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How To Remove Old Cat Urine From Hardwood Floors

Additional Tips And Advice

  • If you dont have wood bleach, you can substitute regular household bleach or peroxide, but these options may not work as well and might require more treatment for the same result.
  • If you have a small spot, consider waiting a few days before treating it. The stain may start to lighten on its own as it dries.
  • If dark stains are a frequent problem, consider adding another coat of finish to the floor.

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Why Cat Urine Is So Potent

Cat urine contains uric acid, which can last in carpets, fabrics and wood for years! Although baking soda, vinegar, soap, and hydrogen peroxide may neutralize the odors temporarily, a humid day can cause the uric acid to recrystallize, and the infamous “cat odor” will return. The only way to destroy the uric acid is to use an enzyme cleaner, according to . The affected areas on the carpet or fabrics need to be soaked in enzyme cleaner and allowed to air-dry completely. The enzymes break the uric acid into gases, and through natural drying, the gases evaporate, leaving your carpet and fabrics smelling fresh again. Enzyme cleaners can be found online and at most grocery stores.

# Grapefruit Oil And White Vinegar Solution

The white vinegar is another common home ingredient that can be found in most of the kitchen. Like the bleaching powder, the vinegar also works as a fantastic solution for cleaning the stains. We discussed the recommended procedure to use the vinegar solution for getting rid of the urine stains.

Start with cleaning the floor to remove the loose dust, dirt, grimes, and other substances. Then add one cup of vinegar or lukewarm water. Add a few drops of the grapefruit oil in the solution. We will add the grapefruit oil to remove the odor. Mix the solution accurately and then apply it to the floor.

Use a small brush or sponge to scrub the stains and wait for a while to make the solution work. Now clean the excess solution using freshwater and damp cloth. You should end up with a clean and odor-free hardwood floor. The solution is fully safe and will not cause any damage to your floor.

How To Get Dog Or Cat Urine Smell Out Of Hardwood Floors

When you share your home with pets, accidents can and do happen, whether you’re training a puppy or dealing with an elderly pet suffering from bladder issues. Look to the experts at ServiceMaster Clean for tips on how to remove urine smell from hardwood floors. Urine is a difficult smell to remove once it has permeated into the room via the flooring or furniture upholstery. One of the best ways to fight urine odors is to clean the accident as soon as possible, reducing the time the urine has to seep into the flooring. After all liquid has been removed, it’s time to treat the stain and remove any lingering odors.

What To Do If Your Cat Pees On Clothing And Linens

Pin on Cat urine

If your cat has urinated on a bedspread or linens that need to be dry-cleaned, get the linens to a professional cleaner as quickly as possible. The longer the pee stays on the material the harder it is to get rid of the smell. 

If the clothing, linen, or textile item can go in a washing machine, run it through a cold-water cycle immediately and hang it outside to dry, Lund says. If you still smell cat pee after the item dries, try running it through the washing machine again with a cup of baking soda and/or quarter of a cup of apple cider vinegar, and place it outside to dry. Drying the textiles outdoors will help the smell dissipate, says Marrinan. 

How To Get Cat Urine Out Of Hardwood Floor

Cats are lovable and gentle animals and many of us love them as endearing pets and house companions. However, one major disadvantage is the strong smell of their urine which can be quite intolerable. Even worse if the cat pees on material such as carpet or on floor that is made of hardwood because urine can seep through, resulting in a lingering smell.

All is not lost though, because there are effective ways on to get cat urine smell out of hardwood floor.

White Vinegar And Grapefruit Oil

Known as natural disinfectant and deodorant, ordinary white vinegar you have in the kitchen is a great tool for removing these stains. Mix one cup of vinegar into a warm water-filled bucket and the add some drops of grapefruit oil to the solution to get rid of the odor. Scrub the floor with this safe cleaning solution, concentrating on the most prominent spots. As you scrub, the odor and stains should be disappearing.

