new Victorian stinks of cat pee and poo...maybe mold too??
We bought the house last month and it smelled horrible then. The owner had HUNDREDS of cats in the house over the past 40 years the neighbors have told me. Since we bought the house, we have gutted it…now its just the shell. The 2nd and 3rd floors are fine, they dont smell. The first…
We bought the house last month and it smelled horrible then. The owner had HUNDREDS of cats in the house over the past 40 years the neighbors have told me.
Since we bought the house, we have gutted it…now its just the shell. The 2nd and 3rd floors are fine, they dont smell. The first floor however is an issue. We can tell a large portion of the stink is coming from the kitchen, which thankfuly is an addition that we are going to tear down. Under the kitchen is a dirt crawl space area which I assume is where all the cats crapped and peed or something. But that smell is horrible…could that be mold or something? Did anyone ever experience this? What could be the cause of this smell besides the fact that she had so many cats. Will this go away?
when i bought it, i had chipmunks living in the kitchen ceiling of my house upstate. it did not smell great.
i tore out the sheetrock ceiling and painted the joists with Kilz Oil Based Stain Killer Primer ( not the latex kind, it wont work )
this sealed everything into the joists, and we no longer had the smell.
i realize you have a larger problem here, but this might help others as well.
thx, eric. http://www.handymaneric.com
Try running HEPA air filters and dehumidifiers in every room. The more moisture and particulates you can remove, before, during, demolition and sealing, the better.
Sharper Image filters are garbage, go for a real HEPA air filter. If you want to try ozone, get a specific ozone generator and DO NOT BE INSIDE while it is running. Ozone causes tissue damage and it should be allowed to fully dissipate before the space is occupied for your safety.
there’s some controversy over this, for sure, but an ozone generator would surely do the trick. those things are like miracles. companies that do fire damage repair use them. they work so fast and efficiently, it’s nuts. a lot of people in some natural health communities swear by them (because the ozone kills bacteria and viruses), while others think they are dangerous (to breathe in ozone). look them up. you could run one while you’re not home… even those sharper image air filters, which emit only a tiny bit of ozone, works wonders on odors.
Try a big hepa filter for now.
We are going to do that blue spray insulation…I also assume that will block anything else.
Good luck with it and hang in there. I also recall that you can seal in/bury the smell with a layer of concrete — maybe that would be the cure for the crawl space.
italiana71: I just found out I have a pet cemetary in my back yard…this is great!
NeoGrec: everything you mentioned is what my GC told us and a little more. We will be tearing off the kitchen, digging out the crawl space, and then pouring a new foundation for a new LEGAL extension! We will also be replacing numerous beams and waterproofing the basement by digging out a trench around the house. We will be doing so much that I really doubt the smell would stay…but its just nerve racking righ tnow while we are waiting for the permits to come in. I REALLY want to get that kitchen off and dig out that crawl space!
nybk: You’re in bay Ridge right? you know what’s funny? I tell my hubby that sometimes if one of the eldery people here have their windows open you can just smell the cats and must as you walk by their open windows. There are certainly a lot of older people living here and I guess they are tired and probably financially unable to do repairs and udates. It just something very funny to me, people who collect cats.
The problem needs to be fixed while your walls and floors are still open. The crawl-space sounds like it needs to be thoroughly dug out. The area may require treatment with appropriate non-toxic chemicals. Sometimes it’s also necessary to replace saturated beams and even plaster (stripping walls down to the brick). What has your GC said? I would recommend you do as much online research as possible. It’s a horrible problem to face but it can be remedied.