Cat wee carpet new house

T4taylor

As the title suggests really, we moved into our new house a week ago and they must have had some flipping strong diffusers when we came for viewings as our bedroom carpet stinks of cat pee. The usual carpet cleaners aren’t doing much and I can’t see a specific area, the whole room smells. Worth getting a rug doctor (or trying anything else?) or should we just rip up the carpet and start over?  

kayleighali

I am sure people will have suggestions, but from experience, rip it up and start again. It will have gone through to the underlay and potentially even the floorboards. I had this in a rented house and every suggestion I tried took the smell away for a bit but it would always come back. 

One other thing to bear in mind is, if it was a male cat, then the walls may also be affected. Easy enough to deal with on painted walls but if there is wallpaper then this could be holding the smell as well.

Brie

I wouldn't be bothering with Febreeze type products - they smell vile enough on their own and despite the sales patter simply seem to mask odours temporarily.

While finding a way to deal with this properly...have you tried bicarb?  A thorough layer of it left overnight and then hoovered up might help.  Another possibility is tonic water - liberally sprinkled onto a dry carpet and then wet hoovered up.  

Is it just the one room?  Or it it simply that's the worst and the others will become apparent if you deal with this one room at a time?  You might need to get down and give each room a good sniff, particularly in corners or near/under rads - assuming my cat was doing what comes natural....

Ebe_Scrooge

kayleighali said:

I am sure people will have suggestions, but from experience, rip it up and start again. It will have gone through to the underlay and potentially even the floorboards. I had this in a rented house and every suggestion I tried took the smell away for a bit but it would always come back. 

I have to agree with this, I'm afraid.  New carpet and underlay, you'll be there for a month of Sunday's trying to wash the smell out.  I might even go so far as to suggest - remove the old carpet and underlay, then wash the floor with disinfectant and let it dry thoroughly before putting new carpet down.  May not be necessary - see what the floor is like once you've got the carpet up.  If the urine has got through to the floor then you need to try and clean it out first, but you may be lucky and find it's just the carpet/underlay that's contaminated.  And it depends what the floor is - if it's chipboard, you don't want to be overwetting it, but it will need cleaning as best you can.

Trina90

I'd have to agree with ripping it up and starting again. We have a cat which very occasionally pees where he shouldn't, and I tackle it straight away with an Enzyme cleaner and this seems to do the trick. However, if cat pee has been left to dry, I don't think you have much luck at getting rid of it as it's so strong, and potent.

NSG666

Another for rip it out and start again and you might need to clean the floor too.

canaldumidi

Rip it out, clean beneath, wait for the january sales.....

ryan7

Rip it out, repeatedly clean with neatrslizers like vinegar on the floor and skirting boards and let it air. 

clive0510

the smell of cat wee is horrible stuff to try and get rid of. you can use carpet cleaners, frebreeze etc, and initially  you may get rid of that acrid smell. and then a few weeks later it will return. I think remove the carpet and underlay, treat the floor with something, and have all new fitted. in the meantime contact your house insurance and see if you can get anything on that. its worth a try.

rach_k

I would probably get rid of the carpet too, but you could try a product made for cat wee first.  They usually contain specific enzymes to break the pee down, unlike general cover-the-smell type products.  I normally get one from Amazon called Simple Solution, but I've had other brands that have worked just as well.  I would look for one with a squirt bottle rather than a spray - a gentle mist isn't going to do anything, you need to saturate the carpet.  If you can bear it, I'd recommend getting on your hands and knees and sniffing out the hot spots, or you're going to have a very soggy room!

Apodemus

clive0510 said:

...in the meantime contact your house insurance and see if you can get anything on that. its worth a try.

Really?  They've been in the house a week and this is very clearly a pre-existing problem.