Repair Or Replace?

A few years ago I was asked to repair, decontaminate or restore a carpet in a bed room that had extensive pet urine damage through it. It was a room that had been used by the pet as a bathroom. It was an expensive piece of carpet for the time. The owners wanted it cleaned and treated to remove the smell. We were lucky in one respect in that it had very few stains, and the stains that were on it were not very visible which is common with urine. The smell however was terrible. To the point it was hard to work around. We took the carpet up and removed the pad under the carpet. The pad we threw away with the intent to replace it with new. When we examined the back of the carpet it was hard to find a spot that was not stained from the dog urine. The urine had soaked through the carpet and pad and into the floor. It was also in the baseboards and tack strip and slightly up the wall on the sheetrock. After getting the carpet and pad out and airing the room out the smell was much improved. But we also cleaned the contaminated surfaces and treated them with a commercial odor eliminating chemical. The carpet we took into the shop and thoroughly steam cleaned it front and back several times. The stains that were on the surface cleaned out easily. We then treated it with the same odor eliminating chemicals that we used in the room. We applied enough of the chemical so it was wet from front to back and we kept it wet for 24 hours which is what was recommended by the chemical manufacturer. We repeated the odor treatment a couple times. We hung the carpet up to dry between each treatment. We tested between to see if the urine smell was gone. When it got to the point that it was hard to detect the odor we returned it to the homeowners. They were thrilled. Couldn't have been happier with the results until they saw the bill. Sometimes it is better to replace than to repair. Each person needs to decide for themselves at what point it is better for them to replace instead of repair. This will also depend on the equipment and chemicals they have available to them to accomplish the task at hand.  You need to assess the best you can the extent of the damage you have so you can make a good decision for yourself.