Bad smell and Cat piss in House

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Bad smell and Cat piss in House

Jimmy Samai
Rental Property Investor · Virginia Beach, VA · Member since 2018 · 37 posts · 10 votes

Good evening,

I just picked up a rental property in a good area As-IS. The house needs cosmetic fix up.

New Paint

Cleaned up 

New Carpet

The previous owner had a cat and smoked cigarettes in the house. I am seeking advice on how to go about getting bad odor out of the dwelling. 

How would an investor go about the fixing up of the rental?

This is my plan and i'll appreciate advice on this as well

Haul out the junk left behind including the carpet.

Get Odor out of property

Hire a cleaner to scrub the bathrooms 

Get the bathroom Glazed 

Apply New Carpets

Paint Property

RENT IT OUT. 

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Bob Okenwa
Real Estate Agent/Investor · Peoria, AZ · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
7y

1. Clean the walls with a solution such as TSP. Remove carpet and pad as well.

2. Use an oil based primer to on walls before repainting.

3. If 1 & 2 don't work, rip out the affected areas/material and put in new material.

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  • Bob Okenwa
    Real Estate Agent/Investor · Peoria, AZ · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    7y

    1. Clean the walls with a solution such as TSP. Remove carpet and pad as well.

    2. Use an oil based primer to on walls before repainting.

    3. If 1 & 2 don't work, rip out the affected areas/material and put in new material.

    2Reply
  • Jerry PadillaBusiness Member
    Lender · Rochester, NY · Member since 2014 · 3k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    7y

    @Jimmy Samai

    You can also try bleaching the subfloor underneath and priming it as well. If it is really bad though, you may need to rip out the subflooring as well.

    [email protected]585-204-6923
    PrimeLending 4.8583 Reviews
    WebsiteView Page
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  • Brian Ploszay
    Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2009 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    7y

    For pet smells, there is a urine de-oderizer that you can buy at a pet store.  

    0Reply
  • Jill F.
    Investor · Akron, OH · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    7y

    We recently started a reno on an apartment where the former tenant had a dog that she could not manage and she *never* took it out and two cats. In a studio. (She lived there when I bought it).

    We did several cleanings with an enzyme cleaner (Nature's Miracle) which helped but did not entirely eliminate the odor. Then we sealed the wood flooring with the Zinsser primer designed for pet urine. That did the job.

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  • Lynnette E.
    Rental Property Investor · TN · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
    7y

    The property we bought with a major smoke smell also, besides the walls and flooring discussed above,  had to have the ceiling replaced and the windows were cleaned to remove the brown slime.  The cabinets in the kitchen and bath had to be cleaned to get the brown stain and stink off too.

    Just scrub everything and then seal paintable surfaces with Kilz pet odor paint.

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  • Lauren B.
    Asheville, NC · Member since 2017 · 170 posts · 242 votes
    7y

    ive had both cat pee and cig smoke. An ozone machine helps with the cig smoke. Bleach won’t help cat pee. At all. The enzyme cleaner will. And oil based kilz will fix both.

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  • Joe SplitrockPro Member
    Moderator
    Rental Property Investor · Sioux Falls, SD · Member since 2015 · 9k+ posts · 18k+ votes
    7y
    Originally posted by @Bob Okenwa:

    1. Clean the walls with a solution such as TSP. Remove carpet and pad as well.

    2. Use an oil based primer to on walls before repainting.

    3. If 1 & 2 don't work, rip out the affected areas/material and put in new material.

    Spot on with TSP and primer. On top of this, use the primer on the floor wherever the cat pee leaked through the pad. I would get the carpet out ASAP and run an ozone machine to start getting the odor out. Close up windows, run machine, then open all windows for a few hours. Then repeat. Do this several times until the odor is gone. Do this before you repaint or carpet. If it smells before the new paint or carpet, it will smell after.

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