Cat Urine - How can I remove completely?

Question

I had a tenant who brought in 2 cats and an unapproved dog. Upon her move-out after a year, it appears that the cats and dogs were having turf wars. There was a HORRIBLE stench in the stair landing that has no windows. I took a black light to it and it just lit up the hallway with all of the streaking, dripping, and puddles. I had a contractor to come and remove the carpeting in the stairway and the entire downstairs. He said the whole back of the carpeting had urine stains and there was some dampness still on the subfloors in the stairway. DISGUSTING.

So, he applied Zorbit on the stairway overnight and the next day, he applied 2 coats of

oil-based kilz original. It helped a lot but did not get rid of the smell completely. You can still smell it in the air. Next step, we plan to apply a coat of the Zinsser Bin on the staircase and walls in the staircase, hoping that will get rid of it.  Then use a deodorizer in the paint to help freshen up the smell, and open the windows to flush it out.

I have no idea what else to do to eliminate the odor. Any other ideas?? Get the air ducts cleaned or use an ozone treatment? I am hoping the shellac primer works, but worried because the smell is so pervasive.

Sarah W. · Answer

To follow up, here's what I did. I thought this was smell was never going to go away!

I believe some of the residual smell was coming from the stair seams not being caulked up yet AND we discovered there was another big spot at the hallway near the stairs that were stained . So, my contractor did the following:

• Blacklighted all carpeted areas, stairways, walls, baseboards to find spots 
• Removed all carpeting, treated the subflooring with enzymatic cleanser.
• Caulked all openings, seams.
• Applied BIN (which worked way better than Kilz original) to walls, baseboards, and stairs.
• Repainted everything and used an air deodorizer in the paint.
• Ozone treatment to shock all the smell out. Worked AMAZINGLY!! It went from this nasty cat smell to clean fresh smelling air. We aired it out all day and overnight to get the ozone treatment cleared, but it really did the trick after all these steps.

Tenants came in and said they stood outside the door, saying "Here we go again..." with the smell, but were surprisingly pleased that there was no smell!

Sean Kremer · Answer

No chemical (odor exit.....I've tried them all.....none of them work well) will completely get rid of the smell, take my word for it......   If you really want to get rid of the smell you will need to pull up the pad and carpet......paint the floor with any old exterior paint you have around or kilz  oil base and put down new pad and carpet.  As far as I'm concerned, this is the only right way to take care of the problem.....sorry :)

Account Closed · Answer

OdorXit.com

Nancy Neville

Kimberly H. · Answer

Sarah W. that's what I thought but was just making sure there was no new miracle way to save it. Any carpet that comes out going forward will be replaced with vinyl plank.

Kimberly H. · Answer

Sarah W. I assume you threw out all the carpet and put in new flooring? Or were you somehow able to save the flooring?

Sam Shueh · Answer

It is mostlikely from the dog not the 2 cats unless the owner never out cat litters.

Powerwash the subfloor with hot water, detergent, lemon.  Go below subfloor ditto.  Putting baking soda and vacuum them before putting new flooring over.

Was in a rental the tenants had 20 dogs and was evicted due to no pets policy.  He put new hardwood floor I told him I still smell the waste.

Have been to a similar home the poppy did the same. Had the carpet shampooed two times steam, smells or new carpet was installed 5 years ago.  It is now for a new carpet one still can make out the odor with new detergent.  I personally do not believe the odor will ever disappear,

Sarah W. · Answer

I sent the bill to the tenant but she refused to pay the full amount even though I depreciated the carpet to the IRS schedule. She argued that her cats did not urinate in certain rooms even though there was clearly cat urine all over the house. She also argued that the chewing on he door molding was a bad paint job even though she brought and unapproved puppy into the house and raised it there.

Long story short, I told her I would be taking her to court and she offered to pay half the damages. I accepted to avoid the hassle of court.

Kathleen Salinas · Answer

I've found that the first step is to always bleach and then use an enzimatic cleaner.  Most of the time that works unless the cats/dogs have sprayed the walls too - then the drywall has had to come out.

Sarah W. · Answer

Kimberly, I could not save any of the flooring. I had to throw all the carpet and padding out. The contractors said they were soaked and sticky with urine when they pulled them out. Disgusting

Cat Urine - How can I remove completely?

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