Help! My house smells like cat pee!

[Yellefan]

I am posting this in hopes of tapping the vast knowledge of the cp community. So the background on this story is that I recently purchased an older house (1912) that has a dug-out basement. Now one thing about our house search was that both me and my wife are allergic to cats so a no pet home was very important to us (or at least no recent pets). So we found this house that was advertised as being a no pet home-- both times we were through there was no sign of any pets, the house "appeared" clean and we were quite excited.

Fast forward to 1 week before possession and we had an appointment to bring the hardwood floor guy in to give us an estimate on refinishing the hardwood floors. We walk in and there is 2 cats running around loose, cat hair everywhere, and the house is dirtier and smellier than I can even describe. Needless to say we were quite upset by this. I walk to the basement door and open it and this wall of stink brings tears to my eye! I go downstairs and it is apparant that these people allowed their cats to use the basement as the litter box.

After several conversations with my lawyer it is decided that the best course of action is to take possession of the house and try to get the basement cleaned up, as my old house was already sold and I would have no other place to live.

So this is where the help is needed-- my wife and I have the upper 2 floors under control with a couple of weeks of straight cleaning, sealing with heavy duty primer etc to get rid of the cat smell, but the dugout basement is a problem, especially when it rains out. The smell remains down there for the most part, but when it rains it makes its way upstairs and stinks up the whole house. I have tried a chemical cleaner called natures miracle to try to get rid of it, but I'm afraid the cats did their business way too much down there-- from what I have read the only way to truly get rid of the cat pee smell is removal of the source. Kind of hard with a dug-out basement since the dirt that is saturated with pee is also holding up my house. Has anyone ever had to deal with an issue like this before or know of someone who has? Anyone know any cat pee specialists? It's hard to find any cleaners or anything in town who want to go near this problem so I am getting pretty desperate.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[habernac]

If it's an old basement, you're probably going to have a very hard time getting the smell out. One of our wonderful cats pees down the air vents when he's upset. A real nice surprise when the furnace kicks in. I've tried lots of things, natures miracle is pretty good. We had to replace a heat duct in the old house. Not sure what else to suggest. Professional cleaner and send the old realtor the bill?

[PYroMaNiaC]

This is way out of my realm of experience. The only thing that I can tell you that has ever worked for me is buckets of baking soda. But your problem sounds a bit larger than any retribution my cats have heaped on me.

[JiriHrdina]

Call a place like Servpro and get them in there. If they can't fix the problem no one will be able to.

[Clarkey]

Go to a gardening place or maybe Rona. Get a bunch of bags of a product called zeolites, it's kind of a granular texture. Dump it all over the floor etc. It absorbs smells really good. You could then probably shovel the stuff up and put it in the sun and then spread it around again. I really hope this works for you.

[Shazam]

Zeolite is sold at Golden Acre Garden Sentre. However, it's incredibly expensive, so unless you have a couple of grand lying around, you're not going to be able to buy enough to really help.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Sounds bad. My only experience with anything similar is that we had a dirt floor house when we were renting once, and it confused the heck out of the dogs--we'd discover when the furnace kicked in that they had "gone" in the dirt, thinking that counted as outside.

I'm no expert--but would it be possible to finish the basement with a concrete floor? Don't know if that's feasible, but wouldn't that likely at least cut the source of the smell off from the house?

Failing that, my wife and I used to use these odor-eliminator cakes that are citrus-scented and come in little plastic tubs. We used about 4 of them for a basement that was pretty rank. It's a cheap option--probably won't work, but might be worth a try.

[White Doors]

Cat pee is horrible! not sure, there are alot of good suggestions here, but if they were peeing there for years, I'd say the only one that would work is to concrete the basement.

Before that you can run the hose over the offending area to try and flush the pee further into the ground. Plain old lime spread around should help too as you flush it

[Cowperson]

Whatever you do, you should certainly get another lawyer and then sue the crap out of the previous homeowner.

