Contractor · Cincinnati, OH · Member since 2015 · 92 posts · 75 votes
Hey BP! I bought a house at a foreclosure auction at the court house steps last year. I thought it was a great BRRRR deal since I bought for 50K and it has a ARV of 205K, however I wasn't expecting the inside to be as terrible as it is. Long story short I have already filled 7 30 yard dumpsters full of garbage from the house and ripped everything down to the studs.
My question is how do you get rid of a cat pee smell from an entire house? I have ripped out the flooring and walls so the only place that the cat pee can still be is in the subfloor which I don't want to remove. I have tried spraying the entire floor with undiluted white vinegar but it doesn't seem to be making much of a difference.
Any tips out there? I have heard of folks using Ozone machines for smoke smell, does this also work for cat urine?
We had to deal with a cat pee from h*ll in 2017, it was miserable, absolutely disgusting.
Before you go ripping up sub floors, I'd buy the Natures Miracle spray at Home Depot... we went through about 8 bottles and eventually the smell was taken care of.. I'd try doing this, be aggressive as you can with it... also, the crawl space likely needs to be cleaned out too, can you get someone to make sure it's secured and cats aren't still down there?
We had to deal with a cat pee from h*ll in 2017, it was miserable, absolutely disgusting.
Before you go ripping up sub floors, I'd buy the Natures Miracle spray at Home Depot... we went through about 8 bottles and eventually the smell was taken care of.. I'd try doing this, be aggressive as you can with it... also, the crawl space likely needs to be cleaned out too, can you get someone to make sure it's secured and cats aren't still down there?
Contractor · Cincinnati, OH · Member since 2015 · 92 posts · 75 votes
8y
@Linda S. Thanks for the reply! I will try the Natures Miracle this week and post on here to let you know the results. This house has a basement and we secured it after buying so no more issues with cats. Basically the old owners abondoned the house and left the back patio door open so cats used the house as a litter box for 5 months. I'm sure the old owners had tons of cats even prior to that.
Were you spraying on hardwood for your house or some other material? Did you have to do scrubbing as well?
That sounds disgusting. Cat urine is the absolute most potent, disgusting smell you can have IMO. Bleach the heck out of the basement!
It was laminate flooring, so we sprayed and lightly scrubbed about 6x throughout the house, and let it soak. I'm sure you've done this, but in case you haven't, open the windows and let the house air out. I'd suggest aggressively spraying for a few days, and if it doesn't get better within a week, then I'd then try and determine exactly which subfloor needs to be replaced.. it's a real dose of humble pie when your nose is on the ground trying to track the location.
Contractor · Cincinnati, OH · Member since 2015 · 92 posts · 75 votes
8y
@Linda S. Lol yes I agree, quite a humbling experience. Although I seem to run into these humbling experiences more and more as I take on these houses. Always a new problem to solve, but I enjoy the process!
Thanks for your suggestions, I will try them out and report back!
Rental Property Investor · Austin, TX · Member since 2015 · 280 posts · 176 votes
8y
Go on ebay and buy a 'Lightning Air' purifier. Place it in a room on high overnight, open the windows and air out the room then move on to another room. This purifier creates Ozone in high amounts which will neutralize odors.
Contractor · Cincinnati, OH · Member since 2015 · 92 posts · 75 votes
8y
@Account Closed this is a gold nugget piece of advice! Do you have one yourself? There appears to be a huge variety in models and price points so wondering which is a good deal:
Rental Property Investor · Austin, TX · Member since 2015 · 280 posts · 176 votes
8y
@Jacob Murphy Mine went out last year - haven't needed one since. Unfortunately I do not know the model but it was smaller and about the size of a toaster. Paid about $150 I think. We had a mildew issue and the smell would not go away no matter what. It was always musty! Put this bad boy in the whole house with doors open over the weekend and WHAM - smell was gone. It's essentially an Ozone Generator. If you have Asthma, be careful using it and do not let yourself or anyone else be exposed while it is in operation.
Here's a quote from Google on search topic "ozone removes odors":
An ozone generator will not only remove pet odors but other troublesome odors caused by mold and mildew, fire, water damage and others. Ozone is considered "natures deodorant" and can get rid of many types of nasty smells.
Rental Property Investor · Lehi, UT (Lehi) · Member since 2018 · 91 posts · 99 votes
8y
What you need to do is go to a cleaning store and get a ozone machine. It’s a machine the emits a gas Into the air. We are working on a flip right now that he those smells. We put the ozone machine in the house for 24 hours came back the next day smelt like new!!
Flipper/Rehabber · Yardley, PA · Member since 2015 · 451 posts · 307 votes
8y
from personal experience (friend's rehab)... bought a duplex where previous renters had 2 cats, basically marked up all the carpet. Carpet was pulled and trashed. Then subfloor had obvious staining of animal feces. Subfloor was cleaned so no feces/urine was physically present.
Then he used a paint roller, applied KILZ primer paint to subfloor areas (could even do the studs if you want since you have that open). Then go back with OZONE as noted above. That should help get rid of the smell. The KILZ alone worked for my friend. After a few days and airing out (windows open) cat smell (urine etc) was gone. Then he put down new laminate and painted the whole place. Smelled like a new home!
Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2017 · 17 posts · 7 votes
8y
I actually just made a post like yours requesting help with this. Seems the house I’m looking at was infested with cats. I’m trying to find out how much work/cost to rehab the house.
