# "Pet Smell"



## trptman (Mar 26, 2007)

Getting ready to buy a rental house(to give myself work over the winter), the place was a bank foreclosure and the people must have had a lot of animals in the house. the house has lots of potential and it was priced right but holy cow it smells in there.
any thoughts on removing animal smell? mostly dog and cat urine.

my eventual plan is to sand the oak floors and refinish..which should remove the smell or seal that area and in other rooms...I plan on probably cleaning, and painting the wood floors with some kind of alkyd floor enamel prior to carpeting.
I think that will solve the problems in the long run..but I dont' want to sand and refinish the whole downstairs before I do the other work in the house. kind of backasswards to do the floors first.

anyone have any recommendations for products that might kill the odor prior to floor refinishing.?
thanks


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## genecarp (Mar 16, 2008)

If petpee has hit the subfloor, rip it out and replace. of coarse all carpets out, clean ducts, if applicable. anything that petpee hit should be removed. gambling on trying to cover smell with product is to risky IMO, real estate speculation is risky enough in the current climate. DONT WANT THE PERSPECTIVE BUYER TO SMELL THE PEE.....COULD BE A DEALBREAKER, G


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## MALCO.New.York (Feb 27, 2008)

genecarp said:


> If petpee has hit the subfloor, rip it out and replace. of coarse all carpets out, clean ducts, if applicable. anything that petpee hit should be removed. gambling on trying to cover smell with product is to risky IMO, real estate speculation is risky enough in the current climate. DONT WANT THE PERSPECTIVE BUYER TO SMELL THE PEE.....COULD BE A DEALBREAKER, G


Bleach and H2O2 is rather effective.

Ripping and replacing _IS_ THE best answer.

If you are gonna be "penny-pinching" cheap on the "Flip", you are ALREADY SCREWED!

Be shrewed not cheap!


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## dayspring (Mar 4, 2006)

vinegar and water will many times neutralize the pet odors


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## Mike Finley (Apr 28, 2004)

You're going to have some problems -- cat's are a product of the devil, thier urine and their spraying habits are about the worst problem to have besides the house being known as a drug cooking lab. The cat urine is most likely below your hardwood flooring, those freak'n cats pissed and sprayed and it ran down between the cracks of the hard wood and is now in your subflooring. They did it for certain around the edges around the base molding and probably other places in the floor depending on where furniture was. 

After you get done tearing out everything you are going to tear out - baseboards for certain (the hardwood if you really want to get rid of the smell, if not you'll have to accept the fact you're going to have it to some degree for a very long time) -- rent an ozone machine for at least 3 days. Run that thing at full power, I don't care what the thing tells you, run it at full strength. Remember ozone is heavier than air so you have to imagine where it will go. The higher you have it set up the better. If there is a 2nd story you have to start up there. I'd run it 24 hours a day for 3 days, then see what you think. Run it longer if you think you can still smell anything. 

Then and only after doing that would I start Kilzing sub-floors, drywall and anything else you are keeping. After you get it all done I would rent the ozone machine again and do it all over again.

I've done this a number of time and an ozone machine is the answer. If you have never used one, read up on them, they are dangerous, even deadly you have to know what you are doing.

Whatever you do-- do not rent to anyone with a cat no matter what.


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## J-Peffer (Mar 3, 2007)

Being both a contractor, and owning 10 invesment properties....I can tell you contractors that do everything "perfect" are the first ones to fail.

I've read countless threads on this page, investors have to go into a project with their pride aside, to make money. Do your company work, do a top notch job, impress your customer.

If you are going to rent this house out, you can't have a emotional attatchment to it though. Tenants will never be your customers, they are going to be your annoying step children, treat them like it.


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## WarnerConstInc. (Jan 30, 2008)

Maybe it was a drug house for people that 'cheesed' , sniffing cat spray!! The worst part about cats, well everything, is that old pee smells like amonia, horrible smells. The ozone thing sounds kinda cool.


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## cleveman (Dec 28, 2007)

I'm putting my money on the polyurethane and oil based paint. I think poly will be cheaper. Put it on the subfloor under the carpet as you mentioned.
Apply it liberally.

Keep us updated with results.