You should certainly be able to put the clean-up costs onto the previous owner. And have a professional cleaner do it.

They obviously ADVERTISED - put into writing - that their home was a no-pet zone and then mis-represented it at the point of sale.

And your lawyer is telling you not to sue? Geez Louise.

If it were me, I probably wouldn't take possession . . . . . although that's also a risk in this market. Tough call.

But I'd certainly sue somebody.

Cowperson

[North East Goon]

If the smell wasnt there when you first looked at the house, they couldnt have been peeing in it that long? Have you ever thought of starting a grow-op down there?

[EVERLAST]

THe only course of action is to pour concrete over top of the dirt. This can be achieved if you are willing to do a little work your self. The amonia content in cat urine is far to high to try and control with anti-smell masking products. Spend the dough and rid your self of the smell. If at all possible pursue more legal advice in regards to having the previous home owner have to pay some of the cost. I know that sounds ridiculous but you'll never know unless you try. Asking questions are free.

[Cheese]

Im with Cow on this one....IF you have written correspondence that suggests the house was a pet free or cat free zone you have grounds to sue...at least for all costs to make it so.
If your lawyer doesnt have the balls find one who does....I wonder if CPs troutman would chime in on the validity of a case like this?

[troutman]

I'm not a litigation lawyer, but Yellefan should consult one (Lawyer Referral Service #228-1722).

Often when you buy something it is caveat emptor (buyer beware). However, where there is a fundamental misrepresentation there may be an action for damages against the vendor and/or realtor. Damages would be the cost to remedy the problem, or to find replacement housing.

There is a distinction between patent and latent defects. Things that should have been obvious to the buyer before the contract is signed are normally the buyer's problem. Get an opinion on whether there was a misrepresentation. Consider the cost of litigation, your chances of success, and how much your damages are. There are now other alternatives like mediation. Small claims Court may be an option, and you will not require a lawyer in that venue.

If I have time I can try to search for a similar case in the databases.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by fotze

So trout, what you are saying is that IF you would win, the lawyer would probably cost more than the $2000 in damages that you may win? or doi damages tack on the cost of the lawsuit?

You can claim your legal fees in Court of Queen's Bench.

[Cheese]

Could Yellefan simply have a letter typed to the Realtor suggesting that he is dissapointed with the false advertising and suggesting that he is looking into litigation for costs to repair if the Realtor doesnt come forth with dollars to assist? Would that be a good first step?

[Tron_fdc]

We had a (sort of) similar problem when I sold my house. I forgot to unplug the washer machine hose when I took the washer, and a slow leak over a few days turned into a pool of water that damaged the drywall.

The buyer held back $2k for damage costs, as the damage wasn't there on the initial walk through. I spoke with the buyer on several occasions, and because of the labour situation in Calgary (good luck getting someone in to quote drywall/paint) we ended up settling on an amount that seemed reasonable to both of us.

I'd talk to your lawyer and see if you can hold back about 5 grand from the purchase price until the house is cleaned, or settle on a price reduction to allow for clean up costs. Your realtor should be all over this as well, as I don't think they get paid until the final money transfer is complete.

[Flames_Gimp]

couldn't u dig a foot down and haul the dirt out and put gravel and then eventually put concrete in?

[ken0042]

^^ That sounds like a lot of work FG. Why should he have to spend days cleaning it for something that wasn't his fault.

I agree with what others have said. Submit a demand letter, stating exactly what you want done for compensation. Failing that I would look into small claims court.

[FurnaceFace]

Back to getting the smell out, I don't recall the product name but The Killarney Cat Hospital recommends a product which they claim does wonders. I seem to recall it's a product made for farm animals but I'm not sure on that. When we were last there, they were talking to someone about how great it is. You could call and see what it is.

[RedMan12]

I have heard cider vinegar or vinegar will get rid of the smell. Luckily my cat only goes in her litter box so I have not had to try it.