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Animal smell in barn
- Thread starter Number2
- Start date
I am not exactly sure how to get rid of the smell, there have been lots of suggestions and maybe the suggestions will work. But one thing for sure, I would not put a car in the shop until the horse smell was completely gone. If you get that horse smell imbedded in the car you will not be a happy camper.
Very true James, and I do have a 2 car garage. After my wife pulls in, I get maybe 3/4s of a spot, lol. My truck would go in the barn before the mustang does (if it still smells). More then likely my truck would sit outside. Good thinking no reason to risk it!
Man you have a lot of good answers, I will take a shot. First try limestone, you can get tons of cheap, the kind farmers spread on fields. PH factor is what were dealing with. You can spread on the floor & when you are done with spread on your lawn. Years ago when barns had dirt floor, they used lime on top of bedding material. Some time quick fixes are just that & odors will come back. I use vinegar on a lot of projecks. I don't like chemicals, having been exposed to Agent Orange.
HTH
Tracks
Yeah there are many "miracle" chemicals, but some things are tried and true.
If you dont mind me asking... Vietnam?? if so, my father was a dog handler.
wow that gonna be a nice big shop.....alot of air and time and the smell will go away if it is properly cleaned.
Thanks! In the few months we have been here, sometimes it feels big and other times it feels not soo big. I think the key is to remember that its a shop and not storage.
homebuilt burner
Well-known member
If you are not in a hurry, I would reapply lime. I grew up on a farm with horses and cattle. Every morning after cores the last thing was to lime the barn walk a 50 lb. bag for the 6'x80' walk. I would hit it with lime again, alot more than you put down, and leave it sit and it should "pull" more of the smell out.
When my parents sold their cows, we cleaned all the barns and laid down lime and left it for about six months, it cleared most of the smell.
When my parents sold their cows, we cleaned all the barns and laid down lime and left it for about six months, it cleared most of the smell.
straightcut
Well-known member
Number 2, you've gotten a lot of good advice here for your situation. I suffered a significant disaster a couple of years ago in my garage. I had a freezer in an otherwise empty garage filled with meat that went south. In the summer in Phoenix, garage temps probably get into the 120-140F range and this freezer sat for three weeks before being discovered. That is the definition of disaster! The freezer and contents were removed, but liquid Satan had drained from the freezer and pooled around it, soaking into the bare concrete. That fluid truly is liquid Satan; you know it when you can smell ONE DROP left in the sun on a black bedliner for two days and you could still smell it from eight feet away!
I spoke to an industrial hygienist who explained the liquid would contain protein and the smell would be attached to the protein. She advised using an ozone generator (which I did) and flushing the concrete with base type products such as Simple Green and Purple Power. Previously, I had tried baking soda, soap, etc to no effect apart from cleaning the area.
Being your issue is urine and not blood, I would find out what would be most effective against that. If you do try an ozone generator, you'll need to seal the area you intend to treat to concentrate the ozone. You're going to need a large ozone generator and it's going to take more time than was suggested above (another poster). PM me if you need to know where I purchased mine (both good and inexpensive).
A few years later and after parking two leaking, vintage Land Rover Series trucks (and they smell like greasy trucks) in the garage, it still has "a" smell. Though it's not a "normal" smell, it's hard to really pinpoint exactly what it is. It's tolerable, but it's not perfect.
All the best to you; it's a good challenge and I think you'll get the upper hand, especially in time.
I spoke to an industrial hygienist who explained the liquid would contain protein and the smell would be attached to the protein. She advised using an ozone generator (which I did) and flushing the concrete with base type products such as Simple Green and Purple Power. Previously, I had tried baking soda, soap, etc to no effect apart from cleaning the area.
Being your issue is urine and not blood, I would find out what would be most effective against that. If you do try an ozone generator, you'll need to seal the area you intend to treat to concentrate the ozone. You're going to need a large ozone generator and it's going to take more time than was suggested above (another poster). PM me if you need to know where I purchased mine (both good and inexpensive).
A few years later and after parking two leaking, vintage Land Rover Series trucks (and they smell like greasy trucks) in the garage, it still has "a" smell. Though it's not a "normal" smell, it's hard to really pinpoint exactly what it is. It's tolerable, but it's not perfect.
All the best to you; it's a good challenge and I think you'll get the upper hand, especially in time.
Last edited:
BD1
Well-known member
Do you have doors on both ends ? If not add a big a$$ exhaust fan to keep the air moving. Fans will make a difference.
I bought a case of "Anti Icky Poo". Yes, that is seriously its name- google it. Worked great. Its an active enzyme.
After that, I pressure washed the whole place out.
My results were good. The barn was previously an alpaca farm/barn and the smell was very significant prior to this work.
Good luck!
After that, I pressure washed the whole place out.
