At the moment the area rug is almost dry and barely damp and I'm running a fan on it. One cat lives in the bedroom because another one attacks her. One litter box which I keep clean at all times. Before I ordered super large dog pee pads surrounding the whole box, Miss Raven would miss a couple of times because the pads I had were too small.

I cleaned up her urine as best as I could even using baking soda. I haven't smelled anything. Until the flood. That urine spot and I bet there may have been more that I never noticed stunk to high heaven until yesterday because the rug is almost dry.

It goes in the dumpster this weekend so it won't be too heavy for us. Been using wax melts and Febreeze fabric spray.

What a mess. BTW, I did have a few appliances under the cabs I rarely used like electric curlers and a blow dryer. Should I chunk them?

Wow! I’m sorry that happened to you, but that’s one time leaving the hole open turned out to be a good thing.

yes, chuck appliances that may have gotten wet

what an ordeal!

I would throw them out but..... my dad's house blew away in a tornado a few years ago. After the storm, he tried to salvage a few items. His computer and television were soaked. He pulled them out of the rubbish and let them dry out for a month or two, then he plugged them in. They are still both working five years later.

ilikefriday, that's amazing!! I'm going to chunk them, fortunately the ones I use the most are in a basket well off the floor.

BTW, I forgot an important part of the story. The cat urine? Because of all the water which seeped under the litter box, it had to make the urine remains spread throughout the rug. Major chunk. :)

ETA: I always keep extra kitchen flex trashbags in the bathroom so I don't have to make a special trip to the kitchen, and they sure came in handy before the plumbers got here. I also keep paper towels and I was able to wipe the wetness under the sink clean as a whistle.

I did hear the older man call the younger man who was under the cabinet, "Pretty butt." He was about 80 & the owner. The younger guy calls him grandpa. lol

Im lost. so is the concrete inside ir outside? are you getting new flooring?

Hu, read the 4th paragraph in the first post. I'm going to replace the area rug and runners in the bedroom. The area rug is big enough to go halfway under the foot of the bed to the opposite wall where the humongous chest of drawers are. That's a large walking space which will be covered by the rug. It will be outlined with concrete. :)

DS's can figure out the rest when they acquire the house.

Thank you Annie! I'm ordering it today. I figured I'd have to mop the concrete and the thought of the urine soaking in it did cross my mind.

I'm putting the rug in the dumpster today. This is one of the first high humidity days @ 90% and when I woke up the whole room reeked. I could always close the window but the cat likes laying in the window sill getting a nice breeze. :) It's opened maybe 3" but enough to make the room super humid.

Next is figuring out how to clean the hallway runner although it doesn't stink. When the guys came out of the bedroom they stepped on the runner. At that point I didn't care.

Ugh, Oak, what an ordeal! Sorry that happened. :/

Good to leave the window open to let the room air out. I hope the smell is contained to the one room. Now would be a great time to get new flooring for those rooms. Hopefully it's a long time before your children get the house, so do things that pretty it up for you (and the Mr.) to enjoy. : )

Tina, my nose is sensitive to smell and I can't smell a thing outside the bedroom, but I do plan on using it on the hallway runner.

Annie, I watched a lot of videos and they were mostly on carpets and furniture. I'm ordering the spray for now to see how it goes & it had great reviews except for the smell.

Should I mop the floor with hot water before I use the spray?

ETA: Just the thought of moving all the file cabinets and other heavy wood pieces makes my back hurt, even though the floor guys may do it. I'd rather the boys figure out what they want to do.

I totally feel for you. Having lived through a whole house flood twice as a teen, as well as "unexpected fun" with water leaks in my own homes, it's pretty much awful. I hope you get everything sorted (and dried out!) soon.

Sorry this happened to you.

Our homeowners insurance covered clean up, dry out and our other losses when we had a flood 6 years ago.

Get your plumber to install a water shut off valve closer to your house. (It shouldn’t be costly.)

This is how we hide our ‘emergency hole in the wall to find a leak’ hole. In a closet…

Maddie, I had no idea that could be done. Will pass it along to DH.

