Smell in the property

[Kinju Dudhia]

Our property management company recently evicted a tenant, and upon inspection, we found the house completely trashed. We’re preparing to sell the property, but the condition was extreme—there was so much garbage it was difficult to walk through, and we found urine and feces on both the floors and walls.

Since then, we’ve removed the carpet, painted the walls, and cleaned the subfloor with Kilz, but the odor still lingers. To make things worse, the central A/C unit isn’t working. It’s a small 3-bedroom house.

I have two questions:

What more can we do to fully eliminate the odor?

Should we invest in replacing the central A/C unit, or would window units be acceptable for resale?

We’ve already put in a lot of money and honestly aren’t sure what to do next. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[Theresa Harris]

Try using an ozone machine. You can get them inexpensively on amazon.  Do not run them when there is anyone in the house.  The other thing is to check for water leaks.  I had a hot water tank leaking in a new house I bought, but the inspection didn't pick it up and the smell from the previous owner's dogs masked it.  We had to rip apart the bathroom (which was fine in the end, but an extra expense I didn't budget for).