Cat Urine Smell that refused to die

Cat Urine Smell that refused to die

Rental Property Investor · Winslow, ME · Member since 2008 · 826 posts · 281 votes

We've always been able to get rid of ANY odor, eventually, no matter how bad, even if it meant refinishing floors with six coats of poly with vinyl flooring over it! But we have a 2 BR unit that some mentally ill people lived in before we bought the building. They had 5 cats. 

Here's what we ALREADY DID:

1. 2 hardwood floors, resanded, then before the 3 coats of poly were added, I brought in a backpack sprayer with bleach water. Then another with 2 different industrial odor removing agents (like odo ban and natures miracle I think). 

2. Sprayed 2-3 times with high volume backpack sprayer (removed baseboard covers and literally pressure sprayed each fin so it gleamed) Sprayed literally every crack and crevice with about every odor eliminating chemical known to man. 

3. Every surface, odor blocking primer, then 2 coats. 2 floors that had carpet, stripped down to wood floor, soaked like #1, 3-4 coats poly, luxury plank vinyl over that. 

4. 12-24 hours ozone machine

Still can smell it, especially on humid days. Not overwhelming any more, but unmistakable. Because cat urine is organic, will there come a day when it will finally go away on its own? There's not much left for us to do, and we've already put 16K into the apartment in renovations (4K was cleaning, disposal, and odor mitigation, believe it or not!)

Thanks for any tips, and quips and jokes welcome as well, haha!

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Investor · Argyle, TX · Member since 2014 · 112 posts · 73 votes
7y

I have had some experience with properties similar to this one. #3 - we tried a similar treatment on the carpeted ares but ended up having to replace the wood/subfloor after removing the carpet.

#2 - the problem with baseboards, trim, and sheetrock is they are porous. So even though you pressure washed them until they gleamed, it doesn't remove the urine that soaked into the wood. You may need to replace all of the baseboards. And we had to cut the sheetrock about twelve inches from the floor and replace it because the sheetrock had soaked up the urine. You can use Kilz on wood and sheetrock, but it will not solve the issue on heavily-soaked areas that have been exposed to the urine over several years. I know you have already put in a large sum of money on cleaning and renovations, but this is something to consider.

Also, consider having a service clean the ductwork and whatever HVAC system you might have. That smell can soak into these areas as well. 

What about doors? Often the bottoms of interior doors have some buildup as well. 

No jokes here. Cat urine is the worst, especially when it has been building up over the course of several years. Good luck to you sir.

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  • Investor · Argyle, TX · Member since 2014 · 112 posts · 73 votes
    7y

    I have had some experience with properties similar to this one. #3 - we tried a similar treatment on the carpeted ares but ended up having to replace the wood/subfloor after removing the carpet.

    #2 - the problem with baseboards, trim, and sheetrock is they are porous. So even though you pressure washed them until they gleamed, it doesn't remove the urine that soaked into the wood. You may need to replace all of the baseboards. And we had to cut the sheetrock about twelve inches from the floor and replace it because the sheetrock had soaked up the urine. You can use Kilz on wood and sheetrock, but it will not solve the issue on heavily-soaked areas that have been exposed to the urine over several years. I know you have already put in a large sum of money on cleaning and renovations, but this is something to consider.

    Also, consider having a service clean the ductwork and whatever HVAC system you might have. That smell can soak into these areas as well. 

    What about doors? Often the bottoms of interior doors have some buildup as well. 

    No jokes here. Cat urine is the worst, especially when it has been building up over the course of several years. Good luck to you sir.

  • Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    7y

    ugggh.

    you're not going to like the sound of this, but you may need to replace the subfloor

  • Real Estate Agent · Oklahoma City, OK · Member since 2019 · 956 posts · 600 votes
    7y

    @Kenneth LaVoie I'm so sorry you're dealing with cat urine. I have a very expensive rug that I've had professionally cleaned several times, soaked in chemicals by Stanly steamer, left in the sun for several days.. nothing works. I'll take any advice around this as well! 

  • Rental Property Investor · Winslow, ME · Member since 2008 · 826 posts · 281 votes
    7y

    Thank you for these tidbits. I did NOT know that you couldn't encapsulate drywall. There is ONE thing we think might be part of the culprit. Two of the floors are original hardwood. Because of shrinkage, there are 3-5MM gaps between the flooring. We did have the floors refinished and 2-3 coats poly but do you think perhaps "routing out" andy debris in those cracks would be a good shot? Like a little metal awl or pick with a vacuum running. Time consuming but not much more than 2-3 hours at risk. 

    I keep thinking of that Seinfeld episode with the body odor from the valet .... "It's the beast!"

  • Real Estate Agent · Cleveland, OH · Member since 2019 · 359 posts · 295 votes
    7y

    @Kenneth LaVoie Cat urine is terrible but here is how Ive gotten rid of the odor and its literally such a cheap dumb thing. 1 part hydrogen peroxide, 1 part baking soda, and a little bit of dawn dish soap. Spray it all over, let sit, and wash/wipe away. Then go to walmart and buy 1 of those car bombs where you lock the sprayer and it blasts deodorizer. Make sure there is nothing living in the room & all windows/doors are closed (youll need mutliple if its a bigger space) then leave for hours and open windows later to air that out. im sorry if this doesnt work but its a cheap try, worked for me but maybe mine wasnt as bad.

  • Rental Property Investor · Winslow, ME · Member since 2008 · 826 posts · 281 votes
    7y

    Hey thanks Suny, I just ordered 3 of those danged things! (bombs). I think we've already cleaned as much as we can, though we did NOT use Hydrogen Per. 

  • Member since 2019 · 2 posts · 1 vote
    7y

    Dealing with the same thing in my unit. I have coated the sub floor 3 times in Killz. The smell is still there. As painful as it might be I have decided to replace the sub floor. Good luck, and let us know if you find something that works!

  • Member since 2019 · 1 post · 1 vote
    7y

    Have you looked at using an enzyme based cleaner? Don’t have much experience with odor issues, but sometimes enzyme cleaners work well because they actually eat and dissolve the organic materials. Crime scene cleaners use this a lot from my understanding.

    That said I had a roommate years ago that hid a cat from us that got out and got pregnant, had a litter of kittens on the carpet, poo everywhere. Once we kicked her out the complex had to replace all the carpet and paint the walls. Best of luck!

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