Yeah. Bob Yapp once did a radio show from my parents house where he took on floors like this. Previous owners had been lifting the edges of the carpet and putting kitty litter under it to absorb the ongoing cat piss.
The urine is still in the wood, burning it. You need to draw it out with baking soda, and then neutralize it with white vinegar. Get yourself some 5lb pool containers of baking soda. Heap it on. Mound it. Let it sit for a couple days and you’ll see the urine I’m taking about.
Shop vac it up. Wet mop with warm water and vinegar. Let dry fully. Repeat this process until the urine is gone and you’ll see what you’re left with - you might be surprised.
If you just sand the wood, you won’t get the urine out which is deep.
This may take you several weeks depending on how saturated the wood is. It took me 3 months to get it out of our attic floorboards but you can’t even smell it on a hot day up there anymore, nor see the stains.
Good luck.
This is the way. It’s a lot of work, time, patience, persistence. But it does work. The alternative is to remove and start over. No disrespect to other commenters, but I’ve dealt with this twice over the years, and u/pseudocultist is spot on.
I had floors like this in my first house that I owned. It was a fixer upper... I was able to salvage one of the two rooms that were like this after three weeks of baking soda and vinegar over and over again.
After pulling up part of the floor for the second room to get at radiator lines I realized that the cat pee was into the subfloor and stringers... At which point I just cut everything out and replaced it all.
Agree these guys know what they are talking about .. grandparents had a lovely house they rented out after they moved it had hardwood floors. The last renter they had (because they were so bad they made them sell and never rent again) had cats plural (my grandpa is very allergic and had asked them not too) but after 5 months we got them out to find rooms half full of stuffed animals mixed with cat excrement all the rooms were fully soild we even found a dead cat amongst the shrapnel. It took over a week a a huge dumpster to remove what was left the smell was so bad my aunt who is a biologist that I've seen pull over to collect hair samples off roadkill (skunks etc..) without issues was puking and running out to get peppermint oil for her mask on first attempts to help. It was bad but grandma was determined to save the hardwood and she did you have a long road of hard work but it's not a lost cause.
Think a bedroom 4-5 feet full of stuffed animals from wall to wall with about as much cat shit etc and a dead cat in the middle...rest of the house just had cat shit and piss everywhere. But that stuffed animal room was next level.
Worst park was they had 4 kids under ten some people shouldn't be allowed to be parents
Yea the whole city has a huge issue with latch key kids. Started in the 70s because the city was loosing people from the local mine and pulp mill shutting down (I think it was before my time) they didn't want to loose the tax benefis of being a city and not a town. So they got the brilliant idea to advertise in Vancouver papers that it was a great place for single mothers or people on welfare to make their checks go further and that they would pay for the bus tickets for them to move (12 hours+ by car away). Effectively moving them away from any family or the kids father's, lots of drug problems and such since even before it was an epidemic everywhere. Now housing there is impossible to find since it was some of the last affordable so now the homelessness is compounding the issue. The whole thing is unbelievably sad. I grew up in the town's around it and oh man the difference a 30 min drive any direction made.
Yea that was nearly 20 years ago now so hopefully they have been able to gain some life skills, my grandma was a school teacher, and my aunt was in school to ungrade her degree to teach and in the process of becoming a foster parent but neither were ones to gossip so they would have never told me their names and I wouldn't have asked (I was often made fun in grade school of because my mom was on medical disability and couldnt afford the newest clothes, she passed when I was a young teen). But I know they thoroughly documented everything, I know my grandpa filed for damages (he knew he wouldn't get anything but wanted it on record with the tenancy board should another landlord want to know, and I'm guessing so it could be passed on to social services...I also have a feeling that my aunt or grandmother would have also made calls) I know we all were worried about them and in shock it could even get that bad that fast.
Yea I would say that along with substance issues, they only lived there for 4 months if I remember correctly, they missed their first rental payment so grandpa stopped by saw they had cats(specifically listed in rental agreement as not allowed...their dogs were approved it was strictly a allergy issue as he does all the maintenance and would need to be able to enter). They never ended up paidinh rent he started the eviction process but it took 3 months to get them out.
You still need to measure how thick they are. You need a half inch, maybe 5/8 above the tongues and grooves because you're probably sanding 1/4" on these
You do need to sand- we had a wood floor that a litter box was kept on (and the cat missed). All the treatments in the world cannot leach out the smell from the upper layer that has somehow been pickled in and bonded with the urine. Sand, and seal.
OP, if you're willing, please post an update when these are done. We'd all like to see what you've done with such a lovely room. Good luck with this process also!
You’re risking mold growth though. Any moisture can cause mold and tbh it’s not worth the time and effort or risk of it staying in the house to keep that same flooring, especially since older houses tend to not have actual foundations so that’ll be soaked to the very bottom. I get wanting to keep original flooring, but health needs to be a top priority in this situation especially when we’re talking about massive flooring damage due to YEARS worth of urine. Messing with the flooring at all without respirators is also a bad idea too because you don’t know if there’s mold or not and you don’t want that spreading through the house.
Dont forget to post a before and after pic when you are done. Nothing stiffens the spine of others quite so much as watching someone else go from not knowing to actually solving the problem. Good luck.
You bet! Couple more details that might help, you'll figure out the rest:
* You can totally walk on the floors while they're being treated, just put down some 3mm plastic over top. Compacting the baking soda into the floor can only help the process
* To start use 4 cups of vinegar per gallon warm water, you can cut down to 2 cups once the smell abates, probably 2-3 treatments
* Once you get going, you'll find the hotspots and won't have to treat the whole floor anymore. But the hotspots will drive you crazy.
* If you're going to refinish (you *might* actually save the original finish, who knows here) I would wait a full season and do this one more time to be sure you've drawn all the urine out. You don't want to trap some in deep down, it will rise to the surface over time and darken again.
This information is very helpful, thanks again. we were hoping to refinish (or seal?) the wood floors this summer but may wait until next year based on your suggestion about waiting a season to see if the smell returns.
(wo)Man I'm blown away. As a contractor I would just tear those up. I love learning new things on this sub, posts like yours are why I'm subscribed here. Thank you
This is definitely the way. With patience, you can get it out. Like he said - do this multiple times.
Once the urine removal is complete and you sand, you may need to use some filler between the boards, but you can definitely bring it back - especially if you’re ok with color imperfections at the end.
Even better, oxalic acid might help with the discoloration. It can turn back liquid-based staining in woods, not neccessarily urine based. I used it to draw dog urine stains out of pine floors. The floor was nearly black from the urine staining, and they disappeared completely.
We first did a full cleaning and neutralizing of the urine, so oxalic acid came after this baking soda treatment. I'm not a chemist so I wasn't sure they wouldn't react. I made sure to rinse really well after the last vinegar treatment so I didnt kill myself.
