Sealing cat urine in concrete

[b7labelle]

Hey everyone...I have a problem that I don't believe to be unique, but doesn't appear to have been discussed in detail on Gj.

Like many homes, mine has a basement. And in this basement there lived a cat, which was at the end of its life and liked to piss EVERYWHERE. This cat happened to naturally pass away...days before our planned visit to the vet, so saved 200 bucks or so...


Anyways now I am left with a basement I am in the process of reclaiming. I have washed the concrete, applied enzymatic cleaners and baking soda, and I must say it is much better. However the smell is still there...

It needs to be eradicated. Destroyed. Buried, like that cat..

The floor also has an old paint applied to the floor, which began to bubble in many places as I swashed and cleaned the floor. Doesn't seem to have been applied on top of any primer.

My end goals are to eliminate the urine smell, and apply a new coating to the floor. What are your suggestions? My worst fear is that I coat the floors, but the urine smell seeps through...

Epoxy coating? Oil primer, oil paint, urethane top coat? It's a laundry room so nothing heavy duty goes on down there.

Total surface area of 500 sq ft. Paint coverage is about 60%, patchy.

 

[The Cobbler]

I have seen wonders in rental units where the floor is painted with oil base floor enamel .

 

[machine_punk]

I recarpeted a basement where the previous owner left dogs for years to urinate on the floor. When I pulled up the carpet, there was actually a glaze of urine, like polyurethane finish, on the floor. Long story short, I ended up scraping up the glaze (used a car window ice scraper with a brass blade). Yes, it was nasty. Yes, I went and took a very long, hot shower after that. No, I wasn't about to put down new carpet, without doing everything I could to get rid of the dog urine smell.

Kev

 

[stikman56]

I think there's several methods that will work pretty well. Enzyme cleaners, let them sit for a day and dry, has to stay wet, cover with plastic, soak towels in it etc.
White vinegar,pour it on, keep it wet for a few hours,leave it to dry.

Odor x it. Wash the floor with TSP and water first. Spray the Odor X it on and keep wet for a while, then let it dry. Then, I'd
seal it with Kilz.

 

[Croixboy]

in addition to what the others have said, I would also look at the lower third of my walls where the beast may have sprayed. Not sure if you have drywall, concrete, or stone walls but I would clean and prime. A dehumidifier may help reduce odors as well.

 

[Jsf721]

There is a company called multiclean. We distribute their products. They have a product called bio power. Use it straight and in one or 2 treatments you will be good to go. You can get it at a local janitor supply house. The key to their product is the concentration of live cultures.

Option 2 is to get the fresh wave liquid from bed bath and beyond and do the same. I find the bio power to work better on organic matter.

If you have trouble finding these items where you are PM me.

 

[dogdog]

stronger but not full solution, chlorine / clorox then air it out a few days?

 

[b7labelle]

I do have a dehumidifier running, and did clean the walls with the enzymatic cleaner up about 2-3 feet. Like I said, the smell is much less intense but my end goal is to resurface the floor.

I think with the right oil based products the smell will be encased.

Kilz oil primer says it is not recommended for floors, which I assume is meant without additional protection. Have any of you used Kilz oil based primer on walking surfaces?
I'm thinking of using the Kilz oil primer, and oil based paint of a color of my choice, and polyurethane top coat.

 

[rsanter]

The house I bought their cats lived in the garage and pissed and **** all over.
I pressure washed the garage several times and acid washed the floor twice.
Then I painted the walls and the floor. I don't smell it anymore but then again it is a garage so it gets more ventilation than your basement perhaps

Bob

 

[Lx460]

stronger but not full solution, chlorine / clorox then air it out a few days?

DO NOT DO THIS!!!

Cat urine has ammonia in it and chlorine has... well chlorine.

Mix them together and you get highly toxic and deadly chloramine gas. Not a good thing to have in your basement.

 

[b7labelle]

DO NOT DO THIS!!!

Cat urine has ammonia in it and chlorine has... well chlorine.

Mix them together and you get highly toxic and deadly chloramine gas. Not a good thing to have in your basement.

Mmm...nerve gas...right under my daughter's bedroom...

BTW I edited my last post before I saw you guys replied.

 

[dogdog]

DO NOT DO THIS!!!

Cat urine has ammonia in it and chlorine has... well chlorine.

Mix them together and you get highly toxic and deadly chloramine gas. Not a good thing to have in your basement.

....his cat have been gone for a while there is no real urine there. All the ammonia would have been evaporated already. Same things used to clean off the hobo's pee off a street corner and in the subways and my cat's pee as well. by your definition, there would be boat load of toxic nerve gas in the public pool.

 

[jj212jj]

We had this exact issue when we purchased our home a few years back. Upon a recommendation from our contractor I removed the carpet and pad and got down to the bare concrete floor and applied several coats of Odoban which I purchased from Home Depot.

I also used a black light to mark several sections of drywall which were sprayed with urine and had to cut/replace those sections. Knock on wood it's been a couple years now and there's been no trace of the smell.

 

[Garage Flooring]

Hey everyone...I have a problem that I don't believe to be unique, but doesn't appear to have been discussed in detail on Gj.

Like many homes, mine has a basement. And in this basement there lived a cat, which was at the end of its life and liked to piss EVERYWHERE. This cat happened to naturally pass away...days before our planned visit to the vet, so saved 200 bucks or so...


