Strong Cat Urine - OdorFixPlus

[Gail Aiken]

We bought a foreclosure with disgusting cat urine odor.  No carpets - all hardwoods.  We have mopped and cleaned but the odor still remains.  Has  anyone used this product or  can you represent another product that works.  I think we will also purchase a black light to find the areas.

[Mark Holencik]

I have used Peppermint oil mixed with alcohol. Sprayed the wood and this has taken the odor away. I can send you some of the oil if you want to try it.

[Nicole Pettis]

Peppermint oil will work. White vinegar will work as well. You can also add vanilla to the paint and it will help with odor. Although, you might have to refinish the hardwoods to get the oder out, because if it has seeped into the wood and subfloor that will be hard to remedy with sprays and neutralizers.

[Jared Sawyer]

May need to refinish the floors. If you aren't able to do that prime it in with kilz.

[Michael Boyer]

If the finish on the floors is largely gone and you can see or tell the urine is present there, I think you are a candidate for refinishing them-- rent the sander (use various grit levels) stain/polyurethane.  Or hire it out.. 

But before that and if the floors have a decent finish (so the cat urine is not absorbed and penetrated) you might try cleaning/sealing the walls and other porous surfaces first. 

A couple of time, right before I was on the verge of replacing flooring (due to pet odors and after cleaning it thoroughly), I did the clean/seal process on walls, ceiling, cabinets, etc with the process described in this forum... Presto.

It was a valuable insight( aha! it was lurking in the walls and ceiling!) that the odor was there, too. One's first impression is floors, floors, floors for pet odors (which is a good place to start) but very powerful pet urine seeps into porous surfaces (don't know all the science and chemsitry but it does).

So I would try the clean/seal (see below) of all walls, ceilings and surfaces, then if the odor is still, present maybe look into the flooring refinishing (also, either way, I would still look at pulling the floor molding and cleaning behind it (cat's spraying walls tend to end up there).

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/288...

[Chris Christianson]

Good luck, I'll give you about a 20% chance of getting the odor out.  Wood floors are installed with tongue and groove strips.  This leaves a space between each two pieces.  I've pulled many a floor up and found the stains on the subfloor.  I also know that this cat smell is not just on your floors.  Cats have the ability to crawl all over a house and once they decide they can use it for a bathroom, they seem to use all of it.  My parents purchased a home some 25 years ago that was cat urine stink.  They completely gutted the house.  Walls, carpets etc.  18 years later when they sold the house you would still occasionally pick up the smell of cat.  It gets in the duct work, the sub floor, even the framing.  

I wish you all the luck in the world.  When I buy a cat house, I make sure a complete gut, subfloor, insulation and all are budgeted in.  Nothing against cats but if their owners don't take care of them they are VERY destructive little creatures.

[Account Closed]

@Nicole Pettis I never though of adding something to the paint, interesting. Thanks for the tip!

[Nicole Pettis]

@Account Closed

It works wonderfully well. Vanilla is a natural odor neutralizer. I used with my last project. The duplex was full of animal oder & between doing that & refinishing the floors they went away. 

[Matt Stewart]

I've done a few cat houses.  If it's in the hardwood you have very little chance of eliminating it without completely tearing it all out and starting over.  Check the walls too.  Male cats spray up to two feet and drywall is a lot easier and cheaper to replace than hardwood.  Once you've removed as much of the infected material as possible and cleaned & sealed the rest I've had good luck running an ozone generator to remove any lingering odors.