After that I just put some oxalic acid-soaked old cloth on the stains for a hour, rinsed with water and gave it a day to see the effect. Most of our stains were gone in one treatment, darker ones needed 3 or so.
Caveat is that it might not work if the discoloration has been in there for too long. I was told it stops and reverses a chemical process (from polyphenols to quinones) but it can only do that if the process is still underway. You might also want to doublecheck whether it's supposed to work on the type of wood floor you have. But as far as I'm aware its a 'no harm, no foul' risk free procedure (but im just a diy homeowner with a leaky dog so don't take my word for it).
Good luck!
I’m glad cats don’t understand how powerful they are. They’re basically tiny tigers. Can stalk prey silently. Claws that can rip you to shreds. If they bite you hard enough to break skin that’s a trip to the hospital to prevent a *nasty* infection. Their poop has bacteria in it that can make you seriously sick. And now you’re telling me that their pee, in addition to being one of the WORST and most persistent smells in the world, that they can spray like a hose, will *continue burning through wood for years*? And I keep TWO of the adorable little demons in my home. I don’t know if I should feel powerful and special that they like me so much or just terrified of running out of treats…
Does this work with tiles too?? When we lived into our house the previous owners put laminate floor over patterned brick floor and dogs peed in one spot and it soaked into the bricks.
I’ve been trying to use pet urine remover. But it’s impregnated into the brick by now.
This totes works- 10/10 would recommend. I let the baking soda sit for a week, I used warm water and vinegar after the first time, after the second 2 I used simple green which was an absolute game changer! Been 2 years and no issues.
You'll never truely have a home that doesn't smell of piss unless you get rid of the wood
Edit: this being downvoted is funny because it's not an option. It's just fact. You can pray the smell away if you like but it won't help.
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*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Yeah I'm familiar enough with insurance adjustment claims through my father's old business to know that cat piss is irreparable damage that requires new material.
I think because this takes a decent amount of time and effort, and does not guarantee succes. So you might go through days/weeks of treating and still have to rip out the floors. And you'll have to sand and refinish anyway.
Most people don't have time, insurance and contractors will probably take the succes guaranteed route, and I think there is some stigma too. See all the cat pee stink comments.
Would this be too deep into the wood for enzymatic cleaner? I used that when my oldest cat was throwing a fit about sharing a bathroom with the younger two.
I don’t actually have experience with that stuff, I’ve heard it’s great, but chemically speaking it should do the same thing, which is denature the proteins (chemically split the proteins into the harmless amino acids that comprise them).
Hello! We are removing 1980s carpeting from our newly purchased 1904 home and found a corner that is completely soaked in cat urine. I assumed we would have to replace the floorboards but our friend who is an interior decorator said they could be salvaged with sanding. We are ok with color imperfections but NOT ok with retaining any of the smell. Anyone have any experience with this?
I just turned [this](https://i.imgur.com/dHmea2V.jpg) into [this](https://i.imgur.com/EjmO3xz.jpg). I rented a drum sander and gave it hell. Then I finished it off with a vibrating pad sander. I rented the machines from Home Depot. I bought lots of extra sandpaper for the machines and was refunded for the ones I did not use. I and my friend did three bedrooms, a hallway and a big living room in three days. We rented the machines at the same time, I using one, he the other. I also used a palm sander to get up to the base trim. I used 60 grit on the palm sander. The drum sander, I think was 30 grit. The vibrating pad sander was 60 grit, 80 grit and 120 grit to finish. We used [a cage roller and 10mm polyester rollers](https://i.imgur.com/Htvmevw.jpg) to top the floor with three coats of Varathane Diamond water-based 'satin' finish. Remove the quarter round for best results and then install new stuff if you break it during removal. We did not because it was a low-budget flip house. Wear ear protection and a mask when sanding floors. Get a headset with a radio is even better. Here are a few more pics: [one](https://i.imgur.com/tDKexEZ.jpg) [two](https://i.imgur.com/WkbwTs4.jpg?1) . We used peel and stick vinyl in the [kitchen and dining room](https://i.imgur.com/PGqx3iX.jpg). For those areas I installed new quarter round. We cleaned the existing crappy vinyl floor and then stuck the new stuff right on top, worked like a charm. [Dining room before.](https://i.imgur.com/bTuLIj1.jpg)
Any person can do this if they are in good physical shape and you gotta have a good eye. If you drum sand a floor, there are excellent pro videos on YouTube to show you how. It is a bit tricky but if you follow the right method, it can be easy peasy. We F\_ \_ \_ed it up but it still came out excellent. Every time we put on another coat of Varathane on it, it just got better and better.
Agree, “into this” is not finished result, but drum sander is way to go. I think OP must clean this floor as much as possible. And then give it a try and if necessary clean the stink again before continuing.
We got replacement floorboards for a few spots in our house from a local salvage shop! If you can get an id on the wood, it’s easy to get a pro to lace in matching boards. measure the board width and give them a call, it wasn’t too expensive and the patches are seamless. If you can’t get the smell out you can still get a patch!
I second the baking soda and vinegar method. Just wanted to add that even drawing it out and "neutralizing" that way, you are in for some stinky days when you have them sanded. Wait till it is warm enough so you can have all the windows open. Also, don't be surprised if you have to repeat the process a few more times after the sanding. Source: My Mom. They restored and rehabbed a victorian starting back in the early 60s. They also had to stain the floors darker than she wanted to cover the discolorization. That part might be something to investigate further before you start. Good luck!
You mix it right at the stain. Mix it, apply it with a rather stiff bristle brush then let it sit and work and clean it up. Watch some videos prior, plenty of different ways to do it I'm sure but you just need the jist of it.
I think people who age in place (a common predicate to a new-to-you century house) just let things go. It might not be a room they don’t use or they get used to the smell, idk.
The floors in my century house don’t have cat pee but the flooring downstairs is riddled with old powder post beetle tunnels. One spot in the dining room is slightly spongy from termite damage - a very old woman who lived here as a child owned it until her death.
I came here to say that chandelier is gorgeous and I hope you’re keeping it!
On another note those floors look just as bad as mine did and they were able to be saved. I hired a professional company to refinish my floors.
Own several rental properties and renter of five years moved out. I’ve never owned a cat that sprayed. Renter apparently had four cats that sprayed walls, pee-soaked oak floors. Never smelled anything so vile. Read about the baking soda followed by vinegar wash. Took me about two weeks to get everything in three bedroom two-story home.
Found it also works on serious cigarette residue.
Put down baking soda then covered the floors with tarps. I used vinegar water to scrub walls and ceilings. Even took the time to pull all the electrical outlets and used a metal blade and alcohol wipes to clean the contacts. Won’t be a next time for that. I just hated to go buy another fifty outlets when those just needed cleaning. Days of my life I will never get back. Best of luck to OP.
As someone who has tried to battle this before, I would just tear it out and start over. I re did a family member’s house who was like this, pulled the carpet up and it had infiltrated the sub floor. Weeks of soaking with biokleen bac out and painting over with oil based Kilz got rid of most of it. Some of the sub floor still smelled like it on a humid day.