My results were good. The barn was previously an alpaca farm/barn and the smell was very significant prior to this work.
Good luck!
Go to a rental store and rent a power scrubber for cleaning floors. It's a walk behind machine that has a head the spins and oscillates as you go. You can get different pads for what ever you decide to use but will be required to buy those since there disposable. They may sell a cleaner there but best bet is go online or to a commercial cleaning supply store and get something that will pull the ammonia out. For your wood studs just bleach in a hand pump sprayer will work wonders just spray and repeat. The smell will always be there as it has probally penetrated the concrete pours so be prepared for those stinky days when the weather is just right.
CGT80
Well-known member
Odoban is made to kill the cause of odors like what you have. It seems that a liquid enzyme or oxidizer would be best.
I had to pull a dead opossum out of my grandparents walls. It crawled under the bathtub from an access hatch and died under it. After cutting out an interior section of drywall, I removed it and used a shopvac to clean the area of dirt, hair, and live maggots. Then, I spread 5 pounds of baking soda and sealed up the opening with plastic. A few days later, I vacuumed that up and sprayed it with odoban. A week later, I patched the wall. It worked well for this area.
I used to do hot water pressure washing. We cleaned the kitchens and concessions for LA Staples center, Nokia theater, Dodger stadium, many restaurants, and other commercial and residential buildings. Our units were truck mounted and were 18+ hp 3500psi and 5 gallons per minute with the heat set to 200 degrees f. The hoses were too hot to hang on to and I could turn down the pressure at the wand to clean small areas without destroying them. For tile and concrete floors, we used a surfacer similar to what you bought. The surfacer for our truck mounted carpet machine was about that size, as it had a small pump, and our other units were 24-30" wide and had suction ports to recover the water.
I like the surfacers because they get into the pores of the flooring better than scrub brushes. The small unit should work well, but it is just slow. Heat may help, but don't run hot water to your pressure washer as it is bad on the pump and seals. Our boilers were after the pump, on the high pressure side.
I don't like kilz and I think the fact that so many people recommend it is a joke. Most of them probably don't read the label and have not used it as a professional, as I have. For smoke and fire damage, I used BIN primer. It is shellac based and is thinned with alcohol. It is very nasty stuff, but is a great primer to encapsulate bad scents and it blocks out stains very well, for interior use. After using specialized treatments and washing and drying the building well, I would prime with BIN and then use an acrylic finish. The concrete may need a coating as well, but there are flooring pros here who know much more about that than I do.
OP, it seems like you don't want to try the products made specifically for pet odors, unless I missed it, and that seems like a waste when they are easy to use and not terribly expensive.
Clean the best you can, especially when the building is empty
Encapsulate the rest
Install fans if needed, but make sure they can pull in fresh air instead of creating a vacuum on the space.
Enjoy your barn/garage
I had to pull a dead opossum out of my grandparents walls. It crawled under the bathtub from an access hatch and died under it. After cutting out an interior section of drywall, I removed it and used a shopvac to clean the area of dirt, hair, and live maggots. Then, I spread 5 pounds of baking soda and sealed up the opening with plastic. A few days later, I vacuumed that up and sprayed it with odoban. A week later, I patched the wall. It worked well for this area.
I used to do hot water pressure washing. We cleaned the kitchens and concessions for LA Staples center, Nokia theater, Dodger stadium, many restaurants, and other commercial and residential buildings. Our units were truck mounted and were 18+ hp 3500psi and 5 gallons per minute with the heat set to 200 degrees f. The hoses were too hot to hang on to and I could turn down the pressure at the wand to clean small areas without destroying them. For tile and concrete floors, we used a surfacer similar to what you bought. The surfacer for our truck mounted carpet machine was about that size, as it had a small pump, and our other units were 24-30" wide and had suction ports to recover the water.
I like the surfacers because they get into the pores of the flooring better than scrub brushes. The small unit should work well, but it is just slow. Heat may help, but don't run hot water to your pressure washer as it is bad on the pump and seals. Our boilers were after the pump, on the high pressure side.
I don't like kilz and I think the fact that so many people recommend it is a joke. Most of them probably don't read the label and have not used it as a professional, as I have. For smoke and fire damage, I used BIN primer. It is shellac based and is thinned with alcohol. It is very nasty stuff, but is a great primer to encapsulate bad scents and it blocks out stains very well, for interior use. After using specialized treatments and washing and drying the building well, I would prime with BIN and then use an acrylic finish. The concrete may need a coating as well, but there are flooring pros here who know much more about that than I do.
OP, it seems like you don't want to try the products made specifically for pet odors, unless I missed it, and that seems like a waste when they are easy to use and not terribly expensive.
Clean the best you can, especially when the building is empty
Encapsulate the rest
Install fans if needed, but make sure they can pull in fresh air instead of creating a vacuum on the space.
Enjoy your barn/garage