Eliminating Cat Urine Smell--any advice?

14 years ago

I've noticed that a lot of you have cats, and wondered if you might have any tips that could help me (I don't have one and am allergic to them). The prior owners of my house had 3 cats, at least one of which seems to have had a serious 'spraying' problem. Although there was no cat urine odor during the home inspection or the open house, when I moved in the entire house had a cat and/or cat urine smell. The urine smell was the strongest in the basement but noticeable almost everywhere. I eliminated the smell upstairs before I moved in (I painted every room, removed all the carpet, refinished or installed hardwood floors, removed wallpaper, had the ducts cleaned). But the basement odor has been hard to battle.

Now, almost 5 years later(!), I'm still trying to 'clear' the air in the basement. It's more pressing now because I plan to set up an elliptical trainer in the basement soon, and I need it to be pleasant down there so that I will actually use it. The basement is unfinished and has cinderblock walls. I removed the carpet in the basement before I moved in, and that went a long way. And all the upper walls have been washed. I haven't been able to completely wash the bottom 3-4 feet of the walls because they are covered with some kind of pegboard style waterproofing paneling with tracks on the back of it; but I did spray some kind of animal urine product (nature's miracle??) on that pegboard/track stuff. But the smell keeps coming back especially if it gets warm and humid down there (i.e. if it's summer and I don't blast the dehumidifier). This morning it smelled like a cat had sprayed as recently as yesterday, not 5 years ago!

I'm just not sure what to try next. Would re-painting or priming the walls and floor work? Any other products that I should try to spray in the pegboard stuff (or does nature's miracle usually require multiple applications)? Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks.

Featured Answer

pbrisjar

14 years ago

It's probably soaked into the concrete. Try saturating the area with vinegar as best you can. If the smell still comes back you're going to have to paint with a good sealing primer like Killz.

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Comments (9)

yogacat
14 years ago
A lot depends on what kind of surfaces you have and whether the cat was spraying or just not using the litterbox.

Inappropriate soiling would be mostly on the floor, but the urine could have seeped under the woodwork and the woodened framing along the floor.

Spraying would be mostly along vertical surfaces. Probably not much in the middle of the floor, but on the walls and baseboard, behind and under the baseboards, and on the perimeter floor. Urine on drywall can even soak into the wood behind it.

I'd definitely get rid of the pegboard. It's too porous to mess with.

Next I'd use an enzyme on the vertical surfaces and on the floors near the vertical surfaces. I prefer anti-ick-poo (www.antiickypoo.com) to Nature's Miracle. Since these are old stains, you'll need their pre-treatment, too. Cats produce a lot more urine that you think, so you really want the products to soak in and flow the way the urine did. Let the whole thing dry well and see what you think.

If you're looking at treating an entire floor, that will be expensive. For that I'd try Kilz or the BIN product for blocking stains and odors.
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Not sure if you have solved your cat urine issue yet? I wanted to give you a recipe that will eliminate the urine and the odor. It may have already been posted but here it is anyway. 1 (16) ounce bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide 1 (tsp) baking soda a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid like Dawn or Palmolive pour the peroxide into a clean container, add the baking soda and the dishwashing liquid, stir very gently to dissolve the baking soda. Pour onto stained area and leave it alone for 24 hours. This solution is the Best and most effective I have ever seen or used. If you can get ahold of a black light, you can turn it on and the urine areas will glow. After you use the above recipe and leave it for 24 hours, if you turn the black light on, the stains are gone and so is the odor. Give it a try, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the results. Thats it. You can double tripple or quadruple this recipe for very large areas.
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squirrelheaven
14 years ago
The enzyme treatments are supposed to be good. I've heard Nature's Miracle works well (sold at PetSmart). My vet just started supplying an enzyme spray also. Don't recall the name, but I'm guessing it's probably better quality or heavier duty in some way.
jones123_123
14 years ago
My friend bought a house with previous cat owners and he found the easiest way to get rid of urine odor in a large area is to seal with a primer or some other type of sealer. If you can paint the walls, flooring, whatever, then do it. If it seeped under the walls and they are sheetrock, you may have to remove the lower half of the wall and treat the floors, studs or whatever else you find behind the walls.

I know if I ever go to buy a house I will insist they leave all AC/heating off when I go to see it. That way if the stink is there, it will be detected. Can't imagine having to go behind someone else's poor housekeeping to solve this kind of problem. I think it's terribly deceitful on the previous owners part to sell a house knowing the stink is there and I'm pretty sure they knew. Good luck.
pbrisjar
14 years ago
The enzymatic cleaners are good but at this point probably useless and way too expensive. About the only significant difference between them and the vinegar is that the enzymatic ones eliminate the (non-detectable to us humans) hormones/whatever that would attract a cat to return there to pee again.
robin_DC
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks to all of you for the tips. I'll try the vinegar tomorrow. Pbrisjar--does it matter if it is white vinegar vs. the brownish cider vinegar?

I sprayed the floor and all the walls with a peroxide and baking soda solution yesterday (recommended in a thread that I found on the flooring forum). That seemed to help at first, but I think the smell is coming back.

It sounds like I will probably have to buy a lot of primer and seal the odor into the walls and/or the floor. I went to petsmart today and bought a blacklight; hopefully that will help me find the worst areas so that I know where to concentrate my efforts. I have a feeling the walls are worse than the floor; when applying the peroxide solution I noticed some discoloration and residue about 2 feet up from the floor on a few walls, so those may have been major spraying locations.

I bought a large bottle of an enzymatic cleaner that sounded like it might help with older stains, but it was $35 and I know it won't be enough for the whole area, so if it's not much different from vinegar I may as well return it for a refund.

Yes, I'm sure the prior owners knew about it. I have no idea how they managed to hide it every time that I came to the house (I have a sensitive nose), and it irks me that they did. If I'd known, I could have had a painter seal everything before I moved in, while it was still empty. At the closing, the owner mentioned that the cats had been "stressed" because of the move; I guess she knew that I would soon discover the smell.

Thanks again!!
lyfia
14 years ago
Use white vinegar to avoid stains.
robin_DC
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks lyfia.
pbrisjar
14 years ago
Yup. Plain old cheap white vinegar. Soak the areas really, really well and just let it sit.

Eliminating Cat Urine Smell--any advice?

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