How To Remove Black Marks Left By Urine On Hardwood Floors

Judy asked: How do I remove dog urine on a hardwood floor? The wood turned black. I have used vinegar and water.

When hardwood flooring turns dark, its the unfortunate result of moisture penetrating the wood itself. Although there are a few quick fixes proclaimed to work, the only sure way to undo the damage is to restore the floor. Heres what to do.

Typical Urine Stain Scenarios

Let’s look at some typical scenarios.

1. You bought a home knowing that under that carpet there were beautiful oak floors. Removing the carpet reveals dark sticky spots where some critter has used that spot or those spots to relieve himself for years.

2. You are rearranging the furniture and find a spot in the corner where Fido 1, 2 and 3 have been peeing for several decades. They like to find the spot where another animal was and claim it as their own.

3. You are sanding a floor knowing there are some questionable spots and stains, but when you hit it with the big machine the odor forces you to leave the room in search of a full-face respirator and a shower.

How To Get Rid Of Pet Odor In Hardwood Floors

Lets get into the best methods for getting rid of pet odor in your hardwood floors.

Hardwood floors are an expensive luxury, so its important to keep them in mint condition. In fact, if youre planning on doing up your home, and installing hardwood floors, we seriously recommend waiting until your pet is fully house trained.

Pro Tip

Removing Cat Urine Using Hydrogen Peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide is non-toxic and effectively cleans germs and bacteria as well as undesirable odor. It can be bought from many online stores .

Procedure: Mix at least 3% of hydrogen peroxide with water then moisten a rag or an absorbent cloth with the mixture and apply over the affected area of your wood floor. Allow the rag or cloth with the mixture to let sit on the area for at least a couple of hours for better absorption. Finally, wipe and dry the area with a clean rag or cloth.

Which Cleaning Chemicals Can Damage Hardwood Floor

During an emergency, you might reach out for strong chemicals to clean the floor. But, I strongly advise you against using harsh chemicals such as ammonia-based cleaning products.

It might not show the negative effects on the floor after cleaning, but eventually, blotches of discoloration and damaged finish will appear.

Additionally, alkaline cleaning products and abrasives are harmful to hardwood floors.

Vinegar is tricky. When used properly and in the right proportion with water, it can help the floors to shine. But, if you overuse it or make a too strong mixture, you will damage the hardwood floor finish.

Lastly, if you have hardwood floors, avoid using store-bought cleaning products that arent labeled for use on hardwood floors. Most of them contain a complex set of chemicals that can damage the floor.

Removing Cat Urine Odor From Hardwood Floors

Removed the 20 year old cat peed on carpet and replaced it ...

Before you start cleaning, read your flooring manufacturers care instructions to check for any special precautions youll need to take. Recipe #2 from the Cat Urine Problems Eliminated ebook is enough by itself to remove light, fresh staining and odors and most moderate stains and odors, but not heavy staining thats been there for weeks or longer.

It works especially well on light-colored wood, such as maple or white pine, but theres a small risk of bleaching with dark woods such as walnut, cherry or teak. To be safe, patch test the solution on a less-visible part of the floor, such as inside a closet, before you apply it to the stain. Ultimately, though, using Recipe #2 is optional, so if you prefer you can skip it and go straight to a stronger cleaner.

Step 1. Blot up any remaining urine with white cloths or paper towels.

Step 2. Clean the soiled area with a wood flooring or furniture cleaner such as Formula 409 or Orange Oil. Mop the floor with pure, cool water and let it dry.

Step 3. Mix up a batch of Recipe #2 and apply it by dipping a white cloth into the solution, then blotting it on the stain. Apply just enough to wet the area, but not saturate it.

Step 4. Let it sit for about 10 minutes, then check to see if the stain has disappeared. If it hasnt, continue to check every 10 minutes or so. Once the stain is gone or considerably lighter, blot the solution up immediately using a cloth dipped in water.

