Cat urine treasure hunt

[Shelly21]

I recently bought a tiny house, but I have run into a huge problem.

The previous owners owned two cats. To my surprise, when they moved out all of the furniture, the carpet stank and appeared to be riddled with mysterious stains in every room (gee, is that why they were burning incense during the home inspection?). I have attempted steam cleaning twice and chem dry cleaning once. After that failed, I decided to dispose of the carpet. Although the smell was reduced substantially, some smell is still present. Upon the advice of various sites, I am attempting the 'eat the stain on the subfloor with enzyme' and 'find the stain(s) using a blacklight'.

Unfortunately, when I attempted to play 'find the stain' earlier tonight, I couldn't find any thing. Does anyone have a better idea of what sign I should be looking for with the blacklight? Listed below are a few options to start the discussion:

a) Are the stains supposed to be bright or flourescent-colored under the blacklight?
b) Should the stains be subtlely darker than the surrounding subfloor
c) Should the stains flash on and off with a little sign saying 'I'm over here'

Any useful advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Xionide]

Your thread just froze my computer. or osmething did. but anyway, how high powered of a blacklight are you using. Are you making the room pitch black before you try it? and we had the same problem. removed the carpet, but the smell was still on our furniture, se we let it air out a couple of days. try that.

^note:The above is a slurred post from a poster that shouldnt be up this late, his spelling and grammer is completely shot and he is aware of this. please remain calm and refrain from being a spelling and or grammer police, thank you for your time.

Xionide

 

[BennyD]

just put a cat in there, and where ever it sniffs for ages, that'll be your urine

 

[conjur]

Could always just paint the entire subfloor with Killz.

And I know someone who used Killz as a primer on the walls and just repainted the whole interior of a house they just bought.

 

[Xionide]

Sounds like you got a lot of work ahead of ya. i woulda checked the house out more. Can you RMA it?

 

[theNEOone]

Originally posted by: Xionide
Sounds like you got a lot of work ahead of ya. i woulda checked the house out more. Can you RMA it?

the real question is if she has to pay for shipping............

 

[Migroo]

Use the cat trick...

 

[GasX]

them burning incense during the home inspection should have raised a warning flag!

If the stains are under the carpet, the blacklight might not help. If you haven't already, go to a pet store and buy the biggest bottle of Nature's Miracle you can find. Then apply liberally to affected areas - no more stink.

 

[Analog]

Cat Urine is about the stinkiest stuff around, and very difficult to get rid of. I heard that vinegar helps, FWIW.

 

[ATLien247]

Just pray they didn't piss in your heating vents...

 

[Kelemvor]

Originally posted by: BennyD
just put a cat in there, and where ever it sniffs for ages, that'll be your urine

That actually sounds like the best idea.

I would even try to clean the carpet. If it's been there for a logn time that carpet and pad have to go. But the subfloor is the main problem. You could try some sort of Bleach solution and pretty much coat anywhere you think might be stained. Or you could call a carpet vendor because I'm sure they've been asked this question before and see what they would do. Of course make it sound like you're going to buy carpet from them so they will be a little more helpful.

Or if nothign else, call a vet or pet supply store.