I just remembered we had another flood when we first moved into our newly built house. I'll write about it later. Two men and a bottle of Jack Daniels around 2am. A whopper of a story. heh

DH was outside so I tackled the rug by myself. It pays to have our own dumpster. When I lifted the litter box and all the pee pads which I'd already changed, the odor nearly knocked me out.

It took quite a while to lift each end of the iron/wood bed so I could pull the sticky rug out on one side then do the other. Rolled it up and was able to carry it myself. It rubbed against my clothes, legs, hands, and arms. I probably smelled like cat urine and was so grossed out I jumped in the shower and scrubbed my skin raw and scrubbed again.

Now I'm thinking about getting a long runner from the door to the wall and it will come nowhere cl.ose to the litter box. I can deal with that. :)

I don't think I mentioned that the day after the flood, the handle on the toilet in the same room broke off. DH had to drive to the next town for the part. Ugh.

Our washer overflowed and destroyed about 1000 square feet of tile. Our insurance paid (less our deductible) to replace and install all the tile, remove and reinstall kitchen cabinets (tile went under), replaced counters in kitchen because they broke when removing cabinets, and repainted kitchen because walls got messed up when removing cabinets. Some carpet did get wet but DH bought a huge fan and dried it out before the adjuster came to our house. They even paid us for the fan which we didn't even ask for.

The only thing they didn't pay for was the repair to the washing machine. It was a very simple repair that cost almost nothing.

So, yes call your home owner's insurance. I doubt your kids will be able to make that claim when they inherit the house. And you'll get to live with nice new floors while you are there.

Water leaks, ugh. I've had my share of them, but nothing as major as yours, Oakley.

I am a bit obsessive about water leaking. One of the first thing I had done in this house when I bought it was have the inside water shut off valve replaced because it was frozen in the open position. And I am a big fan of battery operated water leak detectors. I have them throughout my house - on the floor near sinks, toilets, and the washer.

And, did you know you can have extra turn off valves installed in your house? I just had work done in my kitchen wall that exposed the water lines to the back of the house. Unrelated to the kitchen work, I had them put in shut off valves to those two lines.

Jsk, that is one big flood. Was water still being poured into the washer and it wouldn't stop? The first flood in the bedroom was ten years ago. Only damage was to the carpet which was removed. BTW, did you change out any decor colors when new tile and cabinets were installed? :)

Gray, there's a turn off valve at every sink and toilet, plus washing machine but I also think ours are frozen in place because of hard water and never had to use them.

Here's the story about our first flood which I hadn't thought of in years until today. We had just built our house and had only been here for about a month, tops. We're on rural water & have to read our own meter, and there's a pressure regulator on each meter. Rural water comes in full force without one & can burst pipes.

Let me preface this by saying DH isn't much of a drinker. One evening his dear friend stopped by for a visit. They were yapping at the kitchen counter, each on a bar stool. It was late and I went to bed. Around 2am a noise woke me up. The bedroom is at the opposite end from the kitchen and UR. I ran to the kitchen and saw both men, well, they were in their 20's, enough said, and both of them were passed out cold with an almost empty bottle of Jack Daniels between them. His friend apparently had it with him.

The noise was coming from the UR, and we had kitchen carpet at the time, and it was soaked and getting on the carpet in the DR. I screamed at them to wake up, the house is flooding! I screamed the same thing last week! lol

DH turned the valve off behind the washer, which had one of those black rubber hoses which sprung a huge leak on the hot water side. No more rubber. Ever.

Then the bozo started scooting the washer out of the UR, through the kitchen, to the DR which had a hanging light fixture over the DR table. It was tulip shaped glass with the bulbs facing up. Just the standard type. His friend was holding the back door open and when DH passed the table he took his arm and told the light fixture to get out of his way and he actually swung at it!

He got a bad cut on his arm and it obviously required stitches. His friend said I should take him to the ER, and DS1 was only 2 and asleep in his crib. I told him absolutely not! He said I'm his wife I should take him and he'd watch DS1. AS IF. I was livid and said DH got himself into this mess so he can either drive to the ER or his friend would take him. He did.

There's a lot of back dirt/rock roads they took to keep off the hwy. It was about 3am by then and I was so angry I called the head of our rural water and told him what happend. He asked if the builder put a pressure regulator on and I said what the heck is that? He told me and said it was the bulder's responsibility. I hung up and called the builder and woke him up and chewed him out for not putting a pr on. He said it was the rural waters responsibility. Hit head on wall ten times. Not sure who installed the regulator but it was done the next day.

