Eliminating dog pee smell

General Landlording & Rental Properties
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Eliminating dog pee smell

Carol Venolia
Flipper/Rehabber · Monterey, CA · Member since 2014 · 193 posts · 117 votes

I'm guessing this topic has been discussed many times, but this is my first time with this problem, so I appreciate your forbearance.

I have a rental with wall-to-wall carpeting. I had a tenant with a dog. Apparently this dog really liked to pee on carpet. A reputable carpet cleaner told me today that there's nothing he can do to reduce the odor. He said my best bet is to remove all carpet and padding, then seal the subfloor with oil-based Kilz primer before installing any new floorcovering.

Does this sound like good advice? Have any other approaches that have worked for you?

Thank you for any insights you can offer!

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Joel OwensBusiness Member
Moderator
Real Estate Broker · Canton, GA · Member since 2010 · 15k+ posts · 11k+ votes
9y

Yeah good luck with no pets. Will take out about 75% of the renter base. There will be those who tell you they have a pet and then those who do it anyway and you find out later!

You might get lucky with one unit with a non-pet but if you scale SFR ( I don't invest in the space ) you will run across pets.

For carpets you can get installed a breathable moisture barrier. These are supposed to help stop stains from reaching the sub floor. The cost of the carpet with breathable moisture barrier installed  might be cheaper to replace with all new anyways. A lot depends on how long you plan on holding the property for ownership.

You can remove carpet and padding and then get a black light kit from a place like Petsmart for about 30 bucks or so, maybe more. You then go around the room and make sure counter tops, baseboards, shelving, walls have not been sprayed on. There are solutions you can use to wipe down those areas to help eliminate the smell. Once you eliminate that then the floor needs to be worked on.

If the animal heavily peed in a corner or on walls you might have to take off the first 4 by 8 sheet section on the bottom and replace after letting air out and cleaning. Sometimes if the urine has really soaked into the sub floor sometimes the top layer is sanded down to remove before primer. If the problem has been ongoing for years you might have to pull up some sections of sub flooring and replace with new. Sub flooring itself is pretty cheap but the labor to pull up old and replaced can be intensive. 

I once had a property to sell in my real estate career starting out 14 years ago that had over 50 cats in it. Nice lady but had health issues and the cats were not spayed so populated quickly. Animal control had to come out and get the cats except for a few. So I have had experience with the urine thing and it is not fun.

No legal advice given.

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  • Kyle Doney
    Flipper/Rehabber · Golden, CO · Member since 2013 · 590 posts · 319 votes
    9y

    Exactly what you need to do. He's spot on. 

    2Reply
  • Carol Venolia
    OP
    Flipper/Rehabber · Monterey, CA · Member since 2014 · 193 posts · 117 votes
    9y

    Thanks so much, @Kyle Doney! 

    Online, I'm seeing that many people prefer Zinsser BIN shellac to Kilz oil-based primer. Any votes on this anyone?

    Thanks!

    0Reply
  • Samantha Klein
    Investor · Monroe, WI · Member since 2015 · 691 posts · 610 votes
    9y

    Once it's removed and the subfloor is sealed, don't use carpet again. I'd go with a nice vinyl plank.

    2Reply
  • Kathleen Leary
    Princeton, KS · Member since 2014 · 357 posts · 169 votes
    9y

    New carpet, if you're staying with that type of flooring. You will NEVER get the smell out completely, since it's the carpet, pad & floor. I could spend hours telling you horror stories about pet damage.

    I have vinyl plank  in one of my units - my concern is that although each individual plank is waterproof (it IS plastic, after all!), liquid still seeps through the cracks. With repeated "exposure," you'll be right back where you started: with a pee-soaked underlayment/floor.

    Best solution: NO PETS.

    1Reply
  • Joel OwensBusiness Member
    Moderator
    Real Estate Broker · Canton, GA · Member since 2010 · 15k+ posts · 11k+ votes
    9y

    Yeah good luck with no pets. Will take out about 75% of the renter base. There will be those who tell you they have a pet and then those who do it anyway and you find out later!

    You might get lucky with one unit with a non-pet but if you scale SFR ( I don't invest in the space ) you will run across pets.

    For carpets you can get installed a breathable moisture barrier. These are supposed to help stop stains from reaching the sub floor. The cost of the carpet with breathable moisture barrier installed  might be cheaper to replace with all new anyways. A lot depends on how long you plan on holding the property for ownership.

    You can remove carpet and padding and then get a black light kit from a place like Petsmart for about 30 bucks or so, maybe more. You then go around the room and make sure counter tops, baseboards, shelving, walls have not been sprayed on. There are solutions you can use to wipe down those areas to help eliminate the smell. Once you eliminate that then the floor needs to be worked on.

    If the animal heavily peed in a corner or on walls you might have to take off the first 4 by 8 sheet section on the bottom and replace after letting air out and cleaning. Sometimes if the urine has really soaked into the sub floor sometimes the top layer is sanded down to remove before primer. If the problem has been ongoing for years you might have to pull up some sections of sub flooring and replace with new. Sub flooring itself is pretty cheap but the labor to pull up old and replaced can be intensive. 

    I once had a property to sell in my real estate career starting out 14 years ago that had over 50 cats in it. Nice lady but had health issues and the cats were not spayed so populated quickly. Animal control had to come out and get the cats except for a few. So I have had experience with the urine thing and it is not fun.

    No legal advice given.

