We're thinking of buying a old house. The current owners have been there for forty years, and they are cat lovers...I mean, cat obsessives. They currently have around 100 cats (it's a five bedroom house). As you might expect, the whole place stinks of cat wee. It stinks so badly that it's uncomfortable and in one room downstairs, where the male 'stud' cats are kept, it's almost unbearable.

Our question is...will it ever be possible to rid the house of cat smell. Or would we need to replaster all the walls, and reboard all the floors. Our concern is that the cat wee has permeated the floor boards (some of which are bare and exposed) to the extent that it can never be removed. But not being cat-owners ourselves, we have no experience of removing cat smells.

Anyone with any suggestions, or who might have faced a similar challenge, your advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks...

Cats pee smell develops after the bacteria grows and produces that awful ammonia smell. There are fluids available that are enzyme based and these cause a chemical reaction the neutralises the smell as it breaks down the cultures. Obviously all the carpets, underlay and curtains will have to be ripped out and disposed of. Floorboards will have absorbed the pee and this is what needs most attention. The pee may have well soaked into the underfloor cavity (if they are suspended floors) Lower walls may also have plasterwork sprayed and this will have permeated the plaster with pee smell.

Good old Jeyes fluid might be a help to scrub the boards with. A wall paper steamer with some in might help make the plaster smell cleaner. But I have to say that you would have to treat this as a total renovation and strip the house out to get it right. Even then a hot day or heating on might resurrect some spot you have missed. You will be so sensitive to it you will smell the faintest whiff.

I would walk away.

DWD

As above, not sure on the cure, but chances are it will be more than a bit of scrubbing and paint!
If its going to be a project house, i think you should budget for the worst case scenario.

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Why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety one?

I have heard of cases where the Joists have had to be replaced as well as the Floorboards.

You will probably have to renovate the whole building anyway if it hasn't been touched since 1972, in which case it won't cost you much extra to sort out the floorboards. I doubt the plaster will need to be removed because it would not harbour the smells like timber as it is inert.

Our vet gave us a great idea, and it works...

We had lots of cats peeing and messing in our garden, the best thing to kill the smell washing powder.
A Biological washing powrder, with enzymes. Sprinkle this on the affected area, or make into a solution and spray on a wall. The enyzmes will neutralize the ammonia smell and kill the bacteria.

If smells return, then you still have bacteria present and another dose of Bio washing powder will treat it....but in such a severe case the question is can you ever treat the complete depth of penetrated urine?

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Don't buy a dwarf with learning difficulties,
It's not big and it's not clever.

Useful advice. We had cats for years, but the house was ok after a couple of years. Now she has a dog which treats everywhere as its latrine, so I expect the downstairs rooms will need major money spending on it to get it ready to sell, although I probably won't be there.

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I started out with nothing, I still have most of it.

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