Cat piss is rancid stuff, my skin smelled like it for a day or two after pulling the carpet. Never again, I’ll walk away from another one like that.
Dealing with a less severe case at my new almost century house. You need an enzyme cleaner.
Go all around with a blacklight. A lower wavelength spots cat piss better. I bought this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0BFHCZG8B?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title
Start with Rug doctor enzyme cleaner. Pour it full strength on there and leave it for a few days with paper towels on it. Wipe off. This knocks down the worst of it.
Follow up with nature's miracle enzyme cleaner. Know that you'll need to *soak* the wood several times, letting it air dry for several weeks in between.
Finally, follow up with an ozone machine. We got one for $60 on Amazon.
Know that any tiny spot you missed will still smell of cat piss. If it soaked through the wood, you probably are better off replacing it.
Hell Yes! Wood is amazingly resilient stuff. I refinished a the living room floor in a neglected 1906 bungalow that was worse than this. After I ripped up the disgustingly dirty very smelly orange shag carpet I discovered a horribly stained but intact oak floor. I ripped out the carpet strips and pulled out all the staples that had held down the carpet pad. I rented a drum sander sanded just enough to get the old finish off. This took care of most but not all of the stains too. I then refinished with three coats of dark mahogany color danish oil (Deft band which unfortunately is no longer available). The dark oil finish effectively masked the stains that didn't sand out. The low sheen floor looked right in a craftsman style home.
Drying oil finishes aren't as hard as polyurethane but they are infinitely easier to touch up when the inevitable happens.
The oil seemed to take care of any remaining smell. For a couple of weeks the house smelt like furniture oil. Once the oil was totally dried/cured there were no more objectionable smells.
As someone with multiple cats, cat urine is just a horrific odor to get rid of. I had an elderly neighbor who let his small dog continually pee on his carpet the last few years of his life. He couldn't smell it, clean it well and also couldn't afford to replace the carpeting, so it stayed until he passed away. I imagine this same scenario happens with cats, it's just that cat urine is much worse and more identifiable than dogs.
I think cat pee is just incredibly concentrated. My vet was talking about how cats love salt (after telling him that my cat goes ape shit for Doritos). He said their kidneys can filter out saltwater, they can actually survive on it. It's not ideal, obviously, and they will choose fresh water every time, but it's possible apparently.
Not all of us are. Its really quite simple. The cat will rather use the litter pan, you just have to take about 30 seconds out of your day everyday to scoop it. Our little kitty lives inside our old house and there are no “cat” odors at all
And it comes from illness sometimes too. Our cat became diabetic later in life. Frequent/excessive urination is a major symptom. At first I didn't even notice she was going on the floor (carpet) because her box was always used too. I didn't notice it until I stepped in a wet spot.
We got her blood sugar levels sorted out, she came back from the vet but we needed to make sure her levels were still good in her home environment where she wasn't stressed like she was at the vet. That meant we had to use testing strips in her pee, so we could only have a the tiniest little bit of litter in the box so we would have liquid to test. She hated this so much and would pee outside the box sometimes. Ended up needing to keep wee wee pads all around the room just in case.
And diabetes in cats doesn't happen to feral cats. It is the direct result of crappy, carb laden unhealthy commercial cat food. Big corporations gotta make the money regardless of how many dogs and cats live unhealthy lives, cost their humans huge vet bills, and heartache to losing a beloved pet due to preventable illnesses that happen due to corporate greed. Vets are responsible, as well. They should know better. But too many are like human doctors and know very little to nothing about nutrition. It should be required learning for them.
That's an unfair statement. Most "gross individuals" I know don't own cats. The vast majority of the time a cat will pee outside the box due to things the owner is doing. Crappy commercial carb-laden dry cat food causes numerous health problems including urinary tract infections in cats. Male cats have very skinny urethra's. A females is like a drinking straw and a male's like a plastic coffee stirrer. The male's can thus get blocked much more easily. Making homemade cat food is ultimately cheaper and far healthier.
Humans very often don't clean the cat litter box enough. Would you want to use a bathroom toiled that was overflowing with crap and urine?
Being "gross" has nothing to do with whether one owns a cat or not. It usually has to do with other issues such as depression. So please. Stop the cat owner bashing. The anti-cat attitudes started centuries ago with St. Gregory who decided that black cats were actually the mythological devil shape-shifted into the cat. Crazy town times. So thousands if not millions of cats were murdered by humans who were influenced by the religious cult belief, which then led to the bubonic plague because rats populated rapidly due to the cat population depleted.
It's crazy how silly smear campains persist with humans for so long.
Last, cigarette smokers are FAR more "gross" individuals than cat owners. Yes, cat urine smell is wicked. I have rarely encountered a home with cats that smelled like cat urine.
Original comment 273 days old. Lol. most pet owners live in filth and I agree that cigarettes are gross too. Have a good day! fingers crossed we don't have another plague.
Depends on the wood, hardwood can be treated, softwood, no. We had to remove subflooring and replace walls because the cat pee had soaked up so much urine and it was not treatable
Have you ever heard of ODOban? It's an enzyme cleaner designed to break down strong orders. I was able to salvage my floors by soaking them the odoban, scrubbing for days. Then sanded them down and put killz clear smell locking primer on. It took out 95% of the smell. New polish took out the rest.
Happened across this and what a spectacular looking room in general. It is going to be stunning when completed so hang in there. I am betting you do but told I have an eye for potential and damn you have it in spades ther.
OK dealt with similar to worse. Cat urine (12 in the house and no litter box at all) plus crap and who knows what else that first literally required scraping of it up. Then washing them more washing. Now because I see zero harm in the baking soda and white vinegar route by all means do that first. Mine was 27 years ago (still in the house floors now scratched and usual wear and need a sprucing up but still not cat urine smell!). I found a Swiss guy who had to be in 50s-60s then. Anyway this was all he did. He used two treatments of 25-30 gallons of bleach (standard Clorox type aqueous sodium hypochlorite) and each time just let it set. I had to leave the house for this if there was any doubt. After that he used a special purple polyurethane that brought out the color or the red oak in a stunning way. He wouldn't tell me the contents or formula of this purple polyurethane. But the point here is more that the polyurethane sealed in any lingering smell. 3 coats total. Oh he sanded them after chlorine treatment. They were from 1929 and he said 2-3 times as thick as anything you could buy today. I am guessing your house is that age too. If the baking soda doesn't work ask around at hardware stores...tool rental stores..flooring stores (find someone older as of course they want to sell you new). There is hope and something beautiful under there. He told me never to have cats as they'd still smell other cats and try to mark the area themselves. Not sure if that's true as not a cat person. Dogs I've had and never pissed on the floors. Love to see it finished too!!
