Another Nasty Dog Pee Story- Need help for a happy ending

Another Nasty Dog Pee Story- Need help for a happy ending

Member since 2019 · 5 posts · 0 votes

Husband and I started on our first flip in January. I thought I was prepared.  Had done a lot on research on internet.  We spent first couple weeks emptying house of boxes and general trash. First mistake was we started upstairs. The easiest area. We painted all the rooms and cleaned the carpet. Then we started downstairs. The big trouble zone. Previous owner had a dog that used the floors a lot for his bathroom. Dog was luckily contained downstairs.  Floors were wood.  We had tried over weeks that we were working upstairs to pour all kinds of chemicals on them to eliminate the smells.  We soon figured out that the plan to salvage the floors was not working.  We ripped them out. So then we began treating the subfloors. I used about everything that was suggested on the internet: Vinegar, Peroxide, baking soda, bleach, combination of peroxide and baking soda, mouth wash. I spent hours scrubbing and scrubbing. There are 4 main hot zones.  We put down Zinsser Bin Shellac down. Hot spots got 2 to 3 heavy coats. Whole floor got at least one coat. Then after much research and paranoia I also bought 2 gallons of Kilz Original and put that down over whole floor, the trouble areas hit hard again.  We left the baseboards attached when taking out floors. I painted them all over with BIn. I think most got 2 coats. I painted all the walls. Painted the trim with 2 coats of paint. Everything seemed to be smelling good.  We put down roofing paper and put in a 14MM Laminate. We are finally working on the finishing touches. But some of the smell seems to be returning. I have been on my hands and knees so much smelling around the whole perimeter. I have found a few places. I didn't do a good job sealing the trim around doorways.  We ended up just yanking the trim down, I used Kilz on the sheet rock and we put new trim up.  When I go around the perimeter now I am only coming up with one more spot that seems to be with an odor.  I am currently spraying it with Enzymes and then plan to pour as much Kilz in this spot as I can.  This area is closer to front of the house.  But still when you walk in the back door you are hit with an urine odor.  I know that I am extra sensitive to it, but it is there.  Once inside everything seems to smell okay.  It is just when you first open door to walk in.  I have tried to come up with where it is coming from.  I am about at my whits end. I have cried so much about this place.  I don't know how you guys do it. Every time I go home thinking I have it fixed when I come back and walk in and am hit with the slight smell I am devastated.  Realize now that we probably rushed to put the floor down too soon.  But we work 40 hours a week on our jobs and have been working on this place every weekend for 4 months.  I am so ready to be done. I have ordered a small Commercial Ozone Generator.  It should be here today.  We will use it, but I really don't want to use it as a cover up.  I want to make sure I am selling a good clean smelling home.  My knees hurt from crawling around so much trying to find where smells are coming from.  I feel like the floor has to be fine since so much sealant on it.  Smelling the baseboards seems to be fine too.  Any suggestions or advice?  

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Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2019 · 174 posts · 124 votes
7y

Its late for the advice, but replacing the subfloor probably would have been easier and quicker. 

For what you are smelling now, are the walls drywall?  If so, they will wick up any moisture they come in contact with.  They can wick it up 2-3 feet if they remain in contact with liquid.  So if the floors were that bad, they could have wicked up the urine into the drywall a couple of feet.  It wouldn't be a strong odor like something that was soaked, but it could be enough that you get the scent of it and can't figure out exactly where it is coming from.   

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  • Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2019 · 174 posts · 124 votes
    7y

    Its late for the advice, but replacing the subfloor probably would have been easier and quicker. 

    For what you are smelling now, are the walls drywall?  If so, they will wick up any moisture they come in contact with.  They can wick it up 2-3 feet if they remain in contact with liquid.  So if the floors were that bad, they could have wicked up the urine into the drywall a couple of feet.  It wouldn't be a strong odor like something that was soaked, but it could be enough that you get the scent of it and can't figure out exactly where it is coming from.   