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Cleaning Cat Pee From Hard Floors And Surfaces

If your cat pees on a hard floor or wall, you have two options. First, soak up the urine with a paper towel or cloth. Then you can either spray the area with an enzyme-based cleaner and wipe it up or use regular dish soap and lots of water Both Lund and Marrinan quoted the idiom the solution to pollution is dilution to sum up how important it is to wash away the pee as much as possible.

This means cleaning the location multiple times, letting it dry thoroughly between washings, and keeping your cat away from the location until all traces of the smell are gone. 

Vinegar may also assist with neutralizing cat pee smell on hard surfaces. Vinegar is an acid that neutralizes the alkaline salts that form in dried urine stains. Mix a solution of one part water and one part vinegar and apply it to walls and hard floors. You can even mix in a little bit of baking soda to boost the solutions ability to eliminate odor.

Effective Ways To Get Rid Of Cat Urine On A Hardwood Floor

Overall, hardwood floors are fairly durable and easy to maintain, but cat urine is a still a formidable opponent for any surface. Whether yours are the popular oak or maple floors or you have a pricier wood like teak or black walnut, youll need to use some care to get the stubborn cat pee smell and stain out without damaging the floor.

When They Want A Pristine Floor

In other cases, though, that’s far from enough. Now you’ve gone from a dark stain to a bleached-out area. If what you are looking for is a pristine, uniform wood floor, more work needs to be done. It may entail tinting or staining to blend in the areas in question. The problem though, my friends, is deeper than what we can see. The urine has soaked into the floor through the gaps or cracks down to the tongues and grooves and beyond. Sometimes you may sand the floor, stain it and tint it to where it looks 100 percent better. Then you coat it and there is a chemical reaction with the organic compounds still in the wood or lurking in the cracks and gaps. They are reactivated by the finish you applied, and now you are back to square one. This most often happens with waterborne coatings, but I have seen it in oils and solvents. Where do we go from here?

If the client wants a pristine wood floor, the best option is to remove the stained wood in question and weave in new. I have, over the past five decades, opened floors where the damage was way beyond the flooring itself and had affected the subfloor, and sometimes even the joists. Keep in mind that a “repair” is invisible and a “patch” is what amateurs do, so be a pro and do a proper weave-in of new flooring, repairing the underpinnings as needed. Give your client a floor that will last another 50 years of pets, old folks, goats, pigs and life!

Reasons Why Cats Pee Somewhere Other Than The Litter Box

Before we round up some helpful tips on how to remove cat urine smell from your wood floor, lets consider reasons why cats relieve themselves on the floor and elsewhere other than their litter box. Some of the most common reasons are:

  • Your cat has medical issues like diabetes or a urinary tract infection.
  • The type of litter used.
  • A dirty litter box.
  • Your cat is experiencing anxiety or stress.

General Cat Pee Removal Guidelines:

  • Eek! Whereâs the pee?! First, track down the source of the smell. And do it quickly. The longer the cat pee sits on your mattress or couch, the worse itâs going to smell.
  • Blot with COLD water. Once youâve located the cat pee spot, youâll want to use cold water and paper towels or an old rag to blot the spot, absorbing as much as the cat pee as possible. If youâve got an extracting wet vac on hand, feel free to use that on the cold setting. Do not scrub, that will just make the cat pee angrier and more resilient, rubbing it further into the couch, floor, or garment.
  • Neutralize it! Then youâre going to want to douse the spot with an enzymatic cleaner or simply make your own cleaning solution by combining vinegar and water in a 1:1 ratio. Because the vinegar is acidic, it will neutralize the bacteria in the cat pee, offsetting its odor. Let the solution sit for 3-5 minutes or carefully follow the instructions on the cleaning productâs label.
  • Rinse + Repeat. Using a fresh paper towel or wet rag, do one more quick once over the stained spot. If youâre using a wet rag, remember to use cold water.
  • Freshen up! For additional freshness, try using Febreze Fabric Pet Odor Eliminator once itâs completely dry. You can also use Febreze Air Heavy Duty Pet Odor Eliminator around the litter box area to dull that lingering cat pee odor.

