Hi...

I recently purchased a 1920 house in New England. Previous owners, who lived in the house 70+ years, had a variety of animals. None of which, it seems, were properly trained.

By removing the kitchen linoleum, vigorously scrubbing the HW floors with kennel cleaners, and removing all of the basement plaster/lathe, I have eliminated 90% of the ammonia smell. Because of the pets & missing downspouts, there is still significant mold (confirmed by lab tests) on the joists supporting the first floor. I plan to have this mold professionally removed (the mold, not the joists!).

However, along with the mold, I'm pretty sure that most of the first floor subfloor is coated with animal by-products. What's worse is, I'm pretty sure a good portion of the beautiful 90 year old hardwood floors on the first floor are saturated with animal leftovers.

What's a girl on a budget to do? I could not tear up the HW and replace with carpet. It would kill the 'charm' of the house.

Before spending $5k to $8k to replace 500sq ft of what I believe to be quartersawn white oak, wondered if a stopgap would be to:

a) Have the floors professionally stripped. Aggressively. Get as much 'goo' off as possible.

b) Gently take up the HW floors, so that the subfloor could be treated for mold. (assuming a slow and labor intensive task, with 20/30% loss of HW due to demo)

c) Have the floors professionally re-installed upside down and install new where old pieces can't be reused.

d) Re-strip that side of the wood stripped agressively (to get any remaining 'goo' off).

e) Refinish and pray like h$ck that it don't smell.

f) If the smell is still strong, rip it out the floor and replace. And forget any vacations for the next 5 years...

Any help/advice is appreciated!

Am going to ask my mold and floor guys too, but I figured 1000 heads are better than 3!

Smelly Jen