Cleaning old cat pee out of floors

[Kenshin911]

Hi,

I just bought a house (fixer upper) and the previous owner had several cats as pets. It seems that in one particular closet on the second floor the cats decided to pee as much as they wanted and the owner didn't do anything about it. It's been two weeks since the owner moved out and I've used soapy water on the laminate several times but the smell didn't come out.

Finally this evening I decided to get serious. I pulled up the quarter rounds, and then the laminate flooring and then the molding and the underlayment. I found under this was linoleum that had a cardboard like backing to it. It was glued to the press board floor, but I ripped it up and found the back of it was moist. The press board floor underneath was damp and it reeked something aweful. Since I'm new to home repair, I'd rather not pull up the floor unless I absolutely have to. What I'd like to do is clean the wood so it doesn't smell anymore and then put down new laminate flooring.

How do I get rid of this nastiness?

 

[her209]

CHEEZIN'

 

[zinfamous]

there was a thread posted about this a month or so ago, iirc. Try the search.

though I'd suggest a dilute H2O2 solution to knock out the pheromones, at least.

 

[iamwiz82]

Pulling up the subfloor is a lot less work than it sounds, less than pulling up the work you have already done. Get a circular saw, set it to the thickness of the floor (bore a hole to determine thickness)and cut out the damaged areas, if it's smaller, cut out a larger area to make you you have a few joists to reattach to.

 

[olds]

Text

 

[Sasiki]

Couldn't you also just polyurethane it to cover the smell up and then put new flooring down? It's not the right way of doing this, but it's 'just' a closet. On second thought, the moisture would still be there, making the way for wood rot later on down the road.

 

[her209]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Text

:laugh:

AWESOME!!!

 

[Kenshin911]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Pulling up the subfloor is a lot less work than it sounds, less than pulling up the work you have already done. Get a circular saw, set it to the thickness of the floor (bore a hole to determine thickness)and cut out the damaged areas, if it's smaller, cut out a larger area to make you you have a few joists to reattach to.

I have a circular saw, but the problem covers the entire closet floor all the way up to all 3 walls. I don't think I can cut all the way up to the walls with my saw, maybe 4 or 5 inches from the walls but not all the way. I could try getting a different type of cutting tool perhaps....

If I were to cut out that part of the floor, I'm afraid that I won't be able to get a new peice of wood to go back in and be stable. The walls are likely over the floor joists so there would be no support there if I cut the floor out and put a new peice of wood in. I'm new to home improvement stuff since this is my first house so I'm not really sure if this is a good idea or not.

 

[Kenshin911]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
Text

I actually tried that before I posted and I read several articles. I just wanted to post so I could get a person's response for my particular situation rather than a canned internet response.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: Kenshin911

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Pulling up the subfloor is a lot less work than it sounds, less than pulling up the work you have already done. Get a circular saw, set it to the thickness of the floor (bore a hole to determine thickness)and cut out the damaged areas, if it's smaller, cut out a larger area to make you you have a few joists to reattach to.

I have a circular saw, but the problem covers the entire closet floor all the way up to all 3 walls. I don't think I can cut all the way up to the walls with my saw, maybe 4 or 5 inches from the walls but not all the way. I could try getting a different type of cutting tool perhaps....

If I were to cut out that part of the floor, I'm afraid that I won't be able to get a new peice of wood to go back in and be stable. The walls are likely over the floor joists so there would be no support there if I cut the floor out and put a new peice of wood in. I'm new to home improvement stuff since this is my first house so I'm not really sure if this is a good idea or not.

You may want to bring a black light in there. Maybe the urine got soaked up the drywall too. At the very least, it would also show how close the urine got to to wall, maybe you won't need more than a few inches clearance to the wall.

As for support, you wont be cutting under the walls so you should be fine.

 

[thescreensavers]

I have a dog and he pee'ed in the carpet and it started to stink like your issue, how we fix it will cost you only $4 or less

At your local, grocery store, or walmat/target..ect they have

http://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Al...&qid=1227756165&sr=1-2

That is if you have carpets.

np

 

[AlienCraft]

Chances are you won't be able to encapsulate it enough if it's soaked into the subflooring. Just pull it up and re-do it.
That old laminate probably had an asbestos backing, which is why they went over it.
definately pull it out as much as possible. Keep the stuff moist and wear breathing protection.bag it right away and don't mess it around too much.
< owns cats, does home repair on the side.
Seriously, it seeps way down, you'll always smell it.

 

[Squisher]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: Kenshin911

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Pulling up the subfloor is a lot less work than it sounds, less than pulling up the work you have already done. Get a circular saw, set it to the thickness of the floor (bore a hole to determine thickness)and cut out the damaged areas, if it's smaller, cut out a larger area to make you you have a few joists to reattach to.

I have a circular saw, but the problem covers the entire closet floor all the way up to all 3 walls. I don't think I can cut all the way up to the walls with my saw, maybe 4 or 5 inches from the walls but not all the way. I could try getting a different type of cutting tool perhaps....

If I were to cut out that part of the floor, I'm afraid that I won't be able to get a new peice of wood to go back in and be stable. The walls are likely over the floor joists so there would be no support there if I cut the floor out and put a new peice of wood in. I'm new to home improvement stuff since this is my first house so I'm not really sure if this is a good idea or not.

You may want to bring a black light in there. Maybe the urine got soaked up the drywall too. At the very least, it would also show how close the urine got to to wall, maybe you won't need more than a few inches clearance to the wall.

As for support, you wont be cutting under the walls so you should be fine.

If this is a closet we are talking about I would just cut across the front, inside the threshold. Rent a small diameter circular saw. I'll bet there is even one that is made for close work like this. I have a rotozip that I have a circular saw attachment for, it'll get within 3/4". A sharp wood chisel will make short work of the rest. Another alternative would be a sawzall, holding it as flat to floor as you can and swinging a small arc downward, but the blades will bend if they strike the wall enough.

 

[Dirigible]

Cat pee is horrible. If possible I'd go the "remove the peed-on material" route. Otherwise, a black light and some Nature's Miracle or the like will improve things some.

 

[Pepsei]

try this, 'nature's miracle' is the best..... pour this on the spot even before using anything else....

link

cat pee is really bad, if you do not completely eliminates it, the cat will use that spot in the future.

 

[mizzou]

Originally posted by: Pepsei
try this, 'nature's miracle' is the best..... pour this on the spot even before using anything else....

link

cat pee is really bad, if you do not completely eliminates it, the cat will use that spot in the future.

yeah, I use that and it's great.

I've only had to clean up cat vomit though (knock on wood)

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Pulling up the subfloor is a lot less work than it sounds, less than pulling up the work you have already done. Get a circular saw, set it to the thickness of the floor (bore a hole to determine thickness)and cut out the damaged areas, if it's smaller, cut out a larger area to make you you have a few joists to reattach to.

This. I wouldn't even hesitate to rip out that old cat piss soaked wood.