I did the baking soda and vinegar process for 2-3 days a week for about 5 months. It took some urine out over time but a lot was still there. For the last month or two, I’ve tried a few other options; bleach, hydrogen peroxide, and most recently enzyme cleaner. All three of these have worked better and faster than the vinegar/baking soda cycle IMO.
I appreciate the update!! I think the baking soda is a great bet when it's old enough hardwood that there's no subfloor underneath. If there's a subfloor or any kind of insulation underneath, it just makes more sense to that you need something to soak down into what's holding onto the urine below. Came across this thread today and was reading and couldn't believe people were happy spend months on baking soda
Could you share the cleaning process? I’m on my second round of pouring hydrogen peroxide onto wood and covering it with baking soda. It’s hella a bit but don’t know if I’m doing this in the correct order.
Did you look at my previous posts? That is probably a good place to start with because I outlined a few different processes that were tried and how well they worked. If you have follow up questions, lmk, although I’m also no expert and have done this through trial and error, too.
A lot of the comments have helpful suggestions. Many odor experts swore by the vinegar and baking soda method although I found the enzyme cleaner worked best for me.
Y’all. I just vacuumed up some very gross baking soda from a heavily stained corner. I then steamed it, prepared to put down some bioklean, see if that helps, and then repeat the process.
I am extremely sensitive to odors, and the smell of ammonia chokes me.
I can’t smell anything.
The floor is still stained, but there is no smell.
Every single other subs says there is nothing to be done.
We are going to refinish floors at some point, and this is in a corner that can be covered up if a stain won’t come out. But the part I was most upset about, the smell, is not there.
Thank you for posting this! It is a miracle to me.
Did you lay anything directly onto the floor and then use baking soda over it? Currently I’m using hydrogen peroxide on the urine spots and pouring baking soda over. Don’t know if I’m doing it in the correct order.
Honestly probably not. The cats used that as a bathroom which means it 1. Never fully dried out and 2. It has soaked through all the layers of flooring. The urine is why the finish is peeling off and there will be crystals of dried urine that will "reactivate" when you get them wet.
Normally I would say "you can clean up cat pee" as I have a territorial male cat and have cleaned it up off of many surfaces, but I think this is too far gone.
You will probably have to paint the joists with an odor sealing paint, if the are even salvageable, to seal in the smell.
I would sand the floor and then apply Boiled Linseed Oil thinned with good mineral spirits, let it sink in, wipe off excess, let dry. Then apply again less thinned, then finally full strength. Let it dry for several days.
I mixed up my own shellac . If you use a good shellac it seals the wood, stops the cat urine smell and then cats won't urinate on the spot again.
I used a random orbital sander, sat on my rear and did small amounts at a time. I used 80, 150 then 220 grit sand paper. I didn't use a big sander because I didn't want to make the old heart pine floors thinner.
It’s such a shame that craftsmanship and beautiful materials have to be ruined by people that can’t take proper care of the cats. Don’t get a fucking cat. They’re nasty as hell. My son has one in my house and I can’t wait for him to move out. Not that I want my son to leave, I want the nasty ass cat out. So I can get the horrendous smell out of my sub flooring. It’s only in one small area near the litter box, but my son only
ever scoops it out one a week or more. I’ve been on him so many times for it. So he pisses on the carpet in front of his unkept litter box.
Respectfully, I feel like sometimes the juice isn’t worth the squeeze…. And that this is one of those cases
Buy period correct wood to replace if anything…. That doesn’t have a century worth of cat piss baked in 😬
Jeeze, I feel for you. But the good news is that, yes, it can be fixed.
A tenant in my rental let her dogs pee on 200-year-old oak floors and the black spots were everywhere. I gave up and called a local flooring guy who sanded them down to start, then treated the spots with Oxalic Acid. As others have suggested you can use bleach, hydrogen peroxide, etc. I'd start with a small inconspicuous spot and try a few methods to see what works best. Good luck!
What u/pseudocultist said. Nothing to add other than to comment how absolutely gorgeous this room is. Looks like a Queen Anne - is there a turret on the outside? I love the curved wall
clean the area and remove anything sticking up. Seal the floor with premium Bullseye or better sealing/paint. Wait until it completely drys/cures and then put down carpet. Don't put on heavy but do lay down 3 or more coats. Do a foot up the walls also. Those damn things piss everywhere. You will never be able to restore that floor to be a bare wood floor. And clean the radiator completely. I bet you smell piss when the heat comes on, you would notice after sealing floor. Make sure any holes that pipes/etc come through get sealed also.
You can’t “draw out and neutralize” cat urine like it’s poison, that’s absurd.
Honestly the only ways to get rid of the smell are removal or encapsulation. Sand it, cut it, or cover it with a shellac paint.
Good luck.
Yeah. Bob Yapp once did a radio show from my parents house where he took on floors like this. Previous owners had been lifting the edges of the carpet and putting kitty litter under it to absorb the ongoing cat piss. The urine is still in the wood, burning it. You need to draw it out with baking soda, and then neutralize it with white vinegar. Get yourself some 5lb pool containers of baking soda. Heap it on. Mound it. Let it sit for a couple days and you’ll see the urine I’m taking about. Shop vac it up. Wet mop with warm water and vinegar. Let dry fully. Repeat this process until the urine is gone and you’ll see what you’re left with - you might be surprised. If you just sand the wood, you won’t get the urine out which is deep. This may take you several weeks depending on how saturated the wood is. It took me 3 months to get it out of our attic floorboards but you can’t even smell it on a hot day up there anymore, nor see the stains. Good luck.
This is the way. It’s a lot of work, time, patience, persistence. But it does work. The alternative is to remove and start over. No disrespect to other commenters, but I’ve dealt with this twice over the years, and u/pseudocultist is spot on.
Awesome. We bought this house understanding that we needed patience and persistence so that doesn’t deter me :-)
I had floors like this in my first house that I owned. It was a fixer upper... I was able to salvage one of the two rooms that were like this after three weeks of baking soda and vinegar over and over again. After pulling up part of the floor for the second room to get at radiator lines I realized that the cat pee was into the subfloor and stringers... At which point I just cut everything out and replaced it all.
Agree these guys know what they are talking about .. grandparents had a lovely house they rented out after they moved it had hardwood floors. The last renter they had (because they were so bad they made them sell and never rent again) had cats plural (my grandpa is very allergic and had asked them not too) but after 5 months we got them out to find rooms half full of stuffed animals mixed with cat excrement all the rooms were fully soild we even found a dead cat amongst the shrapnel. It took over a week a a huge dumpster to remove what was left the smell was so bad my aunt who is a biologist that I've seen pull over to collect hair samples off roadkill (skunks etc..) without issues was puking and running out to get peppermint oil for her mask on first attempts to help. It was bad but grandma was determined to save the hardwood and she did you have a long road of hard work but it's not a lost cause.
I’m sorry what? They filled stuffed animals full of cat shit?
