Cat urine in subfloors, replace them?

Blaze

Blaze

The Jeeper Reaper
Joined
Aug 9, 2005
Location
Wake Forest, NC
So we figured out why the house had new carpet when we moved in.......

I'm in the process of tearing out all the carpet and installing laminate flooring in most of my downstairs. I tore out the carpet in the dining room and noticed a bunch of water stains. Didn't notice it until I put up plastic sheathing to keep dust from my prep work getting into the house, but the house now STINKS of cat pee. Those water stains are not water........ That carpet must have sealed it out good, been here 7 years an didn't notice it. I want to do it right though, not just cover it back up for the next poor bastard.

Should I just replace the underlayment or is there some easier way to get rid of the stank?
 
Try kilz to seal it in, or hire me to put hardwood floors over it! If the subfloor is particle board (not OSB) you can scrape up the area that has buldged up and use some leveler to fix.
 
Yes, I'd suggest replacing it. Perhaps you could get an outside dog or something :D


If it were me, I'd probably WANT to replace it, but depending on how big the area is and how much of a pain in the arse it would be...I might would leave it and figure out how to make it tolerable.
 
Are you planning on staying there or are you prepping to sell? If you are planning on staying there, I would change out the boards. At least cut out the areas and replace those. If you are anything like I am, and you just cover it back up, you will constantly be thinking about it every time you are in that room. To me it's kind of like fixing up a jeep. Do you fix the rusted panels, or do you just cover them up with diamond plate?
 
I'd seal in place. Subfloor is T&G and gets all of its strength by distributing loads over the entire panel and then on to adjacent panels.

I've never had much luck with Kilz. There are much better primer/sealers out there. I'd look for something oil-based.
 
We are fixing to sell, but I don't want to hide it, I want to fix it right. I might just go ahead and replace the underlayment. It is cheap and I can seal the subflooring and then put new underlayment in. Pain in the ass, but I'd hate for the next owner to tear up the floor one day and be like "WTF DID THESE PEOPLE DO!" like I do all the time.

This didn't come from my animals, it was underneath the carpet when I tore it out. The previous owners just put new carpet over top of the nastiness.
 
If it's just a thin underlayment, like like luan or 1/4" or something, then you might as well do it. If we're talking about the actual sublfoor, I wouldn't go there. Doing that right will be a huge PITA.

Note though, if you use a good vapor barrier + closed cell foam underlayment for laminate, taped at the seams etc, it's going to seal it in pretty damn well...
 
Yeah, I was typing my thread title too fast. The subflooring stays, I don't want to get into replacing that since it goes under the walls and all.

Tonight I'm going to tear out the underlayment and paint the subflooring with a sealer. Tomorrow I'll lay down the new underlayment and start painting my walls.
 
There's a product called Nature's Miracle (I think) that you can buy at Pet stores. Does a pretty good job of neutralizing cat piss.
 
I just did a rental house that probably had 100 gallons of cat pee in it and stank worse than any house I ever remodeled. After laying ceramic tile in Kitchen an bath it still stank. Then I put down the vapor barrier and laminate in the rest of the house and now it just smells like a new construction house. Tearing out any part of the flooring/sub flooring will be a waste of time.
 
Blaze said:
We are fixing to sell, but I don't want to hide it, I want to fix it right. I might just go ahead and replace the underlayment. It is cheap and I can seal the subflooring and then put new underlayment in. Pain in the ass, but I'd hate for the next owner to tear up the floor one day and be like "WTF DID THESE PEOPLE DO!" like I do all the time.

This didn't come from my animals, it was underneath the carpet when I tore it out. The previous owners just put new carpet over top of the nastiness.
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Don't worry about the next guy... we've cursed our previous owner many times over the past 10 years and I don't think she knows or cares... your PO probably doesn't, either. :lol:
 
trailhugger said:
Don't worry about the next guy... we've cursed our previous owner many times over the past 10 years and I don't think she knows or cares... your PO probably doesn't, either. :lol:
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So true, but I still hate being that guy. :lol:

I sealed the floor last night with some oil-based Kilz. Cat piss smell is all gone this morning. Probably mostly due to the Kilz fumes.
 
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