How To Remove Pet Stains From Wood Floors

Pet-lovers understand that, at times, they may be faced with the question of how to remove pet stains. Pets are family members, but much like a child, they can also cause a mess. Whether you’re training a young puppy or caring for an aging dog or cat, accidents happen and you can suddenly find yourself with a stinky urine stain on your beautiful wood floor.

Along with a strong odor, pet mess can leave unsightly black marks that warrant a quick response. There are a few ways to tackle this cleaning job, but most important is cleaning as close to the time the event occurs as possible to prevent the mess from having more time to set. Before any treatment, start by blotting up excess urine still on the surface.

Should You Refinish The Floor After Removing Stains

Refinishing is the final touch to your hardwood floor that can restore its previous beauty. After you sand the whole floor or stain area, you can apply a hardwood floor finish to even the surface and highlight your pretty floor.

Sanding and refinishing the floor should be part of your floor maintenance. It is an excellent way to remove stains, scratches, and other damages on the floor.

If you have pets, I recommend applying a fresh layer of the coat to the floor every two years. That way, you will keep the beautiful look of the hardwood floors.

However, the urine smell can linger even after you refinished the floor. The chemicals in urine and finish coat mix and cause unpleasant odors.

It will take time to smell to disappear, but you can try baking soda as a smell absorber.

Watch this video to know more:

Removing Pet Odors From Subfloor

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In this Q-and-A column, we discuss how to treat stubborn pet odors that have gone beyond the carpet and padding, and which products to consider.

Q: I have an in-law apartment that I foolishly rented to a person who had two cats. One or both cats apparently had a lot of accidents, because even a year after she left I can still smell the cat urine.

Ive replaced both the carpet and padding. Do I need to rip up and replace the wood subfloor also? I did not treat the wood with any chemical before I replaced the carpet and padding. I thought it would not be necessary.

A: Were guessing that you now have a no pets clause or a hefty pets deposit in your lease agreement.

Unfortunately, you made a mistake by not treating the subfloor when you replaced the carpet and padding. The damage has been done. Parts of the subfloor and the padding will have to go, and maybe the carpet, too.

When cats and, for that matter, dogs, do their business in the house, they tend to go in the same place. Which means, with any luck, that the problem is localized.

When pet urine dries, it forms crystals that produce a stench. You were right to replace the carpet and pad, but urine soaked through the old carpet and pad and into the wooden subfloor. The odor you smell is from the crystallized urine in the impregnated wood.

You probably dont need to replace the entire subfloor. Pull up the carpet and pad and search the subfloor for urine stains.

Soak Up Urine With Paper Towels Or A Sponge

Time to roll up your sleeves and put on your gloves. For people who dont mind using up paper towels, soak up the pee with paper towels and throw them away. Otherwise, you could take a disposable sponge to soak it up and squeeze the sponge into a bucket to dispose of the pee in a toilet or outside.

Just be sure to wash your bucket thoroughly after this process, and definitely wash your gloves well if you plan to reuse them.

How To Get Rid Of Cat Pee Smell: A Guide

Or, if weâre being polite, eliminating that âinappropriate eliminationâ odor.

Itâs all fun and games until the cat pees in your house. Kitty tinkle is one of the most unique and pungent smells on the planet, perhaps rivaled only by the notorious durian fruit.

Cleaning cat pee isnât very intuitive either â itâs actually sort of like a science experiment. Whereas youâd instinctively use warm or hot water to clean basically anything else, using hot water on cat pee is only going to set and amplify the stench. So if youâre having a cat pee-mergency, follow our guidelines below to neutralize that stinky urine.

