All Forum Posts by: Nathan Gesner

No, the owners did not have pets and they didn't leave any human feces or urine behind. Well, except for what was stuck to the toilet. 

I have been in homes before with a lot of pet urine/feces. We have had to rip out the carpet and padding. We sometimes spray everything down with a bleach solution. Then we paint everything with Kilz to block any remaining odor. Once that dries, we put down the new flooring. It always improves but it doesn't always kill it.

This stinks! Literally, this house stinks. I could try to describe it to you, but it wouldn't do it justice. Keep in mind I used to work for Department of Family Services and I've been managing 200+ rentals for the last six years. I've been in some pretty smelly places.

This one takes the cake!

We suspect the majority of the smell comes from the carpet. It appears to be at least 30 years old, heavily stained, moldy, and about 200 pounds of dirt locked in. We know there are hardwood floors underneath so we hope to recover them.

First comes the tear-out. We all have to wear masks because it is no filthy I don't want anyone inhaling the dust. I cut the carpet into strips to make removal easier.

It was a really, really disgusting job but it didn't take too long because the carpet was only in two rooms. I think we had it all out within 30 minutes. But that's when things got ugly!

The carpet pad was stapled to the hardwood floor. I'm estimating about 1,000 staples and that's not a joke. Just to give you an idea, I pulled over 100 staples from the 3 x 6 hallway. We pulled the pad up as best we could...only to discover the staples were the least of our problems.

I started by scraping it with this large scraping tool that enabled me to stand up and put some real speed/force behind it. That worked for about 75% of the job. It was very time consuming and tiring. I took it in bouts of about five minutes then would go work on something else for a half hour before coming back. We also used a putty knife but it was better for the smaller, more detailed scraping.

After we got the pad up, we discovered this:

This is where the carpet pad had the heaviest traffic patter, and probably the most spills. This stuff was as hard as a rock and sometimes a 1/4" thick. I started out trying to scrape it by hand but it would take five minutes to make a few inches. Then it dawned on me that we might make more progress if we softened it up first. I had my wife soak it with a mop and a bleach solution. We let it sit for about five minutes and then started scraping. It was soooo much easier! I finished more in five minutes than I had done in the previous hour!

WARNING: the stench was really locked into this carpet and pad. As we scraped, the stench would increase. But when we put water on it (even a bleach solution) the stench became much, much worse! Be prepared if you have to go this route.

This is what it looked like after scraping. It's still wet and has a lot of remnant but we were making progress. Must I remind you that this STUNK?!?

This task took place almost a month ago and the difference in smell is amazing! There is a minor stink but we haven't washed down the walls yet. Once that's done, I suspect the smell will be gone completely. It appears about 3/4 of the stench came from the carpet.

I also pulled the vinyl tile out of the kitchen. This was not a fun job. I originally went in with a scraper and just started trying to scrape them up. Most of the tiles were old and would break into a bunch of pieces rather than peel up as a single piece.

As with the carpet, the stench was ridiculous. I managed to get almost half of it done in an hour. An hour! I went home and soaked my weary bones in a rum and coke. The next day I was talking to a friend about the task and he recommended using a heat gun to loosen the glue. YES! I should have thought of that. I went back with a heat gun and one of my trusty helpers and had the rest of the floor clean in less than 30 minutes!

One last thing. My wife was running late so I decided to tackle the fridge. Here is how it started:

This picture really doesn't do it justice. It was so filthy that my wife wanted to throw it out. Also of note, the freezer was very cold but the fridge was warm. For those that don't know, this is a common problem when a fridge is overloaded with food. The cold air is produced in the freezer compartment and then circulates down into the fridge. In the case of this unit, the vents were completely frozen over and no cold air could make it into the fridge. I unplugged the fridge and melted the ice with hot water (I didn't have a blow dryer and the hot water would help loosen all the stuck food). Once that was done, I set about cleaning it.

The fridge is now as clean as a whistle and looks almost new. It also keeps food cold! I spent two hours fixing/cleaning and saved us from buying a new $600 fridge.

That's it for tonight, folks. I hope this was somewhat entertaining or educational for you!

The first thing to do with a hoarder house is remove all the junk. I am honestly blessed because the sellers removed about 90% of their stuff or piled it up in the back yard. We ordered a 30-yard dumpster (the largest available) and filled it to the top with what was left. There was still more! We made a lot of trips to the dumpsters, one wheelbarrow at a time.

We've since mowed and it's starting to look respectable. I'll post more pictures once we cut out the dead trees and remove the shoots. That will be another 30-yard dumpster, at least!

The good news is, the house is empty and we can get to work. I have to admit I am excited to get started but a little frustrated at the amount to be done around my work schedule, summer break, visiting relatives, etc. Here goes!

@Dziko Thunde I closed on the house and am working on it...slowly. I'm trying to journal my progress in the Investor Deal Diaries forum. CLICK HERE for the thread.

If I were in his position, I would require much more than my deposit. At least 3x, which is what a court could award.

A property manager ticked off a tenant. He discovered their domain registration was not updated. He bought their domain name and took over their web site to seek his revenge. Enjoy!

www.robinsoncorealtors.com

I should have looked at your name before posting my response. I have no idea if the claims are true but it was a very clever action taken by the tenant. And a good reminder to the rests of us that we should always keep our domain registrations current.

Inquiring minds want to know! I look forward to hearing more.

Mike, thanks for sharing. We're all anticipating the photos but I would also like to know what lessons you've learned from this flip?

On an older home like this, I would probably refinish them and cover the holes with some decorative grates. It's not worth the expense of trying to match woods and fill holes.

Another option is to patch the holes with plywood and throw down some decent laminate flooring that looks like hardwood. It's resilient, cheap, and looks as good (or better) than the real thing!