Biggest lesson I would like to share with you: If you are buying a house from someone who owns pets, request at least $2,500 for carpet cleaning. AT LEAST! We spent over about $1500 in new carpet, cleaning products, primer, and paint to deal with the animal urine in just ONE room. On second thought, ask for all new carpet before you buy a house.
One of the biggest rooms in our 'new to us' house had a little hidden surprise the day we moved in. It stunk of cat piss. Yes! We had toured the house multiple times, had negotiated plenty of repairs with the sellers, but in all our careful planning had failed to notice the stench of urine coming from the large front bedroom that was to be our baby#2 bedroom. Probably because the sellers had plenty of candles burning, fans going, and windows open every time we came over. We thought they liked to let the outdoors in.
Oh, the fury and sadness I felt when we went to the house after getting the keys only to smell that horrid but recognizable smell. With the candles gone and the hot humid air, I almost threw up when I stepped into what was suppose to be my bun in the oven's bedroom.
My husband, being a cat lover, wanted to blame the previous owner's dog. But the smell was pretty bad in the corners of the room and the closet. Plus, the word's 'CAT POWER' had been scratched into the closet door. Likely the work a small child. Or the cat.
Anyway, before a single thing could be moved into that room, the smell had to be dealt with. Baby#2 wasn't due for another 4 months. Her things could be put in other rooms. We would get the carpets cleaned. The smell would be gone in no time.
WRONG!
Carpets cleaned. Still stinks. The subfloor had been soaked by the animal urine. Home remedies like baking powder, vinegar, etc did nothing. But at least I knew the subfloor was clean now. Store bought products for animal urine applied 3 times. Still stinks.
The solution?
EVERYTHING HAD TO BE CLEANED, PAINTED, AND/OR REPLACED.
The walls and ceiling had been painted in a mural which was not my taste, so we had intended to paint anyway. However, we had not intended to paint as much as we ended up needing to do. The smell of animal urine had gotten into every surface. It stuck to the walls. I could smell it everywhere.
I cannot deny the artistic skill that went into this mural. I even thought about keeping part of it but once the smell set in, I could not separate the mural from the memory of the stench.
We cleaned the entire subfloor, trim, walls, and ceiling. All these areas received at least 2 coats of BIN primer. The subfloor got 3 coats. Then we repainted the walls in a fresh green color, the ceilings were repainted white, the baseboard trim was painted white, and we had all new carpet and padding installed.
Here is the after. Bye bye woodland animals. We even painted every inch of the closet. So fresh, so clean, so NO more cat piss.
We went with Spring Meadow in Satin.
1 year on, baby girl loves her room and we are thinking of getting a cat.
One of the biggest rooms in our 'new to us' house had a little hidden surprise the day we moved in. It stunk of cat piss. Yes! We had toured the house multiple times, had negotiated plenty of repairs with the sellers, but in all our careful planning had failed to notice the stench of urine coming from the large front bedroom that was to be our baby#2 bedroom. Probably because the sellers had plenty of candles burning, fans going, and windows open every time we came over. We thought they liked to let the outdoors in.
Oh, the fury and sadness I felt when we went to the house after getting the keys only to smell that horrid but recognizable smell. With the candles gone and the hot humid air, I almost threw up when I stepped into what was suppose to be my bun in the oven's bedroom.
My husband, being a cat lover, wanted to blame the previous owner's dog. But the smell was pretty bad in the corners of the room and the closet. Plus, the word's 'CAT POWER' had been scratched into the closet door. Likely the work a small child. Or the cat.
Anyway, before a single thing could be moved into that room, the smell had to be dealt with. Baby#2 wasn't due for another 4 months. Her things could be put in other rooms. We would get the carpets cleaned. The smell would be gone in no time.
WRONG!
Carpets cleaned. Still stinks. The subfloor had been soaked by the animal urine. Home remedies like baking powder, vinegar, etc did nothing. But at least I knew the subfloor was clean now. Store bought products for animal urine applied 3 times. Still stinks.
The solution?
EVERYTHING HAD TO BE CLEANED, PAINTED, AND/OR REPLACED.
The walls and ceiling had been painted in a mural which was not my taste, so we had intended to paint anyway. However, we had not intended to paint as much as we ended up needing to do. The smell of animal urine had gotten into every surface. It stuck to the walls. I could smell it everywhere.
We cleaned the entire subfloor, trim, walls, and ceiling. All these areas received at least 2 coats of BIN primer. The subfloor got 3 coats. Then we repainted the walls in a fresh green color, the ceilings were repainted white, the baseboard trim was painted white, and we had all new carpet and padding installed.
Here is the after. Bye bye woodland animals. We even painted every inch of the closet. So fresh, so clean, so NO more cat piss.
We went with Spring Meadow in Satin.
1 year on, baby girl loves her room and we are thinking of getting a cat.
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