the light imparts extra energy that makes it easier to see the chemiluminescence. There are also broken down blood proteins in urine that glow under a blacklight.

What stains show under black light

A black light can detect items containing fluorescers in them once they are shined with the ultraviolet rays coming from the light.  The following are some of the stains or spills that show up under black lights:

  • Biological stains such as urine, blood, saliva, and semen
  • Club soda as well as all liquids with quinine content
  • Invisible ink made using lemon juice and other similar compounds
  • Laundry stains such as dried liquid detergents
  • Toothpaste containing whiteners that can fluoresce

What color does urine show up under a blacklight

There is a common popular belief that urine shows up under a blacklight as a bright white stain. However, this is actually far from the truth. Urine is somewhat hard to see since it appears under a blacklight as an extremely pale yellow color.

Stains that appear bright white are often other substances like spilled drinks or carpet cleaners. The residue of these substances can fluoresce bright under blacklights.

Urine will fluoresce as pale yellow color. Waiting until nighttime when it is dark is the best way for seeing urine under blacklights. All interior lights must be turned off. Grab the blacklight then hold it 1 to 2 inches above the affected area. Sweep over the area slowly with the blacklight to find the light yellow stains.

Why does black light still shows urine after cleaning

You might treat urine stains with your preferred urine remove. Unfortunately, while most cleaners will get rid of the yellow stain, these might leave a residue behind that will show up or fluoresce as bright white. It might not be an issue of or in itself but if your landlord is not well-informed, make sure that you remove the cleaner residue as well. You can remove the residue by vacuuming it first and rinsing with water. You can also gently rub the area with wet washcloth.

How to find urine stains with a black light

To find urine stains with a black light, make sure you search at night or close the blinds and turn off the lights. Pet urine glows in broad daylight under UV. It might only be a little bit difficult to find because you need to point the light directly on the surface to see it.

Turn on the black light and shine this on different surfaces. When searching for locations of soiling, check all horizontal surfaces such as furniture tops, bed sheets, bookshelves, clothes, and even in bathtubs and sinks. If your cats spray urine, you also need to look on vertical surfaces, particularly near doorways, corners, and passages.

It might be a bit scary to turn the black light on for the first time since everything might glow. There are various substances glowing under black light conditions and these include some wallpaper glue.

All you need to do is identify if what you see looks like something else.  When it comes to finding urine stains, you need to look for yellow individual spots or splatter. You might also observe a drop that ran down the wall before it dried out on vertical surfaces.

How to clean urine to pass a black light test

Here are a few steps you can do to clean urine to pass the black light test.

Total Time: 40 minutes

1. Use a black light to look for urine stains

If you want to ensure that urine stains won’t show up during an inspection, the first step is to get a black light yourself. Stains not visible to the naked eye may look like big disasters under blacklights. Check your entire apartment with a black light. If your dog accidentally peed on your rug, chances are it won’t appear under black lights. Only human or cat pee has a fluorescent glow.

2. Apply a cleaning agent

Once you identified the parts that require cleaning, you can now start cleaning. Bleach is one of the best substances for cleaning all kinds of stain. While it might not be a conventional choice for urine stain removal, it is still worth a try. But, bleach may also change the color of your carpet or sheets so check of the surface is bleach-friendly.

Prepare a gallon of water and add one cup of bleach to it. Mix it well and transfer the solution to a spray bottle. Spray this on the urine stain then lift the stain by scrubbing it with a sponge.

3. Apply designated enzymatic cleaner

If bleach doesn’t work and the urine stain continues to show under the black light, a designated enzymatic cleaner can help save your day. As stated earlier, phosphorus as well as uric acid is the reason why urine glows. An enzymatic cleaner can break down all of these. All you have to do is pour some of the cleaner on the stain then let it work its magic.

After cleaning the area with the cleaner of your choice, you can now give your carpet the final cleanse using lukewarm water and a few towels. Allow the area to dry unless you used a water spot remover. Open the windows or turn on the fan to make the material dry completely.

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