Help non-cat owner rid home of urine smell.

n.e.diver

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OK- So last October I bought a house and there was wall to wall carpet in it. I go into the dining room and there is a portion of carpet cut out exposing the plywood sub floor. I only need to get 3 feet away to discover why...the smell of cat urine was overwhelming. Well we bought the house regardless of this problem, because we thought we could fix it. We decided to tear out carpet and put in hardwood floors. I wanted to rip up the stained sub floor and replace the wood, but fiancÃ[emoji]169[/emoji]' said to buy an enzymatic spray and use that. I bought natureâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s miracle or some type of spray like that and I sprayed and scrubbed the floor and parts of trim, and blotted with paper towels to try and get the smell out. I worked on it for a few days, before I just poured the entire bottle on the site. Took three days to dry and the smell was still there, but not as strong. We ended up putting the hardwood down and said, oh well the smell will have to eventually just disappear.

Almost one year later and the smell is still there, I rarely go into the dining room because I hate the smell. Also, the smell seems to come and go...but when I get a whiff its a nose full.

So now I have hardwood floors on top of smelly sub floor so I am not sure what I can do. I am worried if I sell my house in a year or two, will the smell persist? Is there an air freshener that will catch the smell or deodorize it without merely masking it over?

Sorry for all the details, but I really need the help!!!
 

gailc

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I'm thinking the urine soaked in the sub floor also. Yrs ago when we replaced our all our flooring we actually had to cut out parts of subfloor and replace. I then around the perimeter of every room "painted" a 1 ft swath of polyurethane which does not allow any odor to be detected. We then laid the carpeting and hardwood floors.
Did you check to see if the trim along the floor is causing the odor? Do you notice it on more humid days???
I guess I would call a good cleaning service perhaps one that works on places that suffered fire damage and see what they recommend.
 
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n.e.diver

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Originally Posted by GailC

I'm thinking the urine soaked in the sub floor also. Yrs ago when we replaced our all our flooring we actually had to cut out parts of subfloor and replace. I then around the perimeter of every room "painted" a 1 ft swath of polyurethane which does not allow any odor to be detected. We then laid the carpeting and hardwood floors.
Did you check to see if the trim along the floor is causing the odor? Do you notice it on more humid days???
I guess I would call a good cleaning service perhaps one that works on places that suffered fire damage and see what they recommend.
It is possible that the trim sustained some damage, the subfloor was definetly stained. I never thought to try and paint it before laying down the hardwood. Yes I think I do notice it more on humid days, even though my house is airconditioned and generally very dry.
 
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