I am helping remodel a home where a cat has been urinating on the carpet in two separate rooms.
We have ripped out the carpet and padding, and are having a discussion as to what to do next. My brother in law is saying that the odor will never come out and that we have to tear up the sub flooring. In a very few spots the urine did penetrate that far.
I am of the opinion that with our modern technology, there is something that can remove the odor from the sub floor.
Any opinions/experience?
I would try the various enzyme-based products, like http://www.petscents.com/, and really soak everything.
I have used Petzyme with amazing results. I too thought that cat wee was indelible but it’s not. Although I can’t speak to how well it works when the urine has penetrated so deeply into wood.
My neighbor across the street just recarpeted after his tenant moved out. Before he put the new rug down he painted all the floors with KILZ primer to seal the dog pee smell in. Maybe that would work with cat pee too. You’ll want to investigate that idea further as I only know that my neighbor did it. Don’t know if it works or if he’s just hoping that will help.
If Atmosklear is available down there, it has worked wonders for us. (Mostly dog urine, though, not cat.)
We had a similar problem. We bought a house, and found out later that the previous owner’s cat had apparently frequently used the master bedroom as a lavatory. You could actually see the stains on the sub-flooring.
We used “Nature’s Miracle” which is an enzyme-based product. I basically soaked the affected areas as often as I could for a week or so, then we replaced the carpet. On particularly hot and humid days, we might still get a tiny whiff of cat, but for the most part it was odor free.
I agree that the enzyme cleaners are great, but they may not penetrate as well as bleach. If you plan on covering it up again, then bleach probably wont do any harm. Obviously, make sure its well ventilated. Oxyclean (or generic sodium peroxycarbonate) may also be worth a try.
For a home remedy, you can also use vinegar mixed with baking soda…mix it into a paste and leave it on the stain for an hour or so, then soak it up and rinse with water. I usually use this mixture before I steam clean if one of my pets has an accident.
Also do NOT use any solution that contains amonia or that will make the cat urine smell WORSE.
If you go to Petco they have a whole aisle with various urine-removal solutions.
DO NOT use bleach on wood. Bleach will soften the wood and cause a soft spot in the floor!
DO use Anti-Icky-Poo. This stuff uses both enzymes and bacteria and is far superior to any other product. Believe me! I work at a cat shelter and I know what works and what doesn’t. If it helps you believe me more, they use this stuff for crime scene cleanup and it even says on the label that it eliminates “dead body”.
If this stuff doesn’t work, nothing will. It’s lots cheaper than ripping up sub-flooring. It will take up to a week to work, though. It continues to work even when it’s dry, so saturate the area and leave it.
Happy odor elimination to you.
I had an incident once where i accidentally closed the door to the room with the catbox and then left for a weekend. The cat, to his credit, did not poop and pee everywhere - he picked one sofa cushion and used it all weekend long. The cushion was absolutely soaked, deep down. I was pretty sure it was a write off. But the enzyme-based odor eliminator worked like a charm. I was truly impressed.
The amazing part to me was that after soaking the cushion with the odor eliminator and waiting the requisite time for it to do its thing, i pressed an old towel onto the cushion with some heavy weights to soak it up, and afterwards, the smell was somehow completely transferred to the towel and not on the cushion at all. i suppose it was because the foam of the cushion was some sort of synthetic that was less absorbent than the towel. Suffice it to say I was glad to be able to throw out a stinky towel rather than a stinky cushion.
So I guess that’s one more vote for the magic of enzymes.