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342

It seems essentially septic levels of cat piss or something has been collecting under carpet and wet vac brought it up instead of taking it out. The level of piss smell in this house is actually scary right now. It may literally be condemned.

I do not have the option of moving out without serious financial damage. We’re talking like 40-50k in damage to move. I do not have the ability to replace the carpet without simply fully replacing it again within a year as the floor foot print will change because of walls moving. I have no where to put the heavy things currently sitting on the carpet to have someone replace it.

It seems essentially septic levels of cat piss or something has been collecting under carpet and wet vac brought it up instead of taking it out. The level of piss smell in this house is actually scary right now. It may literally be condemned. I *do not* have the option of moving out without serious financial damage. We’re talking like 40-50k in damage to move. I *do not* have the ability to replace the carpet without simply fully replacing it again within a year as the floor foot print will change because of walls moving. I have no where to put the heavy things currently sitting on the carpet to have someone replace it.

(post is archived)

[–] • 2 pts

Carpet is disgusting. I haven't had carpet in a house in twenty years. If the underlay gets full of piss and dirt and God knows what else, it will never be clean.

[–] • 1 pt

Second thing I did after we bought our house was rip up the carpet. Floors weren’t too bad underneath. Someone went a little crazy with staples in one room. That was a pain in the ass.

[–] • 1 pt

I had that experience in my last house as well, took hours to pull all the damn staples. 🤦‍♂️

[–] • 2 pts (edited )

Option 1 1) tear out that shitty cat piss carpet and put down throw rugs until the remodeling is done

Option 2 1) stop wet vacuuming the carpet 2) get box fans and dry that shit out 3) after it dries, douse the carpet in nature's miracle cat piss magic remover or whatever it is called 4) let that dry 5) vacuum the shit out of it after it's dry

Option 3 1) keep wet vacuuming the carpet. Switch to warm water and stop using the expensive fluid shit so it's free. Do it over and over until the wter comes out clear. It's a rental, so who gives a fuck? 2) do the rest of the shit under option 2.

Tip: next time you wet vac a carpet you didn't put in yourself that might have been owned by a crazy cat lady, tear up some of it and look underneath first.

[–] • 0 pt

It’s down right scary. I’m probably going to go option 3 for one room and 2 for the others. See if option 3 or option 2 can even work. If not I’ll have to just do an emergency rip out with probably no good cheap option for replacement.

In the one room literally 70% of the floor space had a light brown stain marbling patches come out of it the next day. I’m not sure it can even be cleaned out.

Thanks!

[–] • 0 pt

So far option 2 is working great for all but one part thanks! Option 3 was progressing the one so I’ll do that on the other part that the stink didn’t get out thanks!!

[–] • 2 pts

Just tear the carpet out. I've dealt with pestilential carpet before, and walking around on bare subfloor for 6-12 months until you're ready to put down something permanent is no big deal.

[–] • 1 pt (edited )

Rug Doctor the fuck out of it. A shop vac will not cut it. Baking soda can help with the odor once the carpet dries. Do not water/shop vac again, as the water will just reactivate and spread the urine. You need a real carpet cleaner. Rug Doctor rentals aren't expensive. I'd recommend some strong professional chemicals, but you wouldn't have access to get them, nor the dispensers needed to dispense them. Just use whatever good chemicals they have near the rental station, and use baking soda and a normal vacuum liberally once dry.

Edit: Also, look into gallons of Nature's Miracle. It's specifically designed for pet odors and fluids. I wouldn't say it's a miracle worker, but a good spray/soak, give it a half hour to hour to do it's thing, then rug doctor.

[–] • 1 pt (edited )

give it a half hour to hour to do it's thing, then rug doctor.

You leave that nature's miracle shit on a lot longer than 1/2 an hour. You want to cover it with a plastic sheet for 48 hours so it doesn't dry out, then remove the sheet and give it two weeks to dry. It takes a long time to break down the cat piss, but it works.

[–] • 0 pt

I'm strictly going from the standpoint of a large room, and a rug doctor on the rental clock. If given a classroom, animal staging area, or household room to do with my equipment and chemicals, I'd let that shit for an entire day, and depending on severity, it may turn into a week long project of enzyme soaking, diversey prespray, and waxie 630 to deodorize after the fact.

[–] • 1 pt

I would rug doctor the shit out of it, return the rental, and do the nature's miracle last. That's the way to go. No need to rug doctor the nature's miracle.

[–] • 0 pt

After reading the other comments.. I would just jump straight to a professional steam-cleaning. Its not as expensive as you think. If you have to rent a carpet cleaning machine, get soap, spend your time and suffering... Its probably a wash.

It might not be perfect but it will be better than anything you will be able to do on your own other than ripping that crap out and just living with area rugs/scraps until you want to put new carpet in.