  • Member since 2019 · 5 posts · 0 votes
    7y

    Last night I had husband go down in the crawl space. Just to see if he could notice any issues down there.  He came back pretty quick. There was plastic laid out over the dirt. 2 months ago he had gone down there to replace one of the AC ducts that had urine in it.  Evidently it spilled out onto the plastic and had been sitting there in a puddle. It has been nice and cool here first few months we were working on house. Last few days been in the 80's. I am hoping and praying that cleaning up this and treating with vinegar will be the cure.  Is it possible that a urine puddle in crawl space could cause a scent in the house?

  • Flipper/Rehabber · Matthews, NC · Member since 2019 · 198 posts · 239 votes
    7y

    @Cinda Hamm  Very possible.  We have had a number of clients that would get urine smells and when we went into the crawl we would find evidence of cats that had urinated in crawl and it would be more evident in the heat.  Make sure just in case that the little critters can't get in there.

  • Member since 2019 · 5 posts · 0 votes
    7y

    Thank you.  My husband did fix the door to the crawl space few weeks ago.  It had just been piece of wood leaning against the hole.  He added hinges and built a nice frame to it.

  • Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    7y

    I think using the liquid enzyme as much as possible will help. Ideally you're hitting those areas with it when they are exposed (prior to covering or painting).

    Another thing you can do that will help while you're gone is to buy one of those ozone generators from amazon (under $100) and let that run overnight and ideally for multiple consecutive days when you're away. You have to make sure all windows are closed up when running the machine.

  • Member since 2019 · 5 posts · 0 votes
    7y

    We actually bought an ozone machine from Amazon.  It arrived yesterday.  We ran it last night for 2 hours. Husband stopped by this morning to turn it on for another 2 hours.  Plan to move it to different spot and turn it on again tonight.  Going to keep moving it and turning it on over the next few days.  It is a small unit so hoping moving it around will help.  

    Everyone is so helpful.  Thank you for all the advice!!!

  • Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    7y

    It should have a setting to allow it to run continuously. I wouldn't bother messing for 2 hrs at a time. Let that bad boy run for 3 days and go take a mini vacation.

  • Member since 2019 · 5 posts · 0 votes
    7y

    I will have to research and see if the one we bought will let us run it continuously.  It does have a hold button, but then some reviews said that the hold really didn't work. In researching the machines lots of people said best to run in shorter cycles and run more often.  Gets confusing reading so many different options on how to best use the machine..... We bought an Enerzen Commercial 6000 mg 03 Air Purifier Deodorizer.  It has really good reviews and for $70.00 cheaper then renting.

    My husband early on heard me mention Ozone. He went out and rented one without doing any research. So was waste of money.  He set it up on floor near trouble zone. We only got to run it about 9 hours. And at that point hadn't done much clean up yet.  So hoping we will see a difference now that much of the smell is controlled. But really want to kill the smell. Don't want it to return. 

  • Rental Property Investor · Indiana...mostly · Member since 2019 · 468 posts · 245 votes
    7y

    Wow.  I'm sorry to hear about this.  Politicians need to visit your house or at least read this and admit the problems pets can cause and keep landlords free to refuse pets.  (I have a cat and a dog.  It's not that i'm against pets but I'm responsible for the bills to clean up after my pets.)

    I agree with @PJ M..  New subfloor probably would've helped. 

    Standing urine in the ducts seems odd.  I could understand a little getting in there but I'd think it would've evaporated.  I'm wondering if the previous residents poured it in?  In an extreme case, you might replace the duct work.  It's hard for me to imagine pet damage that extensive though.

    I'm wondering if the smell penetrated into the insulation behind the walls at the lower levels and if it's getting into the new / cleaned areas and "reinfecting" them?

    You're tried all the normal steps.  The only other idea if the ozone machine doesn't work that I can think of is calling a water damage / smoke damage restoration type company.  They're the professionals at this sort of thing.  Maybe a crawlspace clean up company too.

    Hang in there!

  • Austin, TX · Member since 2019 · 5k+ posts · 5k+ votes
    7y

    @Cinda Hamm

    Hi Cinda,

    Don't run the Ozone machine with any people or animals in the house.

    It will harm them, and may kill them as well as well as the smell.

    Also when it's done it will take a while for the Ozone to abate, so don't rush right in, wait a while.

    Machine probably doesn't say that, say that, but it's on the web in quite a few places.

    Good Luck!

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