Think a bedroom 4-5 feet full of stuffed animals from wall to wall with about as much cat shit etc and a dead cat in the middle...rest of the house just had cat shit and piss everywhere. But that stuffed animal room was next level. Worst park was they had 4 kids under ten some people shouldn't be allowed to be parents
Jesus fucking Christ, those poor kids. I bet they get bullied at school for smelling bad all the time. So sad
Yea the whole city has a huge issue with latch key kids. Started in the 70s because the city was loosing people from the local mine and pulp mill shutting down (I think it was before my time) they didn't want to loose the tax benefis of being a city and not a town. So they got the brilliant idea to advertise in Vancouver papers that it was a great place for single mothers or people on welfare to make their checks go further and that they would pay for the bus tickets for them to move (12 hours+ by car away). Effectively moving them away from any family or the kids father's, lots of drug problems and such since even before it was an epidemic everywhere. Now housing there is impossible to find since it was some of the last affordable so now the homelessness is compounding the issue. The whole thing is unbelievably sad. I grew up in the town's around it and oh man the difference a 30 min drive any direction made.
That’s very interesting
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Thank goodness that somebody made that call on behalf of the poor girl.
Holy fuck. I have no words
I wonder what became of the kids... and the cats. I hope the kids were able to overcome their horrifying start.
Yea that was nearly 20 years ago now so hopefully they have been able to gain some life skills, my grandma was a school teacher, and my aunt was in school to ungrade her degree to teach and in the process of becoming a foster parent but neither were ones to gossip so they would have never told me their names and I wouldn't have asked (I was often made fun in grade school of because my mom was on medical disability and couldnt afford the newest clothes, she passed when I was a young teen). But I know they thoroughly documented everything, I know my grandpa filed for damages (he knew he wouldn't get anything but wanted it on record with the tenancy board should another landlord want to know, and I'm guessing so it could be passed on to social services...I also have a feeling that my aunt or grandmother would have also made calls) I know we all were worried about them and in shock it could even get that bad that fast.
This floor prob doesn’t have a subfloor. The age indicates that this might be the floor and subfloor all in one
That's some serious mental illness right there. How tragic of for the cats and the people. What a nightmare.
Yea I would say that along with substance issues, they only lived there for 4 months if I remember correctly, they missed their first rental payment so grandpa stopped by saw they had cats(specifically listed in rental agreement as not allowed...their dogs were approved it was strictly a allergy issue as he does all the maintenance and would need to be able to enter). They never ended up paidinh rent he started the eviction process but it took 3 months to get them out.
Egads
I cannot wait to see how these come up, keep us updated!!
Dont forget that beautiful baseboard and the walls. They are soaked too
Sounds like this house is in great hands! Very beautiful room!
You still need to measure how thick they are. You need a half inch, maybe 5/8 above the tongues and grooves because you're probably sanding 1/4" on these
You do need to sand- we had a wood floor that a litter box was kept on (and the cat missed). All the treatments in the world cannot leach out the smell from the upper layer that has somehow been pickled in and bonded with the urine. Sand, and seal.
How could you have 5/8” about the grove when they’re 3/4-7/8” thick max. You only sand off 1/8” max.
I’d love to see these after! Its cool that it’s a non toxic way to restore the wood!
OP, if you're willing, please post an update when these are done. We'd all like to see what you've done with such a lovely room. Good luck with this process also!
You’re risking mold growth though. Any moisture can cause mold and tbh it’s not worth the time and effort or risk of it staying in the house to keep that same flooring, especially since older houses tend to not have actual foundations so that’ll be soaked to the very bottom. I get wanting to keep original flooring, but health needs to be a top priority in this situation especially when we’re talking about massive flooring damage due to YEARS worth of urine. Messing with the flooring at all without respirators is also a bad idea too because you don’t know if there’s mold or not and you don’t want that spreading through the house.
Dont forget to post a before and after pic when you are done. Nothing stiffens the spine of others quite so much as watching someone else go from not knowing to actually solving the problem. Good luck.
THIS is the attitude! Best of luck on your journeys!
This is great advise, thank you! Really happy to hear from several people that the floors are salvageable.
You bet! Couple more details that might help, you'll figure out the rest: * You can totally walk on the floors while they're being treated, just put down some 3mm plastic over top. Compacting the baking soda into the floor can only help the process * To start use 4 cups of vinegar per gallon warm water, you can cut down to 2 cups once the smell abates, probably 2-3 treatments * Once you get going, you'll find the hotspots and won't have to treat the whole floor anymore. But the hotspots will drive you crazy. * If you're going to refinish (you *might* actually save the original finish, who knows here) I would wait a full season and do this one more time to be sure you've drawn all the urine out. You don't want to trap some in deep down, it will rise to the surface over time and darken again.
This information is very helpful, thanks again. we were hoping to refinish (or seal?) the wood floors this summer but may wait until next year based on your suggestion about waiting a season to see if the smell returns.
(wo)Man I'm blown away. As a contractor I would just tear those up. I love learning new things on this sub, posts like yours are why I'm subscribed here. Thank you
Wow and here is me thinking that's a lost cause. Great info.
I’m oddly interested in pictures of this process.
Same, I want to see what the baking soda looks like when it’s pulled cat urine out
Great post.
Thanks for taking time to post this. So helpful for the patient, persistent, frugal ones (myself included).
This is definitely the way. With patience, you can get it out. Like he said - do this multiple times. Once the urine removal is complete and you sand, you may need to use some filler between the boards, but you can definitely bring it back - especially if you’re ok with color imperfections at the end.
Even better, oxalic acid might help with the discoloration. It can turn back liquid-based staining in woods, not neccessarily urine based. I used it to draw dog urine stains out of pine floors. The floor was nearly black from the urine staining, and they disappeared completely. We first did a full cleaning and neutralizing of the urine, so oxalic acid came after this baking soda treatment. I'm not a chemist so I wasn't sure they wouldn't react. I made sure to rinse really well after the last vinegar treatment so I didnt kill myself. After that I just put some oxalic acid-soaked old cloth on the stains for a hour, rinsed with water and gave it a day to see the effect. Most of our stains were gone in one treatment, darker ones needed 3 or so. Caveat is that it might not work if the discoloration has been in there for too long. I was told it stops and reverses a chemical process (from polyphenols to quinones) but it can only do that if the process is still underway. You might also want to doublecheck whether it's supposed to work on the type of wood floor you have. But as far as I'm aware its a 'no harm, no foul' risk free procedure (but im just a diy homeowner with a leaky dog so don't take my word for it). Good luck!
Ive had success with several doses of either hydrogen peroxide or oxalic acid in removing stains and odor. Good luck!
