We have moved into a home that smells like dog urine and smoke.....?

Question

The previous owner had 4 basset hounds and 2 cats. We have tried to shampoo the carpets, used the vinegar and baking soda. We have tore up the carpets in the rooms but can't afford to tear up the carpet in the living room. The smell gets worse when it is gets hot.....any ideas?

Answer 1

The baking soda didn't work? Must have been their litter box! Did you try washing the walls? IF the animals sprayed, it could be in places other than the carpet: trim, walls, heaters, air vents, electrical outlets. Try tackling those areas too. You could try the sprinkle carpet deodorizer but get something for pets that has enzymes in it. Good luck!

Answer 2

strip everything out and clean down with some disinfectant to floorboards and sugar soap for walls, good luck x

Answer 3

Have you tried febreeze?

Answer 4

The urine has gone through the carpet and into the sub floor beneath. You can clean the carpet till your blue in the face and the odor is going to come back.

Your only solution in this case is to mask the odor. I have found that plug-ins work best

Answer 5

The stink may be under the carpet in the living room, in the pad........or worse.......beyond the pad and into the subfloor.  

You can pull  the carpet, replace the pad and reset the carpet.  If the subfloor also reeks, you'll need to paint it with an encapsulating paint for covering stains.....like Kilz or Valspar primers.  Then new pad and reset the carpet.....assuming you got the stink out of the carpet in all that cleaning.  Cat urine is the most difficult to eliminate.

As for the smoke.....wash everything: walls, ducts as far as you can reach, light fixture, etc. Don't forget furnace and AC filters.   Even then you may need to repaint...wash the walls first, and use Kilz if you are serious about this, then your final paint.  

I hope you can get this house clean!

Answer 6

The same thing happened to me, too.  I used a kit that I got at the pet store that had what looked like a blacklight flashlight.  I walked around the darkened house and shined the light, cat urine will glow under that kind of light, and then you can deal with it.  (I used some kind of pet stain remover and Febreeze)

As for the smoke smell...we painted the ceilings and noticed a huge difference.  Wash the windows (inside) and paint the walls too, if you can afford it, and it will make it better.

Answer 7

try natures miracle...........you can get it at pet-smart for like 25.00 a gallon. It works wonders.

Answer 8

Paint the walls and ceilings if you can, or wash them down really well with Murphy's Oil Soap.  That stuff is really good at getting out funky smells.  Get some OUT! pet stain remover that has enzymes and good bacteria in it and soak the carpet really well with it and let it dry naturally.  On the bottle is says that you can put one cup of the OUT! to one gallon of cleaning solution and use in a carpet cleaner.  That would not take so long to dry.

Answer 9

This is a tough one.  The only way I know, and this is from experience, is to completely saturate the carpeting with straight vinegar, allow to soak in, into the padding.  Then with a shop vac suck up as much as you possibly can.  Then take several dry towels folded, laid out on the carpet, and walk, walk, walk, on them till they soak up the rest.  Keep on doing this until you can press down towels and there is very little vinegar coming up.  Then set up a few fans to finish drying out that room.  Alot of work, but cheaper than new carpeting