I went to bed. When the guys got back they went to sleep. A few hours later the friend went to his house and brought his shop vac and they got all the water, then we put a big fan on it and all was fine.

Insurance paid for new carpet & and new DR light. ;)

Looking back in hindsight it's hilarious. I'll never get that picture of them with the JD out of my heard.

Oakley, I only ever used the liquid and I would let it soak into the carpet and let it dry naturally so it could work. I would think the same would work with concrete. If it's been wet, not sure washing it again would make a difference. I'd want the nature's miracle to soak into the concrete as that's where it will do the work.

Jsk, that is one big flood. Was water still being poured into the washer and it wouldn't stop?

Exactly, the part that detects the washer is full and stops it filling failed. The laundry room is on the opposite side of the house from the family room where we watch TV in the evenings. When I went to move the wash to the dryer, there was some water in the kitchen and I was confused. Got to the laundry room and it was just pouring out of the washing machine. And it was going through the floor and raining in the basement. Thankfully, it didn't destroy anything down there (my DH's shop is there but it missed all the equipment).

it was such a mess!

The replacement part for the washer was just pennies!

Annie, I thought about getting the liquid but the spray would be better for me so I can spot spray the concrete. The only stained carpet is the big blue stain on my blush pink bathroom runner where I spilled a glass of sky bluer flavored water that didn't wash out.

I did figure something out after removing the rug. I moved the litter box and washed the area with hot paper towels, let it dry & laid the new giant pee pads, clean box on top. An hour later I walked by the box and saw where Raven peed on the pad and not in the box which has been her habit lately. Pretty sure she peed behind the box that I didn't see or smell. I've deduced it's the new litter I suggested a couple of months ago. Cats are picky about their litter so I guess I'll buy her usual & see if she stops making me slave after her!

I found our old but still in good condition large half moon shaped hearth rug and laid it in front of the storage chest at the foot of the bed where she likes to lay at times or sit on her catnip toy. I'm going to get bedside runners and no large rug. I'm too old to go through what I did today. :)

It's still humid and not one smell of urine.

Jsk, your husband is lucky his things didn't get wet. Which reminds me of another flood we had about 5 years ago. On the other side of the wall in DH's office is the utility room which has a hot water heater closet. His office has wood floors and while sitting at his desk he noticed his shoes getting wet. Time for a new hw heater! I might have to get one of those water detection thingys.

I'm sorry to hear about all the water, the damage and the ordeal to clean it up. (((hugs)))

Nicole, late yesterday afternoon I finally got it all clean and no smell of urine anywhere. All I had to do was get the bathroom runner out of the dryer after my back stopped hurting. :) I brought the runner in to lay it on the bathroom floor which needed to be swept one more time before the rug was laid. I put it on the faux white leather storage bench with lid that sits at the foot of the bed. I love that thing.

The edge of one of the pee pads is close to the side of the bench but enough space to soak up pee and not get to the bench. I pulled the bench away from the bed the first time to get the rug when everything was pee soaking wet, and put it back. And then it hit me. I had to pull the bench out again to get the bed aligned back in place and as I was slowly pulling the bench out, it also brought out PEE WATER!!! I forgot the underside of the bench would be wet and it also has a thick felt type bottom so hard floors can't get scratched. It was soaked. The urine smell came back and it was awful. Easy cleanup though, washed it with water and paper towels, soaked up the moisture on the felt, then sprayed Annie's cat urine cleanser on the floor and just wiped it up and did the same on the felt. Aimed the fan on the area and it took only an hour for it to dry. Meanwhile, Raven chose the inside of the bench to take a nap.

When all was said and done I sprayed Febreeze inside the bench which didn't have an odor. Today I've done nothing because of the back.

Oh. I waited to wash all bedding until the urine odor was out of the room. I have to wash it tomorrow which is a huge chore for me. And then I'll be finished!

Just so you know, the pads have an attractant that entice pets to use them. your cats may start using the pads rather than their litter box.

It's just one cat and she never did this except on accident, until I changed litter. Today she did great!