Cat Urine smell - Help

11 years ago

We are considering buying a home .... its in our price range only because it smells horrible, like cat urine. It's a completely tiled floor. Is it worse or better to have tile... my understanding is the urine can get into the grout and may not be able to get it out of the grout, or is that untrue. I am assuming urine in the baseboards and probably on the walls, but if i tear out the baseboards and repaint the walls with something like kilz, would that do it?

Or is it better to just avoid this house and keep looking?

Thanks

Featured Answer

emma

11 years ago

I would not buy that house. We had rental and my carpet cleaning service said you can not get out cat urine smell, dogs yes, but not cat urine. I did not allow cats or dogs.

Comments (10)

krissie55
11 years ago
I personally would avoid this house and look for one that does not have pet odor.

It is hard to get cat urine out of wood, grout, carpet, etc. When humidity rises in the house the odor will be stronger.
navi_jen
11 years ago
Xray...

Cat urine is the absolute worst smell to abate. Trust me, I know. I thought I could tackle the smell in my 'new to me' house on my own. Eventually, the hardwood floor and subfloor had to be removed thruout the first floor....and the basement floor joists had to be treated for mold, treated with Kennel Odor Cleaner and sealed with polyurethane. Only after $25k worth of work is the house liveable.

The bathroom, quite frankly, was one of the worst offenders, since tile is so porous. I have pages and pages of research that I did to understand the root cause of the problems and how to resolve.

I don't mean to scare you. It can be eradicated. But it may be very expensive. That being said, I was able to use this as a bargaining chip and buy a house in a Greater Boston neighborhood that I never would have been able to afford otherwise. Just go in with your eyes wide open.

PM me if you want to talk more. Good luck!

Jen
http://thesmellyhouse.weebly.com/index.html
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mountain_lady
11 years ago
Cat smells are the hardest to get out. I Helped clean a house that there was 35 cats in the house Mice everywhere. One of the bedrooms was their litter box. I am talking pooh 10 inches thick in the center of the room. We pulled all the carpet out of the house and started cleaning. We went online and bought restore for the floors. After treating the floors and walls 4 times , we had to start cuting the subfloors. also 3 feet up the walls.
The owner had to replace the heater in the house. After 40k the house still is not done. I will tell you I was sicker then hell when I was working on the house. Just the smells where over powering . And if you have your own pets and you still havent removed all the smells out they will find it and they will started using the same places to...

If I was you I would walk away from that house and keep looking. But then again I dont know how bad it is .

Good luck.
Claire Buoyant
11 years ago
When DH bought his first house back in 1979, it stunk of cat urine. We removed all the carpet and padding and replaced it. It STILL stunk. Turns out the the former owner's-quite elderly-let their cats use the crawlspace as a litter box!! We sprayed about 2 gallons of white vinegar down there and after 17 years the odor never returned!
mrsbee23
11 years ago
Our previous home (a rental before we bought) reeked of cat urine. The floors all has to be replaced. The walls even absorbed the smells. I don't know if this is a myth or fact, but we were warned that something about cat urine odor is damaging to ones health, especially pregnant women (?).
jannie
11 years ago
Actually it's cat feces that are dangerous to pregnant women. I know because I had cats when I was pregnant and my OB/Gyn considered mine a "high risk" pregnancy. It's because cats can carry a parasite that causes a disease called "Toxoplasmosis" which can be very dangerous. The urine is another story. I believe urine is actually pretty "clean" although the ammonia smell as it decays is gross. Personally, I would walk away from that house. My sister and her husband raised dogs (pitbulls,but not for fighting). My Mom inheirited a house and they talked her into letting them live in it. The dogs used the cellar/basement as their personal toilet. I got nauseated just visiting them. Mom ended up tearing the house down after they moved. She sold the lot.
albert_135 　 39.17°N 119.76°W 4695ft.
11 years ago
I've had no need to look in recent years but there once was a time when there were "odor removal services'' in the yellow pages. [There must still be some around. Persons do not pull down million dollar condominiums because a tenant violated the codes.]

Were these affective? Effective? Whatever?
emma
11 years ago
I know a woman who had 2 or 3 miscarriages, she finally found a doctor who looked deeper and found the info about Toxoplasmosis and asked her if she had a cat. She got rid of her cats and has had two children since. It is indeed dangerous.
shellybrow
11 years ago
The fresh urine you can take away before it dried up, especially from carpet; put a paper towel on the wet area to pat it nicely. Then start cleaning with mixture of 1 part of vinegar with water and spray it on the stain area. After that allow enzymatic based cleaner to remove old urine odor from your house. Enzymatic based cleaners break through deep into the home to get out old odors.