Looking at a house with urine smell (in concrete slab)...Any insigts?? (flooring, heating)

[lookinginnorthernca]

Hello,

There is a 1947 REO foreclosed house that is filled with urine smell. (Many of the REO's I have looked at have this problem).

I was told under the carpet is concrete slab. Can I get this smell out? I am buying with all cash, so I am quite concerned I will be stuck with the smell.

It has many features that I need (including safety), and there aren't much other choices in my price range.

I read that bleach and a blacklight will help. Is there a possibility that the smell is permanent?

Thanks!!!

[Cosmic]

You can try various things like bleach, vinegar, etc. If they do not work always can thermal fog it. This is a procedure where a machine generates a mist of mostly ozone, can't be in the house during the cleaning, best to do it before moving in. This is for really heavy duty type smells that are impossible to get any other way. Gets in all the nooks and crannies.

Takes out all the odors, including from major smoke / fire damage. Look in the Yellow Pages under Fire Restoration or Fire Damage.

[Lindsey_Mcfarren]

I assume the urine smell is from pets, there are enzyme cleaners you can get however given your situation, it sounds like you would have to buy in bulk and maybe use a garden type sprayer to SOAK the concrete.

Please understand I have only used this enzyme type cleaner on spots on the carpet, I have no personal experience with its use on the kind of scale your talking about.

[BigJon3475]

I have had the carpet removed and sealed the concrete floor before to trap odors in them. I'm not sure of the "best" product to use but simply using Kilz primer on the areas or rooms that were saturated by the smells stopped the odors.

To block pet odors:

KILZ Original or KILZ Odorless primers

KILZ Original primer and KILZ Odorless primer are the ideal primers for sealing in odors, especially those created by pets. KILZ Original primer or KILZ Odorless primer can be applied to flooring, walls, and baseboards. For severe odors, two coats are recommended. NOTE: KILZ Original primer or KILZ Odorless primer should only be applied on flooring when carpet or tile will be applied.

Masterchem Industries, Inc. - KILZ Primer FAQs

[Poltracker]

Are you really sure it is coming from the carpet or from only the carpet? I have found that many of those REOs have been empty awhile and that the traps under the sinks, tubs and toilets have dried out. This allows sewer gas to vent into the house often giving that "urine" odor people describe. A lot of folks may assume it is the floors when it is not. It might be a matter of running water in all the sinks and tubs to fill the traps, then cleaning the floors, and airing the house out.

[Charles]

That's odd, I was beginning to think my urine smelled like old concrete. Maybe I won't have to change my diet after all.

[Cosmic]

Originally Posted by Poltracker

Are you really sure it is coming from the carpet or from only the carpet? I have found that many of those REOs have been empty awhile and that the traps under the sinks, tubs and toilets have dried out. This allows sewer gas to vent into the house often giving that "urine" odor people describe. A lot of folks may assume it is the floors when it is not. It might be a matter of running water in all the sinks and tubs to fill the traps, then cleaning the floors, and airing the house out.

Yep, do that first. Especially the toilets. Them traps do dry out, especially if the water was turned off. If they had big peeing contests, you should also see stains in the carpets. H,mmm I never smelled my own pee, wonder if it eventually smells like concrete. My girl tells me my poo does not stink.

I got an old toilet down in the basement, don't use it, when the bowl water dries out it smells like somebody has had a farting contest in the basement. If Irish curry has been on the menu for a while, you also know it.

[beachmouse]

We didn't know it at the time, but the people who had been living in our house before us were running an unlicensed puppy mill in the home. Before the house was sold, the owners tore out 100% of the carpet, scrubbed the slab down with bleach multiple times, and then put new carpet in. (We got the full story from a neighbor a couple years after we bought it)

After that, any dog pee smell was unnoticable to human noses, but our cat spent the first two months in the house rather wigged out, and looking back, we think he might have still smelled dog at some level.

[mom119]

Hopefully, the heating ducts are NOT in the slab. I bought a house in which they were below the slab, ALL kinds of problems. Sewage somehow got in the ductwork...bad, bad stuff.

Did you ever figure out what was causing the smell?

[texdav]

I woold rip out the carpet ;then clean . then rent a Ozone machne and use as directed. Just make sure you read the part about not being in the house when it running.