Terrible cat smell- ozone suggestions?

Question

I purchased my first real rental this weekend and it has a terrible cat urine smell throughout the house. I am have ripped up the carpet, and padding to find old linoleum flooring on top of the subfloor. Has anyone used http://www.maxblasterusa.com ? or are there better options? Do I need to remove the linoleum and subfloor too?- it’s a 1957 slab home. Thanks for the help!

Steve Vaughan · Answer

That old linoleum under the carpet may save you.

We scrub mop vinegar and water to help neutralize and let dry.  Probably worth painting kilz primer on it also.

Use a black light to see a real horror show.  It will show bright green.  Sometimes you have to remove drywall up two feet.

The $10,000 cat, usually a male. I hope you got a good deal on this house.

Julie Hartman · Answer

You will most likely need to remove all flooring down to subfloor and paint Kilz over the affected areas. This will seal out any odors and then you should be able to proceed with laying down your new flooring of choice.

Chris Kim · Answer

Hi. I do flooring for property management companies and run into this a few times a year. We remove all flooring to the subfloor and spread baking soda on it. Than we come back the next day, vacuum, and install new flooring. It doesn't eliminate all but id say it helped a good decent amount.

Christen G. · Answer

I just dealt with this in the following way. First - find it. This shouldn't be too hard with a good nose or a blacklight as someone suggested. But make sure you find it all - you don't want to seal the place back up and have that smell re-emerge come summer/more humid months.

1) tear it out down to the subfloor and/or the drywall down to the studs (snap a line at a 4' mark to waste less drywall)

2) nightly ozone machine usage - READ THE INSTRUCTIONS - these things will kill any/all living things inside the house - plants, animals, you. But they work and are good to have on hand if you're a landlord/turning over units or have a funky basement or car. Here's the model I got: https://tinyurl.com/5gd4p2ht

3) A deep scrub of affected areas with this clorox product: https://tinyurl.com/1uriso6g

4) Kilz Oil Based primer - this comes in buckets, tubs and spraycans and it's glorious. Make sure you get the oil-based one. You need a proper respirator to use this stuff. Here's a pretty good one: https://tinyurl.com/ke6ddmmy - in my case, I Kilz'd a lot of studs bc the cats had gone to down on walls all over the home - so much so that it soaked through the front half of the wall, saturated the insulation and seeped into the back side of the wall/the next room. So gross.

This may seem like an overkill - and it is...bc cats can be disgusting - and again, you just don't want to seal your place up, get floors, doors and paint done and have that smell creep back. Also I did all of the above in my new primary...not a rental. Even though I'm a cat person, I do not rent to people with cats. They are so destructive. Here's a few nightmare photos for you! :)

I threw the doors out, burned the wood paneling and subfloor (stay upwind!) and did 2 coats on the studs.

Good luck.

Dennis Wayne · Answer

@David Lee Hall, III

We tear the stuff off

Use pine sol /water liberally with mop

Cover with old paint we had ..or kilz

Then Run a ozone generator if it is still nasty

David Lee Hall, III · Answer

As mentioned, a 3 prong approach tends to succeed. Start with baking soda or hydrogen peroxide. From there clean and seal with an oil or shellac sealer such as Kilz. Finally run a ozone generator over a weekend staying out of the house. There are misting products out there that claim to neutralize smoke/pet odors chemically but I haven’t tried and yet.

Joe Splitrock · Answer

Cat pee odor is there for life. All the ozone machines in the world won't get rid of it.

Either rip out the sub-floor or you can paint an odor blocking primer on it, which usually takes care of it. Just make sure before painting that you thoroughly clean the surface using odor neutralizing pee remover. Let it dry, then apply the odor blocking primer.

Ozone can still be used and will help some, but with pee soaked sub floor, it won't do the trick by itself.

Megan Penman · Answer

Thank you for all of the help!- I will try the tips - :)

Steve Morris · Answer

Think you're going to need to experiment, but usually you need to rip up flooring, sometimes to the studs until the smell goes away.

I have cats, but that's the nature of their urine.

Bob H. · Answer

Years ago, I heard good reports about OdoBan. In that case it was used for urine smell in the home of a disabled elderly person. I suppose it would help with pet urine as well.

Terrible cat smell- ozone suggestions?

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