Portsmouth, VA · Member since 2016 · 41 posts · 8 votes
Hey I have a home that I'm going to have to change all the rugs and floors. I'm uncertain what to do about the unsanitary sub flooring. Will a good water proof underlayment be enough and who can I call to kill the flees and God knows what else around the house. Will pest control be enough and what should I tell them to spray?
Investor · Troy, NY · Member since 2015 · 97 posts · 43 votes
10y
Hi Yerry, First you need to get rid of the carpets and padding. And be careful not to carry the fleas with you to your car or home. The best product for fleas and most other pests is FenvaStar EcoCap.
Don't waste your time using the cheap flea bombs that are sold in Big Box stores they are a waste. Also invest in a Good wet dry vac with the filter bags and vacuum the heck out of the place to suck up the fleas and their eggs.
Mix as directed and get a yard pump sprayer. It is much cheaper than calling in an exterminator. If the floors dont need to be removed. Use Odoban and soak the floor then let it dry. Seal the floor with KILZ Max. Then put down your new flooring. Unless the flooring is rotted from urine then it should be removed.
Investor · Greenville, SC · Member since 2016 · 5 posts · 2 votes
10y
I bought a house years ago with extensive dog urine damage. I had to rip up the flooring and subflooring in the damaged area(nasty work). The wood actually looked like it had an oil stain. Then we sprayed the joists and remaining subfloor with a product that killed the urnine bacteria. I don't recall the name of the product but am sure that google can help. After that we painted the area that was close to the damaged area with an epoxy paint. This might have been overkill but we wanted to minimize any future smells. The dogs also urinated in the HVAC floor vents and we had to replace the boots and floor vents as well. Then we replaced the subfloor and floor and were good to go. Bought the house for 90k put 40k into it lived in it for several years and sold it for 315k. When I bought the house it stunk. When i sold it - it didn't.
San Jose, CA · Member since 2015 · 4k+ posts · 3k+ votes
10y
You could buy some bug bombs, but if you can just let a pest control service deal with it, you won't go home with fleas in your socks. Just call some up and ask them what they can do for fleas and any other pests they would advise - like roaches, spiders, ants, and hopefully not termites?
Some sort of oil based paint on the sub floor if it's wooden, and if the stains are fairly limited.
If it's concrete, maybe bleach.
I don't know about fleas, wouldn't most of them go away when you rip out the carpet?
Investor · Troy, NY · Member since 2015 · 97 posts · 43 votes
10y
Hi Yerry, First you need to get rid of the carpets and padding. And be careful not to carry the fleas with you to your car or home. The best product for fleas and most other pests is FenvaStar EcoCap.
Don't waste your time using the cheap flea bombs that are sold in Big Box stores they are a waste. Also invest in a Good wet dry vac with the filter bags and vacuum the heck out of the place to suck up the fleas and their eggs.
Mix as directed and get a yard pump sprayer. It is much cheaper than calling in an exterminator. If the floors dont need to be removed. Use Odoban and soak the floor then let it dry. Seal the floor with KILZ Max. Then put down your new flooring. Unless the flooring is rotted from urine then it should be removed.
Engineer · Gardendale, AL · Member since 2016 · 5 posts · 4 votes
10y
I just bought a house with much the same issues. In fact the neighbor said that the people would let the dogs inside to relieve themselves. For me since it was a foreclosure the bank had already stripped the house of all carpet and padding. On day one I took a garden sprayer and mixed a heavy concentration of commercial bleach and water. I sprayed everything in the house. Be careful, the bleach mixed with the ammonia in the pee and caused a mild chlorine gas ( which may have helped the smell but didn't do much for my lungs). Today 3 weeks later it smells like new construction even after being closed up for a few days. As for fleas, one treatment will not typically kill fleas due to eggs that are continually being laid. I would suggest a reputable pest control company. Good luck!