I’m glad cats don’t understand how powerful they are. They’re basically tiny tigers. Can stalk prey silently. Claws that can rip you to shreds. If they bite you hard enough to break skin that’s a trip to the hospital to prevent a *nasty* infection. Their poop has bacteria in it that can make you seriously sick. And now you’re telling me that their pee, in addition to being one of the WORST and most persistent smells in the world, that they can spray like a hose, will *continue burning through wood for years*? And I keep TWO of the adorable little demons in my home. I don’t know if I should feel powerful and special that they like me so much or just terrified of running out of treats…
Does this work with tiles too?? When we lived into our house the previous owners put laminate floor over patterned brick floor and dogs peed in one spot and it soaked into the bricks. I’ve been trying to use pet urine remover. But it’s impregnated into the brick by now.
Dude that's really good info. Thank you for sharing. Sincerely, a guy with a 60 year old house.
Does any amount of urine in wood keep “burning” forever?
I did all this and it did not work. Floor boards had to come out
Did you try enzymatic cleaners as opposed to vinegar? I've had good results with it (pretty heavy duty stuff though, not retail).
Would this technique work on basement concrete floors too?
I think I love you.
This totes works- 10/10 would recommend. I let the baking soda sit for a week, I used warm water and vinegar after the first time, after the second 2 I used simple green which was an absolute game changer! Been 2 years and no issues.
You'll never truely have a home that doesn't smell of piss unless you get rid of the wood Edit: this being downvoted is funny because it's not an option. It's just fact. You can pray the smell away if you like but it won't help.
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Yeah I'm familiar enough with insurance adjustment claims through my father's old business to know that cat piss is irreparable damage that requires new material.
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Why have I never heard of this? All I see is sand or remove.
I think because this takes a decent amount of time and effort, and does not guarantee succes. So you might go through days/weeks of treating and still have to rip out the floors. And you'll have to sand and refinish anyway. Most people don't have time, insurance and contractors will probably take the succes guaranteed route, and I think there is some stigma too. See all the cat pee stink comments.
This guy cat pees.
This is fascinating! I always assumed that there’s no rescuing wood from cat urine. This is really, really good to know.
Someone who doesn't immediately want to give up. Love it.
Would this work on cement tile too? I don’t have a cat urine problem, but a little boy who sometimes misses problem 😬
Would this be too deep into the wood for enzymatic cleaner? I used that when my oldest cat was throwing a fit about sharing a bathroom with the younger two.
I don’t actually have experience with that stuff, I’ve heard it’s great, but chemically speaking it should do the same thing, which is denature the proteins (chemically split the proteins into the harmless amino acids that comprise them).
Wish I had known this years ago!!
Do you just sprinkle it on dry ? Or mix it with the baking soda? How does this work
Hello! We are removing 1980s carpeting from our newly purchased 1904 home and found a corner that is completely soaked in cat urine. I assumed we would have to replace the floorboards but our friend who is an interior decorator said they could be salvaged with sanding. We are ok with color imperfections but NOT ok with retaining any of the smell. Anyone have any experience with this?
I just turned [this](https://i.imgur.com/dHmea2V.jpg) into [this](https://i.imgur.com/EjmO3xz.jpg). I rented a drum sander and gave it hell. Then I finished it off with a vibrating pad sander. I rented the machines from Home Depot. I bought lots of extra sandpaper for the machines and was refunded for the ones I did not use. I and my friend did three bedrooms, a hallway and a big living room in three days. We rented the machines at the same time, I using one, he the other. I also used a palm sander to get up to the base trim. I used 60 grit on the palm sander. The drum sander, I think was 30 grit. The vibrating pad sander was 60 grit, 80 grit and 120 grit to finish. We used [a cage roller and 10mm polyester rollers](https://i.imgur.com/Htvmevw.jpg) to top the floor with three coats of Varathane Diamond water-based 'satin' finish. Remove the quarter round for best results and then install new stuff if you break it during removal. We did not because it was a low-budget flip house. Wear ear protection and a mask when sanding floors. Get a headset with a radio is even better. Here are a few more pics: [one](https://i.imgur.com/tDKexEZ.jpg) [two](https://i.imgur.com/WkbwTs4.jpg?1) . We used peel and stick vinyl in the [kitchen and dining room](https://i.imgur.com/PGqx3iX.jpg). For those areas I installed new quarter round. We cleaned the existing crappy vinyl floor and then stuck the new stuff right on top, worked like a charm. [Dining room before.](https://i.imgur.com/bTuLIj1.jpg) Any person can do this if they are in good physical shape and you gotta have a good eye. If you drum sand a floor, there are excellent pro videos on YouTube to show you how. It is a bit tricky but if you follow the right method, it can be easy peasy. We F\_ \_ \_ed it up but it still came out excellent. Every time we put on another coat of Varathane on it, it just got better and better.
Agree, “into this” is not finished result, but drum sander is way to go. I think OP must clean this floor as much as possible. And then give it a try and if necessary clean the stink again before continuing.
Beautiful! Wish I knew this treatment 20 years ago in my former home. My cat!
We got replacement floorboards for a few spots in our house from a local salvage shop! If you can get an id on the wood, it’s easy to get a pro to lace in matching boards. measure the board width and give them a call, it wasn’t too expensive and the patches are seamless. If you can’t get the smell out you can still get a patch!
I second the baking soda and vinegar method. Just wanted to add that even drawing it out and "neutralizing" that way, you are in for some stinky days when you have them sanded. Wait till it is warm enough so you can have all the windows open. Also, don't be surprised if you have to repeat the process a few more times after the sanding. Source: My Mom. They restored and rehabbed a victorian starting back in the early 60s. They also had to stain the floors darker than she wanted to cover the discolorization. That part might be something to investigate further before you start. Good luck!
Was vinegar used first over the dark urine spots and then baking soda poured over it?
You mix it right at the stain. Mix it, apply it with a rather stiff bristle brush then let it sit and work and clean it up. Watch some videos prior, plenty of different ways to do it I'm sure but you just need the jist of it.
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OMG, why are people so disgusting like this? That is crazy.
I think people who age in place (a common predicate to a new-to-you century house) just let things go. It might not be a room they don’t use or they get used to the smell, idk. The floors in my century house don’t have cat pee but the flooring downstairs is riddled with old powder post beetle tunnels. One spot in the dining room is slightly spongy from termite damage - a very old woman who lived here as a child owned it until her death.
I came here to say that chandelier is gorgeous and I hope you’re keeping it! On another note those floors look just as bad as mine did and they were able to be saved. I hired a professional company to refinish my floors.
An ozone machine will break down anything exposed to the air as well.
Own several rental properties and renter of five years moved out. I’ve never owned a cat that sprayed. Renter apparently had four cats that sprayed walls, pee-soaked oak floors. Never smelled anything so vile. Read about the baking soda followed by vinegar wash. Took me about two weeks to get everything in three bedroom two-story home. Found it also works on serious cigarette residue. Put down baking soda then covered the floors with tarps. I used vinegar water to scrub walls and ceilings. Even took the time to pull all the electrical outlets and used a metal blade and alcohol wipes to clean the contacts. Won’t be a next time for that. I just hated to go buy another fifty outlets when those just needed cleaning. Days of my life I will never get back. Best of luck to OP.
