Real Estate Investor · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2008 · 20 posts · 7 votes
I've got this great deal on a historic home only problem is 4 dogs were locked in the house for several weeks and of course used to bathroom on the floor. The house smells so bad you just have to walk by it and you can smell it. What will get rid of this horrible smell????
I'll second Natures Miracle. I used it on a wood floor in a rehab we bought and it was great. It didn't completely eliminate the issue, but a sanding, and staining, and several coats of polyurethane later and the smell was gone.
If it's a wood floor which will be covered with something else (carpet, tile, etc.), I've had great success with using two coats of Kilz on the sub floor.
Kilz works on slabs because it forms a barrier. If you are over a basement or on a raised foundation, some of the urine may have penetrated to the subfloor. Also, it may have gotten behind the baseboards and in the gaps between the wood floor and the wall. You will have to pull the flooring up anywhere the urine has gotten to the subfloor. The subfloor may also have to be patched.
Water and urine can soak into a wood floor to the extent that sanding will not be enough to get to clean wood. Be prepared to do a lot of patching if that's the case. If you can get the smell out but not the stains, refinish the floor in a dark color to help hide the stain.
I have not found Nature's Miracle to be of much use,
My experience with pet stains has been extensive being that I am a pet owner myself and have had the pleasure of rehabbing a bad smelling pet owner home. On a side note, I currently won't rent to pet owners becuase I know that no matter how careful you are, sooner or later your pet has an accident. My other rule is that if I were to rent to a pet owner, I know that pets and carpet are not a good mix. Anyway I have had scuccess with an industrial strength enzymatic pet stain remover. I let the product sit there for an extended time and let the enzymes nuetralize the damage. In the worst case scenario, I had to replace a portion of the subfloor. Once the salts in the urine get established on the wood, even the enzyme doesn't help.
I have come to find out that pet urine shows up under a UV light. So now if I am doing an exit survey of one of my units, I bring along a UV light to see if there were any undocumented pets and stains.
4 dogs ouch!!!!.If it is one room then tear up the floor. If it is the entire house you may want to factor in a larger than normal budget for flooring. Take into consideration that this a historic house and any remnants of that odor will turn off any prospective buyers. Goodluck