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gca1945

Removing pet odor on hardwood floor...

gca1945
15 years ago

Can anyone suggest a method to successfully remove dog and cat urine smells from pre-finished, solid wood hardwood floors? No actual urine stains are visible, but the odor is awful.

These floors are fairly new, as they were installed months before my mother passed away. After her passing, my brother and I rented her home to our cousins. Unbeknownst to us, our cousins sneaked in two large dogs and two kittens. Needless to say, the animals wreaked havoc on the floors. The new throw rugs, which were sizeable, were destroyed by the animals and had to be tossed. Losing the rugs is one matter, but the hardwood floors are an altogether different matter.

Please, if anyone can assistant me, I would be grateful.

Comments (6)

  • lindac
    15 years ago

    I would wash with some enzyme cleaner made for pet stains and odors.
    There are several, try any pet store or the pet section of your grocery store.
    Linda c

  • linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)
    15 years ago

    The enzyme cleaners did the trick for us. Took several applications but finally the odor was gone. That was carpeting in our finished basement.

    In another room our sick old cat had numerous accidents all in the same area. We were replacing the carpeting there anyway, so after she died the installers were there pulling out the old carpeting. You could see under the carpeting and padding that the porous plywood subfloor had been soaked in urine and reeked. I asked the installers what we could do. One young man said to pour an entire box of baking soda on to cover it and leave it on. This was a deal where they pulled out the old carpeting one day and installed the next. The next morning before installation we swept up the baking soda and you could already tell a huge difference. Then we laid down another flatter layer of baking sods on the same spot and the padding and carpeting was installed right over it.

    Thhis really worked. I have always been grateful to him for solving the problem. He said he had done this numerous times. So if you can fence off the affected area of the floor so no one tracks through it, I would try this. You might need to try both approaches.

  • gca1945
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Thank you for the cleaning tips everyone. I truly appreciate your input. We are open to any advice, so all of your words are well heeded. We will work our way down the list. My brother and I heard the worst case scenario is having to sand and refinish the floors. Oddly enough, we already have to repair the floors. Our cousins severely scratched them on top of letting their animals use the house as a potty place! As a result, fun times are ahead.

  • ma-bookreader
    15 years ago

    Don Aslett's Cleaning Center has a web page devoted to cleaning up after pets. You may find what you need here. I have not purchased any of these products, but I have bought other cleaning products from his company. This company has been around for a long time and their product line is solid. His books on cleaning clutter are hilarious to read. I borrowed a few from my library but I now own a few of them.

    When we moved into our home, we had to deal with quite a bit of pet damage including pet urine smells. We needed to refinish all of the hardwood floors (they were all in very bad shape - the dog urine stains were only part of the problem) and that did eliminate all of the pet smells.

    Here is a link that might be useful: pet cleaning products

  • tnaylort
    15 years ago

    Yep, unfortunately, wood absorbs everything. Probably need sand, clean with murphy's oil, if that doesnt work, bleach, and then refinish.