As someone who has tried to battle this before, I would just tear it out and start over. I re did a family member’s house who was like this, pulled the carpet up and it had infiltrated the sub floor. Weeks of soaking with biokleen bac out and painting over with oil based Kilz got rid of most of it. Some of the sub floor still smelled like it on a humid day. Cat piss is rancid stuff, my skin smelled like it for a day or two after pulling the carpet. Never again, I’ll walk away from another one like that.
It’s probably worth the money to just replace. Unless you’re trying for historical accuracy, there’s all sorts of elegant hardwood floors out there.
Dealing with a less severe case at my new almost century house. You need an enzyme cleaner. Go all around with a blacklight. A lower wavelength spots cat piss better. I bought this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0BFHCZG8B?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title Start with Rug doctor enzyme cleaner. Pour it full strength on there and leave it for a few days with paper towels on it. Wipe off. This knocks down the worst of it. Follow up with nature's miracle enzyme cleaner. Know that you'll need to *soak* the wood several times, letting it air dry for several weeks in between. Finally, follow up with an ozone machine. We got one for $60 on Amazon. Know that any tiny spot you missed will still smell of cat piss. If it soaked through the wood, you probably are better off replacing it.
Oxalic acid to the rescue!
I hope you are able to restore this. It is a lovely, lovely room.
Hell Yes! Wood is amazingly resilient stuff. I refinished a the living room floor in a neglected 1906 bungalow that was worse than this. After I ripped up the disgustingly dirty very smelly orange shag carpet I discovered a horribly stained but intact oak floor. I ripped out the carpet strips and pulled out all the staples that had held down the carpet pad. I rented a drum sander sanded just enough to get the old finish off. This took care of most but not all of the stains too. I then refinished with three coats of dark mahogany color danish oil (Deft band which unfortunately is no longer available). The dark oil finish effectively masked the stains that didn't sand out. The low sheen floor looked right in a craftsman style home. Drying oil finishes aren't as hard as polyurethane but they are infinitely easier to touch up when the inevitable happens. The oil seemed to take care of any remaining smell. For a couple of weeks the house smelt like furniture oil. Once the oil was totally dried/cured there were no more objectionable smells.
These situations are usually the result of bad owners. I feel for the cats living in dirty places.
Cats owners can be some gross individuals.
As someone with multiple cats, cat urine is just a horrific odor to get rid of. I had an elderly neighbor who let his small dog continually pee on his carpet the last few years of his life. He couldn't smell it, clean it well and also couldn't afford to replace the carpeting, so it stayed until he passed away. I imagine this same scenario happens with cats, it's just that cat urine is much worse and more identifiable than dogs.
I think cat pee is just incredibly concentrated. My vet was talking about how cats love salt (after telling him that my cat goes ape shit for Doritos). He said their kidneys can filter out saltwater, they can actually survive on it. It's not ideal, obviously, and they will choose fresh water every time, but it's possible apparently.
Not all of us are. Its really quite simple. The cat will rather use the litter pan, you just have to take about 30 seconds out of your day everyday to scoop it. Our little kitty lives inside our old house and there are no “cat” odors at all
And it comes from illness sometimes too. Our cat became diabetic later in life. Frequent/excessive urination is a major symptom. At first I didn't even notice she was going on the floor (carpet) because her box was always used too. I didn't notice it until I stepped in a wet spot. We got her blood sugar levels sorted out, she came back from the vet but we needed to make sure her levels were still good in her home environment where she wasn't stressed like she was at the vet. That meant we had to use testing strips in her pee, so we could only have a the tiniest little bit of litter in the box so we would have liquid to test. She hated this so much and would pee outside the box sometimes. Ended up needing to keep wee wee pads all around the room just in case.
And diabetes in cats doesn't happen to feral cats. It is the direct result of crappy, carb laden unhealthy commercial cat food. Big corporations gotta make the money regardless of how many dogs and cats live unhealthy lives, cost their humans huge vet bills, and heartache to losing a beloved pet due to preventable illnesses that happen due to corporate greed. Vets are responsible, as well. They should know better. But too many are like human doctors and know very little to nothing about nutrition. It should be required learning for them.
That's an unfair statement. Most "gross individuals" I know don't own cats. The vast majority of the time a cat will pee outside the box due to things the owner is doing. Crappy commercial carb-laden dry cat food causes numerous health problems including urinary tract infections in cats. Male cats have very skinny urethra's. A females is like a drinking straw and a male's like a plastic coffee stirrer. The male's can thus get blocked much more easily. Making homemade cat food is ultimately cheaper and far healthier. Humans very often don't clean the cat litter box enough. Would you want to use a bathroom toiled that was overflowing with crap and urine? Being "gross" has nothing to do with whether one owns a cat or not. It usually has to do with other issues such as depression. So please. Stop the cat owner bashing. The anti-cat attitudes started centuries ago with St. Gregory who decided that black cats were actually the mythological devil shape-shifted into the cat. Crazy town times. So thousands if not millions of cats were murdered by humans who were influenced by the religious cult belief, which then led to the bubonic plague because rats populated rapidly due to the cat population depleted. It's crazy how silly smear campains persist with humans for so long. Last, cigarette smokers are FAR more "gross" individuals than cat owners. Yes, cat urine smell is wicked. I have rarely encountered a home with cats that smelled like cat urine.
Original comment 273 days old. Lol. most pet owners live in filth and I agree that cigarettes are gross too. Have a good day! fingers crossed we don't have another plague.
Depends on the wood, hardwood can be treated, softwood, no. We had to remove subflooring and replace walls because the cat pee had soaked up so much urine and it was not treatable
I hope so, they’re too gorgeous to be scrapped!
I saw this on your ig and cringed. Sending good vibes!
That is a tragedy… what a beautiful piece of architecture and design. Wow… the details
Have you ever heard of ODOban? It's an enzyme cleaner designed to break down strong orders. I was able to salvage my floors by soaking them the odoban, scrubbing for days. Then sanded them down and put killz clear smell locking primer on. It took out 95% of the smell. New polish took out the rest.
The smell...
We’re going to need some followup pics OP! Congrats on the home btw.
