New floors and prep

I need some help answering this for a friend:

We've decided to replace the carpet upstairs with vinyl plank flooring. The guy is coming to install it in a couple of weeks. But now I need to figure out what I need to do before he comes. We haven't pulled up the carpet yet, but I suspect some of the pee stains will go all the way to the sub floor. When we lived at my sister's house the cats lived in one bedroom, and after we moved out she had to replace the carpet in that room, which included cleaning and sealing the sub-floor. Has anyone ever had to do this? Any tips on what to use, how to go about cleaning, how to seal it and with what? What's there now is the carpet and pad and a wood sub-floor underneath. I'm fairly certain the hallways will need to be done, and possibly part of the game room (but hopefully not all of it). My sister used Kiltz, but I'm open to other ideas if something else is better, or just as good but cheaper. She said it could take a week or two because of having to allow drying time between each step, and since our guy is scheduled to come December 5 I need to get started soon.

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053

Rip out all the carpet and clean any pee spot with a good odor neutralizer (saturate it the let it dry). Then seal the wood with a polyeurathane (or varnish) finish. The finish won't take out the smell, but it will cover it up.

I got this tip from one of those professional cleaning firms that you can hire to come out and clean up after things like smoke damage or skunking. I did this with a wood door that got soaked when our dogs were puppies and they peed by that door. It totally sealed out the smell.

And I suggest that you start immediately, as it will take a while for the wood to dry from the odor neutralizer before you can finish it, and that will take a few days to dry. They do sell poly that dries quickly and I would look for that.

When we tore our carpeting and had hardwood flooring installed there was one section of the sub floor we had to cut out and replace. It was particle board and it was fairly obvious that there was damage. When we took off the vinyl sheet flooring in the kitchen as we went with this hardwood flooring thoughout it was ok.

I applied a strip of polyurethane about 12" wide around the perimeter of the entire room onto the subfloor and to any spots I though could be questionable. You can buy this any any home improvement or paint stores. I've done this to every room when we replaced the flooring. This has a fairly fast dry time. Yup I got down and stuck my nose in spot to see if I could detect any odor! This was after I did a good clean/vacuum job. You will be amazed how much dirt is under the carpet pad.

I will pass the information on. If anyone else has tips please post. Thanks!

Kilz paint/primer is wonderful. I've used it a few times. Are you referring to laminate flooring?

When I did ours, I cleaned the concrete slab floor twice with Pine-Sol. I painted it with the Kilz (2 coats). The previous owner's dog had left huge poop stains on the carpet (they didn't smell, nor were they even visible when we bought the house, but they leached through eventually).

Kilz is only about $13 a gallon at WalMart. It' great stuff. Make sure you have proper ventilation with it or any other similar paint--it does have a stong smell at first (that will go away when the flooring is installed).

Originally Posted by MargeCat

Kilz paint/primer is wonderful. I've used it a few times. Are you referring to laminate flooring?

When I did ours, I cleaned the concrete slab floor twice with Pine-Sol. I painted it with the Kilz (2 coats). The previous owner's dog had left huge poop stains on the carpet (they didn't smell, nor were they even visible when we bought the house, but they leached through eventually).

Kilz is only about $13 a gallon at WalMart. It' great stuff. Make sure you have proper ventilation with it or any other similar paint--it does have a stong smell at first (that will go away when the flooring is installed).

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Not sure. I was posting for a friend.

My in-laws recently had new carpet and vinyl floors put in their home. The subfloors were a little uneven in some spots and by the sink and front door had water damage (who puts carpet in a kitchen?!) that needed to be sealed and leveled.
The people putting the flooring in for them took care of this. It could cost a slight bit more, but your friend could see if that could be included if they're not up for what could be a big project.