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## trptman (Mar 26, 2007)

I'll let you know how it turns out.
I'm not buying this to "flip" it. I'm going to add it to my other investment properties. I understand the "tear everything out" train of thought, but this is a 90-100 yr old house with original oak floors and many other nice features that I don't really want to just start gutting if i can avoid it.

Had a rental that had a prior (prior to me getting the property) tenant with a monkey once. You want to talk about a smell......
anyhow...had very good luck soaking the subfloor with oil based floor enamel. Can't even smell it years later. So I'm not really worried about the upstairs where I'm going to carpet anyhow. that will likely get the oil based paint treatment. Oh, and the house wasn't a drug house or anything like that as far as I know. I'm buying it from the bank that had to foreclose on it. The people just lost the house. In todays enviroment, not too shocking. What's shocking is that anyone could live there smelling like that.

anyhow,
It's the down stairs with all the oak flooring that I'm trying to save.
thanks again and I'll update as I have more info to relay


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## bert0168 (Jan 28, 2008)

Mike Finley said:


> *You're going to have some problems -- cat's are a product of the devil, *


LMAO!! Love that quote. I think I have to put that in my sig. :laughing::laughing:


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## genecarp (Mar 16, 2008)

Mike Finley said:


> -- cat's are a product of the devil
> 
> 
> 
> http://


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## Mike Finley (Apr 28, 2004)

Look you can see the horns!


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## KES (Apr 20, 2008)

My wife had 2 cats and the younger got a tumor and started to pee in one room of our old house. We never went into this room and one day I started smelling pee. Then I caught the cat doing her business. I ripped the base board and carpet out of the room. I kilzed the subfloor twice, painted it three times and cut a small section of drywall out and replaced it. I did not replace the carpet to see if the smell disappeared. Three weeks later the "smell" was back. I rekilzed it and replaced the carpet. We have moved now, but cat pee is from the devil. Needless to say we have one cat now. 

Also, do not let anyone tell you cats can not eat aspirin, my wife's cat eats one a day and has for three years. Still not dead. :laughing:

Good Luck!!
Peter


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## rotarex (Mar 31, 2008)

this is what i used, my ex worked at the vets and brought it home 
http://www.orangeapeel.com/wheretobuy.php?lang=en&p=6
it brings up the stench after 12 hrs and you wipe it off, flooring cost a lot of money spend the money on other things like plastering walls, washroom and kitchen and post pics please


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## Rockwood (Dec 1, 2008)

Cats urine can only be broke down by enzimes. Try Natures Miracle for cats or if they don't have that try Simple Solution Cat. These can be found a the pet store. Take the black light you have hanging over your Pink Floyd poster and shine it on the floor in the dark and you will see just what the damage is. As far as carpet goes - don't even bother.:sad:


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## MALCO.New.York (Feb 27, 2008)

Rockwood said:


> Cats urine can only be broke down by enzimes. Try Natures Miracle for cats or if they don't have that try Simple Solution Cat. These can be found a the pet store. Take the black light you have hanging over your Pink Floyd poster and shine it on the floor in the dark and you will see just what the damage is. As far as carpet goes - don't even bother.:sad:



Nats Mir IS, IMNSHO,WORTHLESS stuff. As good as 7Th Genneratcion (deliberate mis spell) products.

NaClO is the ONLY Chemical answer.


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## mdshunk (Mar 13, 2005)

Forget the chemicals. Running ozone generators in the place is the cure.


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## MAD Renovations (Nov 18, 2007)

melay said:


> check some tips from the net or to your local home constructor.


Melay this thread is over a year old!!!! I am sure it is finished!!


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## technique (May 13, 2009)

Hey, pet urine even a year old still smells 

Yes, rip everything out is the only way to get rid of it 100%


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## joesmith (Aug 25, 2009)

genecarp said:


> If petpee has hit the subfloor, rip it out and replace. of coarse all carpets out, clean ducts, if applicable. anything that petpee hit should be removed. gambling on trying to cover smell with product is to risky IMO, real estate speculation is risky enough in the current climate. DONT WANT THE PERSPECTIVE BUYER TO SMELL THE PEE.....COULD BE A DEALBREAKER, G


Absolutely. Don't go cheap and just sand the subfloor. You'll definitely have to rip out the old one and put in a new one.


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