Anywhoo, best I can figure you’re going to need to clean clean and clean. If they marked the walls I’d think the smell will linger unless you replace the areas that were marked. Ozone won’t remove the source of the odor.
Investor · Milwaukee, WI · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
8y
Wow. An ozone generator - cool! I was about to tell you that you might be screwed. Cat urine is the worst and it can get into the subfloors and joists and never come out no matter how much Natures Miracle you soak in there (Natures Miracle is good, but only goes so far).
But an ozone generator? Wow! I hope it works. I wonder how it removes smells soaked into wood, but maybe it does. I have a new house that has some bad odors. I think some is urine and some that smells like urine was actually from rotting carpet. Not even close to as bad as cat pee and I am thinking I will get it all out, but will definitely keep the ozone generator in mind if I can't.
Real Estate Professional · Hoboken, NJ · Member since 2017 · 46 posts · 26 votes
8y
If you’re already down to the studs why not go all the way and toss the subfloor too. If you have serious spotting and stains the subfloor may even have swelled in those spots and be high anyway. Unless of course if you have a really big floor plan and a lot of walls to cut around.
Other than that, we had a house once and the previous owners had a ton of animals. Everyone thought we were crazy and wouldn’t get rid of the smell. Lots of cleaning products , vinegar, bleach later, it covered up everything. Didn’t have to rip out the hardwood floor or anything
Investor/Accountant/Builder · Meno, OK · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 918 votes
8y
Ozone, paint, bleach, consume, masking the odor works until the humidity kicks in and the smell will come back. The only thing that works:
ODORXIT
Go online and Oder the product and use it as they say and it will solve the problem.
You can't paint over it
Specialist · Toronto, Ontario · Member since 2012 · 2k+ posts · 891 votes
8y
@Jacob Murphy
Wow.. I evicted a tenant a few years ago and no word of a lie he had 9 cats.. pee and poop all over.. thankfully the floor was deteriorated anyways so didn't feel too bad replacing it..
Once you open the door the odour just rushes into your face like drugs
Contractor · Tampa Bay · Member since 2018 · 3 posts · 6 votes
8y
Not sure if this has been mentioned but use... quaternary ammonia. There, I said it! Thank me later...
It's the active ingredient to just about all the disinfectants and (good) cleaners on the market including Lysol. Its safe to handle and is what is used in hospitals and the CDC. The purer stuff actually has no smell whatsoever... none! You can purchase at your local janitorial supply company. Not necessarily Lowes or HD... the later might have something but not necessarily the better stuff. Besides - the big box stores probably will not have a clue what you're talking about when you ask about quaternary ammonia. Janitorial supply companies will!
1. First clean surfaces with soap and water (mop). Vacuum first. Don't use bleach.
2. Using a pump sprayer and apply a coating over all surface...
3. Let dry completely... that's it.
This is waaay cheaper, faster, safer and more effective than your ozonators, bleach, etc etc
(unless you have to coat a warehouse).
Plus it will sanitize/disinfect everything in the process with no smell/perfume.
If there happens to be a faint odor lingering after it dries. Do another coat... however, if you do a good even coat to begin with I doubt you'll need it.
Also... if for some odd reason you really need industrial strength odor control... Prime with Zinsser Odor Killing water based Primer (costs a little more but works). You'll need to do steps 1 through 3 above anyway if you're going to do this last step of primer.
Investor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2017 · 145 posts · 158 votes
8y
I put an ozone generator in a hoarder house hoping to get rid of the smell and it didn't really have a strong effect. Bleach, concrobium for mold, kilz and paint everywhere, plus a dehumidifier solved the problem. There was no pet urine and even so, the ozone generator was not enough.
You may be screwed and have to pull up the subfloor. It's going to hurt, but think how it's going to hurt if you cover it with new flooring and THEN have to pull all that up to rip out the subfloor.
I can even imagine, from years of experience with bad things happening in houses, that you might treat the subfloor with something and have the smell abate, only to come back again like a bad dream, as whatever is deep in the wood works its way out to the surface.
I do wonder how it happened that you didn't know how bad the house was. But regardless, you have my sympathy.
Contractor · Cincinnati, OH · Member since 2015 · 92 posts · 75 votes
8y
@Pete Barrow this was a foreclosure auction on the court house steps so no one was allowed to enter the house before purchasing. From the outside, the house didn't look bad. You win some and you lose some.
Rental Property Investor · Sioux Falls, SD · Member since 2015 · 9k+ posts · 18k+ votes
8y
@Jacob Murphy the cat pee is the worst because it is very acidic. Chemicals like Natures Miracle attempt to neutralize the smell. It can work, but depends on how bad it is. I have coated floors 5 times and not had it work - cement is the worst because it can penetrate deep. We have gone to coating floors with Kills odor blocking primer. You can either spot treat the stains or coat the entire floor. I have the Enerzen Ozone machine and that works well on smoke or general odors. I find that pee keeps coming back because it penetrates deep in the wood (or cement in the basement). Also be VERY careful with Ozone machines. You can permanently damage your lungs if you breathe it in. One danger with pee odor is you may think it is gone, then add some humidity to the space and it comes back. I would odor block paint the floors, even if you think the smell is gone.
Handyman · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2018 · 5k+ posts · 13k+ votes
8y
Third vote for Kilz Original. If you need the power of God in an odor-sealing primer, go with Kilz Complete. Cats, rats, and raccoons, stench-be-gone. Word to the wise, expensive full-face respirator with Kilz Complete. Unlike Kilz Original, Complete fumes will also burn your eyes.