How To Remove Cat Urine From Wood Floors

This article was co-authored by Susan Stocker. Susan Stocker runs and owns Susans Green Cleaning, the #1 Green Cleaning Company in Seattle. She is well known in the region for outstanding customer service protocols winning the 2017 Better Business Torch Award for Ethics & Integrity and her energetic support of green cleaning practices.There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, 100% of readers who voted found the article helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 623,328 times.

If you have a cat, chances are you may have found a puddle of cat urine on your floor once or twice. Cat urine can stain wood floors and leave a pungent odor. Depending on your cat’s age and the type of flooring, there are a number of different preventative and cleaning solutions.

Although You Will Find A Cleaner For Pet Messes In A Local Pet Store Affordable And Safe Cleaners Include The Following:

  • Vinegar Solution: This is a natural disinfectant used in most homes for cleaning hardwood floors. It is tough on odor, and easily dissolves dirt and grime and thus is suitable for wet pet mess and odor.
  • Baking soda solution: An excellent cleaner that is effective in pulling out odor and stains from wood floors.
  • Hydrogen peroxide: An excellent solution for clearing tough stains such as dry pet urine spots.
  • NOTE: Baking soda and hydrogen peroxide may lighten or discolor your wood floor. You may need to stain and refinish your wood floor after use.

    Safety is essential while dealing with strong cleaners. Use gloves and, if possible, a gas mask. Do not riskusing them around pets and children. Keep paper towels nearby as well.

    How To Remove The Pet Stains By Sanding The Floor

    Sanding the floor can also solve pet stains. You can sand only the stain place. To prevent the spot from looking odd on the floor, you will have to sand the surrounding area to even things out.

    If its been a while since you took care of the floor, you can remove the stains by sanding the entire floor.

    You can do it yourself, or you can hire professionals.

    Sanding the floor at home will save you some money, and you can rent the tools in a tool rental center. Make sure to buy appropriate products and follow the instructions for the best results.

    Watch this video to know more:

    Find Cat Urine On Wood Floor

    Before you can start to deal with the problem, you need to know exactly where the cat urine is on your wood floor. Happily, detecting the cat urine is straightforward. You can find cat urine with a UV or black light.

    In a darkened room, use your UV or backlight to pinpoint the cat urine stain on the wood floor. Now that you know exactly where the stain is, you can take action to remove it.

    How To Get Cat Urine Odor Out Of Wood Floors

    Editorial ProcessEmily EstepEditorial Process

    • Pin
    • Skill Level: Beginner
    • Estimated Cost: $10 to $20

    While you love your cat, as a homeowner with beautiful wood floors, you like your floors, too. But cats and wood do not mix. Cat urine has an unmistakable, ammonia-like, pungent smell that permeates the room and can even extend to the rest of the house. Until the cat urine odor is addressed, it will announce itself every time you enter the house. Older, heavily used wood floors’ porosity makes the problem even worse, since the urine is able to soak into the wood. While it is no simple task to get the smell of cat urine out of wood flooring, it can be done by using the right type of cleaner or, if the problem is advanced, by sanding the floor.

    • Scrub brush with nylon bristles

    Everything You Need To Know To Save Your Precious Hardwood Floor From Dog Urine

    The Best Option In Removing Those Nasty Cat Urine Stains ...

    Most of our houses have hardwood floors. Besides being aesthetically pleasing it is the base of construction for most houses since it is both, a permanent flooring, which can go on for years as well as temporary flooring to make future renovations easier.

    As for the pet owners, namely dog owners are faced with difficulties when their dog urinates on their hardwood flooring. To begin with it, might seem like a small trivial matter and owners usually just wipe it off and assume that fixes the issue. Those who have had dog urine for a long time on their hardwood floor can notice the detrimental effect dog urine has, as it eats away at the flooring. With proper care and quick actions this can all be avoided.

    This is all you will need to know about dog urine soaking into hardwood floors and how to tackle the situation.

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