    Podcast Guest on Show #47
    NNN Invest53 Reviews
    WebsiteView Page
    3Reply
  • Carol Venolia
    OP
    Flipper/Rehabber · Monterey, CA · Member since 2014 · 193 posts · 117 votes
    9y

    @Joel Owens, thank you for the detailed input! I didn't know about the blacklight--or that one could be affordable! Gosh, I love these learning curves!  :-)

    1Reply
  • Mike D.
    Investor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2014 · 208 posts · 137 votes
    9y

    Arm & Hammer sells a product to remove pet odors - it's a powder that you sprinkle on the carpet and then vacuum off. I've had success removing pet odors with it. If I were in your situation I'd give that a try, and if it doesn't work, like others have said already, you're gonna have to replace the carpet and pad as the urine has probably soaked through. :(

    1Reply
  • Kyle Doney
    Flipper/Rehabber · Golden, CO · Member since 2013 · 590 posts · 319 votes
    9y

    @Carol Venolia Zinsser or Kilz is fine. Both will do the trick. Recommend putting down waterproof vinyl and call it a day. Not much more $$ and you wont be changing floors out anytime soon after. 

    3Reply
  • Diane S.
    philadelphia, PA · Member since 2017 · 52 posts · 12 votes
    9y

    nothing takes pee out of carpet because probably not in it but in padding and subfloor, when you do pull up you will see, may be able to pull up a corner to check, I bleach floor underneath first before sealing because of bacteria, then install vinyl without seams or will seep again or waterproof surface,  no pets is not always the solutions as you should see what damage including urine humans of all ages could do, at least with pets easier to collect for damages

    0Reply
  • Jeffrey K.Pro Member
    Lender · Boulder, CO · Member since 2016 · 53 posts · 21 votes
    9y

    The only thing that will really get it out is enzymatic cleaner. However, you really have to saturate the carpet and this can get expensive really quickly...that stuff is not cheap!! If given the option I would opt to replace it with luxury vinyl tile. 

    0Reply
  • Carol Venolia
    OP
    Flipper/Rehabber · Monterey, CA · Member since 2014 · 193 posts · 117 votes
    9y

    Thank you, @Diane S. and @Jeffrey K.!

    I thought y'all might like to know how things have gone. We ripped out the carpet--whew! Immediate massive reduction in odor! Then my partner noticed that the carpet pad was moisture-resistant. We peeled some of it back and judged that the dog pee hadn't made it to the subfloor. I mopped off the carpet pad with a disinfectant, and now there's almost no odor in any of the rooms--except the utility room. I have a wonderful air purifier that I'm going to put in that room, and I have hopes that all will be well without having to put out more effort. I've since shown the place to people who didn't comment on the odor, btw. Yay!

    3Reply
  • Laura Williams
    Kansas City MO · Member since 2014 · 357 posts · 349 votes
    9y
    Wish I had seen your post earlier. An ozone machine running several hours might have been all you needed. They are miracle workers as far as getting rid of odors.
    1Reply
  • Darrell D.
    Rental Property Investor · Springfield, OH · Member since 2014 · 104 posts · 63 votes
    9y
    I have see a number of videos online about the subject. If you're going to cover it with Kilz, I would treat if first with a bleach or hydrogen peroxide solution (as discussed online) to reduce the smell as much as possible. I'm pretty sure they used Kilz on the house I'm living in now. I didn't smell anything when I walked through initially but I certainly smell it now. I can also see the floor was painted... making it untreatable unless I replace the subfloor.
    0Reply
  • Carol Venolia
    OP
    Flipper/Rehabber · Monterey, CA · Member since 2014 · 193 posts · 117 votes
    9y

    Thank you, @Laura Williams! Yeah, that would have been a tough judgment call. I do have a RoyalAir purifier, which generates something like ozone, which I hope will eliminate the last of the smells. There was a lot of spotting from the pee also, so not sure ozone would have done the whole job. That's me making the best of the fact that we didn't try that!  :-)

    Thank you also, @Darrell D.!

    0Reply
  • Laura Williams
    Kansas City MO · Member since 2014 · 357 posts · 349 votes
    9y

    @Carol Venolia I first learned about ozone machine from my friend who had problems with a tenant whose cat had peed everywhere. She said it was a horrible stench and she tried everything. The only thing that worked was the ozone machine. I also tried it on my friends place who had a tenant that smoked and had pets and it completely made it smell normal (it took several overnight treatments at the 12 hour timer) plus I used it on a small house of mine that had a funk smell I was trying to get rented & it got rid of that in a couple hours. The difference is the ozone actually kills the bacteria and all the germs so it doesn't just mask the smell. You can get a machine for around $70-300 or you can also rent one ...I believe they use them for houses that have smoke damage. I'd definitely recommend trying that on your next place and if you don't like it then you can always take it back. But for myself I have found them to be a miracle workers. 

    0Reply
  • Carol Venolia
    OP
    Flipper/Rehabber · Monterey, CA · Member since 2014 · 193 posts · 117 votes
    9y

    @Laura Williams, Do you have a brand name you prefer for an ozone machine? Thanks for your insights!

    0Reply
  • Laura Williams
    Kansas City MO · Member since 2014 · 357 posts · 349 votes
    9y

    @Carol Venolia

    I have an Odorstop OS2500 ( best price was on Amazon) . It's $189. I got it because it has the longest timer I could find which is 12 hours. You can get cheaper ones but most of them the timer is only 2 hours or you have to put them on continuous run. 

    It will depend on how bad the smell is as to how long you will need it to run. My friend's place needed a few treatments. I'm starting to use them now on every house (when they're up for rent) and also in the basements if they have even the slightest smell to give it a clean crisp smell. Nothing worse than walking into a house that has any kind of odor when your trying to get it rented. 

    2Reply
  • Carol Venolia
    OP
    Flipper/Rehabber · Monterey, CA · Member since 2014 · 193 posts · 117 votes
    9y

    Awesome, @Laura Williams--thanks!

    0Reply
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