Removing "pet odours" (Dog crap edition)

[Le Poisson]

Some tenants stored their dog in the basement of our rental. It's been over a month since they moved out and we haven't found a good way to remove the odour. So far we have mopped, power washed, and flooded the basement to 3" overnight before draining.

I have heard to spread coffee grinds as an odour absorbent, and to flood with vinegar.

I'm welcoming any other ideas.

[reeshau]

We are a cat pee household more than dog crap, but swear by Nature's Miracle.  The base product is enzymes, so they keep working while there is still stuff to clear out.  We never had a feces problem--They have an Oxy cleaner that adds that to the list.

And of course, when you are done paint with Kilz to keep trapped odors trapped.

[wenchsenior]

You probably need a powerful enzyme cleaner.  I've dealt with concrete, walls, and furniture adulterated by the world's most persistent odor (cat piss).  Anti-icky Poo (Anti Icky-Poo? LOL) is the best enzyme cleaner I've found, and I've tried a lot of them. If you have a concrete floor it will, I regret to say, take many many gallons of the stuff, but it really works. 

The way you need to use it is to saturate the floor, and then lay plastic tarp over the floor so it stays damp for as long as possible (same with fabric). Because of this it has limited efficacy on wood/wood particle (I've used it that way, but it will of course swell the wood/weaken the wood particle or wallboard so be careful).  As it dries out, re-treat. Repeat several times, then let the whole thing dry out and see if it needs more treatments. 

ETA, having tried Anti-icky Poo and Nature's Miracle, AIP wins hands down IMO.  I totally agree with reeshau about painting over the treated concrete once it is dry. If the saturation is bad enough, that is needed.  We plan to eventually enclose our front porch, whose concrete and brick has been adulterated by feral cat piss over the years. We definitely plan to treat and then seal.

[familyandfarming]

I flipped a house that was overcome with ferrel cats. After spraying Rocco & Roxie Professional Strength Stain & Odor Eliminator for Dog and Cat Urine from Amazon on the sub floor, I rolled on 2-3 coats of oil based Kilz on top. Then new flooring installed.

Lots of steps. I'm sorry for your problem!

[MudPuppy]

Seconding the enzyme cleaner. The walls, etc are also likely holding odor. Consider the paint additive used for covering cigarette odor.

[Mr. Green]

Enzyme cleaners are where it's at. Believe it or not, we had this problem with both next-door neighbors at our old townhouse. We were literally in a shit sandwich. The family that bought one of the houses ended up having to cut out sections of subfloor to remedy the problem. It seriously made me doubt we'd ever own a place with shared walls again.

[JustTrying]

We just pulled out carpet with pet urine issues. My husband used some baking-soda hydrogen-peroxide wash on the subfloor today, and then followed that up with some primer that's meant to block odors. It seems it's working well!

[GoCubsGo]

I've used Biocide Systems Room Shocker multiple times.  Once for years of cat/dog pee that had seeped into the walls/subfloor in a foreclosure I bought and twice in my own house for skunk related issues.  Amazing product.

It's a chlorine based product that's incredibly strong (you may want to leave the house or at the very least seal the doorway to contain the chlorine smell).  The source of the odors could be in the wood/drywall which you basically can't clean.  This penetrates any porous surface and basically kills the source.  It has been a miracle product for me.

[Le Poisson]

I've used Biocide Systems Room Shocker multiple times.  Once for years of cat/dog pee that had seeped into the walls/subfloor in a foreclosure I bought and twice in my own house for skunk related issues.  Amazing product.

It's a chlorine based product that's incredibly strong (you may want to leave the house or at the very least seal the doorway to contain the chlorine smell).  The source of the odors could be in the wood/drywall which you basically can't clean.  This penetrates any porous surface and basically kills the source.  It has been a miracle product for me.

See I was wondering about just sprinkling powdered chlorine from our pool shed around the place before we leave one night and seeing what that would do by the next day. I'm a little afraid of creating mustard gas with the cleaner-cocktails though, so I haven't gone there.

[GoCubsGo]

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See I was wondering about just sprinkling powdered chlorine from our pool shed around the place before we leave one night and seeing what that would do by the next day. I'm a little afraid of creating mustard gas with the cleaner-cocktails though, so I haven't gone there.
[/quote]

If you've been battling this for a month, it's the only way to go.  It has never failed me ( I did do two rounds in a large open room in the foreclosure).  For the skunk, I had all my couches and carpets professionally steam cleaned and all the walls washed with TSP and there was no change.  One night of room shock and it was like it never happened.  One of those rare products that seemed to work miracles and I would have gladly paid hundreds of dollars for it.