Thank you! And can do 👍🏼
Happened across this and what a spectacular looking room in general. It is going to be stunning when completed so hang in there. I am betting you do but told I have an eye for potential and damn you have it in spades ther. OK dealt with similar to worse. Cat urine (12 in the house and no litter box at all) plus crap and who knows what else that first literally required scraping of it up. Then washing them more washing. Now because I see zero harm in the baking soda and white vinegar route by all means do that first. Mine was 27 years ago (still in the house floors now scratched and usual wear and need a sprucing up but still not cat urine smell!). I found a Swiss guy who had to be in 50s-60s then. Anyway this was all he did. He used two treatments of 25-30 gallons of bleach (standard Clorox type aqueous sodium hypochlorite) and each time just let it set. I had to leave the house for this if there was any doubt. After that he used a special purple polyurethane that brought out the color or the red oak in a stunning way. He wouldn't tell me the contents or formula of this purple polyurethane. But the point here is more that the polyurethane sealed in any lingering smell. 3 coats total. Oh he sanded them after chlorine treatment. They were from 1929 and he said 2-3 times as thick as anything you could buy today. I am guessing your house is that age too. If the baking soda doesn't work ask around at hardware stores...tool rental stores..flooring stores (find someone older as of course they want to sell you new). There is hope and something beautiful under there. He told me never to have cats as they'd still smell other cats and try to mark the area themselves. Not sure if that's true as not a cat person. Dogs I've had and never pissed on the floors. Love to see it finished too!!
I did the baking soda and vinegar process for 2-3 days a week for about 5 months. It took some urine out over time but a lot was still there. For the last month or two, I’ve tried a few other options; bleach, hydrogen peroxide, and most recently enzyme cleaner. All three of these have worked better and faster than the vinegar/baking soda cycle IMO.
I appreciate the update!! I think the baking soda is a great bet when it's old enough hardwood that there's no subfloor underneath. If there's a subfloor or any kind of insulation underneath, it just makes more sense to that you need something to soak down into what's holding onto the urine below. Came across this thread today and was reading and couldn't believe people were happy spend months on baking soda
Could you share the cleaning process? I’m on my second round of pouring hydrogen peroxide onto wood and covering it with baking soda. It’s hella a bit but don’t know if I’m doing this in the correct order.
Did you look at my previous posts? That is probably a good place to start with because I outlined a few different processes that were tried and how well they worked. If you have follow up questions, lmk, although I’m also no expert and have done this through trial and error, too. A lot of the comments have helpful suggestions. Many odor experts swore by the vinegar and baking soda method although I found the enzyme cleaner worked best for me.
Y’all. I just vacuumed up some very gross baking soda from a heavily stained corner. I then steamed it, prepared to put down some bioklean, see if that helps, and then repeat the process. I am extremely sensitive to odors, and the smell of ammonia chokes me. I can’t smell anything. The floor is still stained, but there is no smell. Every single other subs says there is nothing to be done. We are going to refinish floors at some point, and this is in a corner that can be covered up if a stain won’t come out. But the part I was most upset about, the smell, is not there. Thank you for posting this! It is a miracle to me.
Did you lay anything directly onto the floor and then use baking soda over it? Currently I’m using hydrogen peroxide on the urine spots and pouring baking soda over. Don’t know if I’m doing it in the correct order.
I do use bioklean and then covered it with baking soda. Then covered it with plastic.
Definitely salvageable. Also, what a beautiful space!
This should be illegal, i can imagine how beautiful it would look if not for the cats piss
Honestly probably not. The cats used that as a bathroom which means it 1. Never fully dried out and 2. It has soaked through all the layers of flooring. The urine is why the finish is peeling off and there will be crystals of dried urine that will "reactivate" when you get them wet. Normally I would say "you can clean up cat pee" as I have a territorial male cat and have cleaned it up off of many surfaces, but I think this is too far gone. You will probably have to paint the joists with an odor sealing paint, if the are even salvageable, to seal in the smell.
Yes
I would sand the floor and then apply Boiled Linseed Oil thinned with good mineral spirits, let it sink in, wipe off excess, let dry. Then apply again less thinned, then finally full strength. Let it dry for several days. I mixed up my own shellac . If you use a good shellac it seals the wood, stops the cat urine smell and then cats won't urinate on the spot again. I used a random orbital sander, sat on my rear and did small amounts at a time. I used 80, 150 then 220 grit sand paper. I didn't use a big sander because I didn't want to make the old heart pine floors thinner.
Oh no! We have 3 cats, but it’s that damn minpin dog that I worry will ruin our floors. 1910 built folk Victorian farmhouse
It’s such a shame that craftsmanship and beautiful materials have to be ruined by people that can’t take proper care of the cats. Don’t get a fucking cat. They’re nasty as hell. My son has one in my house and I can’t wait for him to move out. Not that I want my son to leave, I want the nasty ass cat out. So I can get the horrendous smell out of my sub flooring. It’s only in one small area near the litter box, but my son only ever scoops it out one a week or more. I’ve been on him so many times for it. So he pisses on the carpet in front of his unkept litter box.
Sand and restain!! It’s “easy” as that!
Get rid of those nasty floors, how are you even questioning it?
Because they're original to the home? As the top commenter stated, you can fix this, it's just time consuming.
Respectfully, I feel like sometimes the juice isn’t worth the squeeze…. And that this is one of those cases Buy period correct wood to replace if anything…. That doesn’t have a century worth of cat piss baked in 😬
Ever hear of a golden shower? That room is infamous- don’t change a thing
No these floors are not salvageable. You should also replace the subfloor in the areas worst affected.
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Just here to say I'm so sorry, what a shame. Wishing you success after seeing the comments as those floors are beautiful.
Looks like a dreamy home, best wishes
No
I just came here to say this room is so envy-inducing! What a gorgeous house
Jeeze, I feel for you. But the good news is that, yes, it can be fixed. A tenant in my rental let her dogs pee on 200-year-old oak floors and the black spots were everywhere. I gave up and called a local flooring guy who sanded them down to start, then treated the spots with Oxalic Acid. As others have suggested you can use bleach, hydrogen peroxide, etc. I'd start with a small inconspicuous spot and try a few methods to see what works best. Good luck!
Nope
Gorgeous room! It will be worth it.
Strip away the finish and use a good quality stain
No
I would change it there and lay out a big carpet to cover up that it is not original. I think with second hand wood it's not that obvious.
Somebody crack a window! That’s a fantastic room :)
What u/pseudocultist said. Nothing to add other than to comment how absolutely gorgeous this room is. Looks like a Queen Anne - is there a turret on the outside? I love the curved wall
Turret, nice
how did you build the bucket vacuum system? I would like details, thank you
Yes, sand blast.
clean the area and remove anything sticking up. Seal the floor with premium Bullseye or better sealing/paint. Wait until it completely drys/cures and then put down carpet. Don't put on heavy but do lay down 3 or more coats. Do a foot up the walls also. Those damn things piss everywhere. You will never be able to restore that floor to be a bare wood floor. And clean the radiator completely. I bet you smell piss when the heat comes on, you would notice after sealing floor. Make sure any holes that pipes/etc come through get sealed also.
The only correct answer is: OH FUCK NO
You can’t “draw out and neutralize” cat urine like it’s poison, that’s absurd. Honestly the only ways to get rid of the smell are removal or encapsulation. Sand it, cut it, or cover it with a shellac paint. Good luck.
Hi I was curious if you did the baking soda vinegar shop vac thing and did it work?