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Buying and Selling Homes

Pet smells in house?

RNmomof2 zone 5

4 months ago

We are thinking about downsizing as we are empty nesters. We toured a house today that we know cats have been in. My DH and I both left with a headache and itchy eyes. Another house for sale in our neighborhood has 3 dogs.

Are you able to get the pet smells out of these houses and with what effort and expense? One realtor said the entire house would need walls scrubbed and repainted, all new carpet.

Any real life experience with this?

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Comments (4)

palimpsest
4 months ago
It depends. We lived in a place where we refinished the floors and on hot humid days we could still pick up a faint smell of cat pee where they had the litter box. Not terrible but we could still detect it slightly.

Dog smell is probably easier to eliminate.
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RNmomof2 zone 5 thanked palimpsest
Kendrah
4 months ago
I would rule out any home that you have a reaction to when you are in it. Maybe not all homes with cats or dogs will bother you. Start to visit different homes and find out. Do you have a reaction when you go to a friend or relative who has pets? Some pet houses smell much worse than others.

I am insanely allergic to plug-in air fresheners and cigarette smoke. I ruled out all homes of smokers and homes that used plug-ins. If I had a serious reaction within minutes of being in the house, I knew that it would be very hard to get the smell out of the home because I'm that sensitive. If someone is a smoker but not in their house, I still get sick from being in their house because the smell is on their body and their clothing. It narrowed my list down but I never had to pass up a dream home because of it.
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I just saw your problem while looking for something else. Two years ago we bought a beauty MCM house in central Florida. It was redone poorly by a 'House Flipper'. The house was inspected by a supposedly well known company. As soon as move in, I could smell an off smell. A new metal roof had been put on over the old shingle roof.... At the time due to a family member dying the option of having the house taken back by seller and getting money back and getting reimbursement from Home Inspection was offered by a local lawyer after he had another company inspect the house. Unfortunately that was just the wrong time to do that- the timing was just too much. The roof had a small leak one week after moving in which the roofer supposedly repaired. About 6 months ago the roof leaked again- around 3 sides of the chimney by the original leak. I had a different roofer come out. He called the county inspection dept who came out and were very disgusted that one of their people had passed the roofing inspection. The original roofer was notified and was extremely mad that the second roofer would have the 'audacity' to call county out. Long story short- the old roof leaked and the 'House Flipper/roofer tried to cover up the old wet roof without removing it and places on new roof not done properly. That old damaged wood from prior wet caused a musky/slightly moldy? smell. County made roofer do repairs correctly. I thank the second roofer who came out and started the ball rolling and did not try to scam me. I know who NOT/DO USE on next house ... Maybe you have wood that was/is wet somewhere??
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RNmomof2 zone 5
Original Author
4 months ago
Luckily, we live in an area with very few smokers. That would be a hard pass for me. Yes, my sister used to have a cat and my eyes would get itchy in their house. My real problem is if the cat sits on me or rubs against me.

We had a poodle in the past and I don't think our house smelled. I also could have been nose blind!
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PRO
User
4 months ago
You left the open house with itchy eyes and a headache. That's an allergic reaction and more apt to be caused by rugs and fabric. You didn't complain about odor. House is emptied, hire a good cleaning company to go in and clean top to bottom.

Smoking? Now that an issue for me as it has contaminated every inch of the home. Don't you just love nicotene yellow walls and ceilings?
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