[Spiffy]

If you've been battling this for a month, it's the only way to go.  It has never failed me ( I did do two rounds in a large open room in the foreclosure).  For the skunk, I had all my couches and carpets professionally steam cleaned and all the walls washed with TSP and there was no change.  One night of room shock and it was like it never happened.  One of those rare products that seemed to work miracles and I would have gladly paid hundreds of dollars for it.
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OK, I want to hear the skunk story. I have never known anyone that needed to get skunk spray out of a couch.

[Frugal Lizard]

I would top the chlorine with a little bit of water and then cover the surfaces with newspaper to wick out the "stinky" out of the concrete. 

But: Nature Clean pet stain and odour remover is my go to for cat urine.  Spray it on and then cover with towels / old sheets to slow down the evaporation and give time for the enzyme to work and absorb any stinky solution. Reapply 24-48 later hours later if needed.  Newspaper would probably work to absorb the stinky stuff.

Before I knew about nature clean, I sprayed bleach on the spots our cat identified as stinky, covered with newspaper.  I sprayed and covered with fresh newspaper over the course of two weeks and it got the job done eventually.

[TrMama]

Ditto the advice to paint with primer. I once bought a used, unfinished pine kids bed off Craigslist. There was no dog in the house when I picked it up but as soon as we unloaded the bed into the garage we realized it had a potent dog odour. Not urine, but that dog smell from the oil in their coats. Luckily, I was planning on painting the bed anyway and as soon as it had a couple coats of primer, the smell was gone.

Be very careful if you go with powdered chlorine. How will you remove the chlorine when you're done? Can you adequately air the place out afterward so you don't gas yourself? Bleach mixed with water will degrade to water and salt when it's exposed to air and sunlight (this is why you have to keep adding chlorine to your pool), but solid chlorine is more stable. Also be aware that concentrated chlorine is a great paint stripper. Don't use anything other than diluted bleach on anything that's been painted, or it won't be painted anymore.

That said, a bleach solution is a cheap, safe way to deal with odors and kill anything microscopic that might be generating a smell. It worked great at killing mold and getting rid of the musty smell in my own basement foundation a couple weeks ago.

[moneypitfeeder]

This stuff seems to work well (I've used for cat odor issues, but heard it works for many animals) if you haven't had success with Nature's Miracle or another enzymatic cleaner: https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/sweet-pdz-stall-refresher-25-lb-5065990

[GoCubsGo]

If you've been battling this for a month, it's the only way to go.  It has never failed me ( I did do two rounds in a large open room in the foreclosure).  For the skunk, I had all my couches and carpets professionally steam cleaned and all the walls washed with TSP and there was no change.  One night of room shock and it was like it never happened.  One of those rare products that seemed to work miracles and I would have gladly paid hundreds of dollars for it.

OK, I want to hear the skunk story. I have never known anyone that needed to get skunk spray out of a couch.
[/quote]

We have a dog door and my dog got full sprayed in the face and torso (tip- use contact solution to rinse their eyes out).  He ran in the dog door and buried his face in the couch cushions to try to get it off.  He then continued to roll over multiple times on the carpet.  He did this for probably 15 minutes.  Also, the A/C was running and pulled the skunk smell into the house (another tip, if you smell a skunk strongly near your house, immediately turn off the HVAC).

I'm embarrassed to say the couches were custom made and cost more than cars I've owned.  We literally were going to put them on the curb along with the curtains, pillows, blankets, etc.   The chlorine bomb was a miracle cure.

[Loretta]

A product called Angry Orange, it's a concentrate and I've mopped with it, used it with hot water to soak in litter boxes, etc. 

[moneypitfeeder]

Fair warning if you try to clean cat urine with bleach. I once went to clean a friend's house that had an "incident" which involved cat urine on the basement floor. We were bleaching due to the human blood everywhere (after a human suicide, was a bad situation). In the basement the floors had soaked-in urine, we ended up creating a "mustard gas type" situation. It was awful, literally green fumes, thankfully we could open the small basement windows and clear out for awhile. I now ensure that I never use chorine in any proximity of cat urine.

[Le Poisson]

Fair warning if you try to clean cat urine with bleach. I once went to clean a friend's house that had an "incident" which involved cat urine on the basement floor. We were bleaching due to the human blood everywhere (after a human suicide, was a bad situation). In the basement the floors had soaked-in urine, we ended up creating a "mustard gas type" situation. It was awful, literally green fumes, thankfully we could open the small basement windows and clear out for awhile. I now ensure that I never use chorine in any proximity of cat urine.

This story makes my situation sound so much better. Thank you.