Anyways now I am left with a basement I am in the process of reclaiming. I have washed the concrete, applied enzymatic cleaners and baking soda, and I must say it is much better. However the smell is still there...

It needs to be eradicated. Destroyed. Buried, like that cat..

The floor also has an old paint applied to the floor, which began to bubble in many places as I swashed and cleaned the floor. Doesn't seem to have been applied on top of any primer.

My end goals are to eliminate the urine smell, and apply a new coating to the floor. What are your suggestions? My worst fear is that I coat the floors, but the urine smell seeps through...

Epoxy coating? Oil primer, oil paint, urethane top coat? It's a laundry room so nothing heavy duty goes on down there.

Total surface area of 500 sq ft. Paint coverage is about 60%, patchy.

When my wife and I got married she already had a home, but it was not big enough for all of us, so we rented it out. Their dogs and cats peed all over the carpet and it soaked through to the slab and sat there for god knows how long.

We cleaned the floor real well using a gallon of concentrated pet odor stuff for carpet. Not a perfect fit but it did a good job. The we used Kilz oil based primer to seal it in. We let the place air out for a couple of weeks and then put down new carpet

 

[75CrewDeutz]

Kilz is a good general purpose primer but Zinsser will work much better for blocking out the odor. After a thorough cleaning of course.

 

[PugetDude]

Scrub it well with Odorban, let it dry thoroughly, then cover with a couple of coats of shellac.

 

[Lx460]

....his cat have been gone for a while there is no real urine there. All the ammonia would have been evaporated already. Same things used to clean off the hobo's pee off a street corner and in the subways and my cat's pee as well. by your definition, there would be boat load of toxic nerve gas in the public pool.

1) This post never clarified how long ago said cat had vacated the premises

2) I never said "nerve gas", that was you coming up with that all on your own.

3) You are entitled to clean urine, whether it belongs to feline or hobo, any way you see fit. I myself choose not to potentially create a health hazard in a confined area under my living quarters.

4) Although your extrapolation of the chemistry is laughable, this is one of many reasons I choose not to frolic in a public pool. (Because I deplore swimming in a toilet, not from fear of "nerve gas)

 

[hdossett]

Years ago, early 80's, I bought a house with pet odors. Dogs left inside all day, alone! I removed the carpet and tack strips then cleaned the concrete floor maybe with just a vacuum, nothing special. Then put on two coats of a store brand concrete sealer with a roller. Then replaced the carpet before moving in. There was still a slight odor for a while but only notice it after being gone for a week and returning to a closed up house. It dissipated after a couple of days of open house or I accumulated to it. After a few months, the odor was gone.

H

 

[bwringer]

I've used the Zinnser primer and Kilz on concrete floors near the walls under various sorts of flooring with no problems. There's little to no traffic near walls and in corners, so there's no reason it would wear off.

This was after replacing ALL organic porous materials and cleaning with strong chemicals. Drywall, wood, and carpet simply CANNOT be cleaned or treated 100% once they've been peed on.

Personally, I've never once seen any of those "enzyme" or "live culture" potions do a damn bit of good (Oxiclean is the only thing I've used that does anything), but YMMV and that's probably a different topic for a different day.

The other thing to remember is even if you can't smell anything, animals will still be able to smell the pheromones for centuries to come. If you have a critter determined to piss in your house, they will without fail choose the areas that were "treated" by long-past residents.

In other words, make sure future critters are reliably using their litterboxes or whatever before allowing them into the area.

I feel your pain... the only way to be sure is to nuke the site from orbit. Pee is some powerful ****.

 

[rburke65]

You might want to call a carpet cleaning company. I’m sure they have solutions for this .

 

[b7labelle]

Flo-Kem 11192. $23/gal from amazon.

I’ve washed a lot of carpet with that stuff. Apply in a pressurized spray bottle that you can pump up and refill. Get all of the fibers in the affected area wet. I think you need to keep it damp for a few hours. Then rinse it out and **** it up with a carpet cleaner. May have to repeat this process a few times, but it’s better than smelling ammonia.

 

[Flail]

Cover the floor with porcelain tile. That will block the odor.

 

[slimpickins]

After you clean as best as you can I suggest you buy or rent an ozone generator and run it in the basement for a few hours while you go out with the whole family. You should not stay home while the ozone generator is running as it is not good for you. When you get home, open the windows to air the whole house out.

I've never tried it on really heavy pet odors but mine does work very well in rental houses with smoke smell etc.

Cheers!

 

[Armorpoxy]

We have had customers use our special Moisture Barrier 2 part epoxy to seal in vapors. Not inexpensive, but has worked perfectly.

 

[SALIV8]

Odo ban is good stuff as previously mentioned, but i prefer and recommend using microban.

 

[Shea]

This is an old thread from over 4 years ago that was recently revived. If it helps, we have an article that explains what happens with pet urine that is introduced to concrete, how to properly clean it to remove the bacteria, and then what type of product works well to eliminate the smell. We also talk about how to seal it out.

https://allgaragefloors.com/remove-pet-urine-odors-from-concrete/

 

[Jsf721]

Look up. Product called bio power. It’s made by Multiclean. It’s and bio enzyme that will do the trick. May take several applications to eat all the organic matter but it’s A winner.