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lindadianne_gw

I need help on how to get cat urine odor out of concrete?

lindadianne
16 years ago

We had a cat that was 24 years old and the last year of her life she used the bathroom in ever room of the house!

We would step on a wet spot and try to clean as best as we could but it did get into the slab floor. We are putting new tile and wood down but first need to treat or seal the concrete slab. What is the best way to do this? If it rains it really does smell!

Comments (43)

  • pbrisjar
    16 years ago

    Best / only way I know of to get rid of animal pee smell is to saturate the area with Nature's Miracle. Not sure this would work for an entire floor, though.

  • brutuses
    16 years ago

    Seal it with an oil base sealer. Nothing will get the odor out completely as it will continue to come to the surface. Sealing it in is the recommendation of the pros.

  • Kimberlyinva
    16 years ago

    I agree, oil based sealer or oil based paint. Maybe you'll get luck enough to find a 5 gallon bucket of returned paint at your local box store for very cheap. It's not like the color is going to count. We had to paint our wood sub floor 10 years ago when we purchased this house. Apparently there were a few dogs that someone just forgot to let outside (they even chewed the window mullions!). Since then we've never had a problem. Your kitty sure did live a good long life!! I had one that lived to be that old, to this day I still miss the heck out of her!!

    KAT

  • brezzybre
    16 years ago

    I had the same situation due to our aging cat. I researched and found the only way to rid this problem is to treat the area by pouring full strength, 3% hydrogen peroxide onto the area. I made sure the area was very wet, as if you poured a glass of water onto the floor. Allow this to stand and soak for 30 minutes or more. Wipe up the excess with rags or paper towels. Do the same process a second time! Let the "peroxided" areas dry throughly between the two treatments, perhaps a day or two in between.

    If the cement floor areas you are treating have cracks, make sure the peroxide seeps down into the cracks to reach all of the old urine. After the peroxide treated areas are completely dry after a few days, paint the area with Kilz brand oil based primer. Allow this first coat to dry for several days then apply a second coat of Kilz. I purchased my Kilz oil base primer at Walmart.

    Before you begin this treatment process, do your prep work first!

    1. Do a test spot of several square inches. I used this peroxide treatment on wooden subfloor, not cement. By doing this you will know if the cement is damaged to any degree from the peroxide.

    2. Buy a blacklight and use it first before you do any of the above!! I cannot stress this enough. You will never miss any urine spotted areas if you use a blacklight to find them first. Use when there is absolutely no light in the room, or at night with lights off. Those areas with urine will show up as a neon light-yellow. After you have located and treated the urine areas with the peroxide, shine the blacklight onto every square inch of your room or surface just to make sure the urine is eradicated BEFORE priming with Kilz. If done correctly you should not be able to see any of the neon light-yellow areas.

    I purchased the hydrogen peroxide at Walmart. It is located near the rubbing alcohol. I used the quart size bottles, for less than a dollar per bottle. The hydrogen peroxide, paper towels, a little time and effort, a blacklight (I use an 18 inch tube style blacklight) and Kilz oil base primer will rid your problem completely. I also used rubber gloves because the hydrogen peroxide can irritate and sting your hands. It is odorless. Kilz does have a strong odor so make sure you have proper and adequate ventilation.

    I do know what you mean about the humidity making the urine odor come to life, however this treatment process won the battle for me.

    Good luck! Let me know how this works for you.

    My last of four house cats died in October at age 21. I miss her dearly.

    BRE~~

  • graciebelle
    15 years ago

    Hi Breezybre, just had to write. Our precious 19 year old kitty girl had to be put down last month. I can so identify with your post. We are having our carpet replaced, and there has been such a strong urine odor since we pulled up one edge of carpet along a wall. We have/had four indoor cats and we blamed any soiling on our 13 year old male kitty. We now think it must have been Lovey. Anyway, we did exactly what you suggested using Hydrogen Peroxide and Kilz sealer. AMAZING!! For years we have had urine odor behind the sofa, and I flipped out regularly about it (ACK, hate the smell). We flooded the area, used just about every cleaner known, looked up stuff online, tried just everything. During certain times (humidity) oh my gosh it would bring up the smell. Finding this site, reading your post, has been fantastic!

    Thank you so much!
    Graciebelle (Sharie)

  • floorguy
    15 years ago

    The paint and sealer suggestion are fine, under carpet, but when Tile and directly glued wood are concerned, that is very bad advise.

    You cannot, or should I say, should not glue or set tiles over sealers or paint, if you want it to last. Sealers and paint are bond breakers for thinset mortar, and urethane adhesives.

  • wanaksink
    15 years ago

    I pour straight clorox on my basement floor - works like a charm.

  • floorguy
    15 years ago

    Chlorine and urine is a toxic cocktail. The vapors can be very harmful!!!

  • ftell001
    15 years ago

    I bought a house at a GREAT PRICE....way below appraisal because the owners had cats that were allowed to use the house as one giant litter box. Realtors in the area refused to show this house because of the horrific odor. The house was "for sale by owner". We found this house and bought it! It was built on concrete slab so the urine was in the concrete. Pulled all the carpet OUT..and mixed 1 gallon of bleach to two gallons of water (used about 10 gallons of bleach total) and we flung the water/bleach mixture all over the concrete and swept it in. Did each room and then cleaned up the walls 3 ft with water/bleach concoction.
    End of story..all the odor was gone. The concrete was deordorized..sanitized and the new carpet was then installed. I have been in this house now for 18yrs..with no problems with odors!
    This tip was offered by my brother in law that has a business cleaning up apts/houses. He told me to do this when I called him for advice after buying this house.

  • donfromflorida
    15 years ago

    Concrete is almost like grout when it comes to pet stains and odors. You might want to contact the guys over at Grout Cleaning for their advice. It's a free online service for people dealing with hard surface flooring issues; and everyone there is very helpful.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Grout Cleaning

  • diggit8it
    15 years ago

    I had a kitty who was peeing in a corner in the basement on the concrete before we carpeted it. I found this stuff called Enzyme D at a janitorial supply store. It has live enzymes that kill odor. It contains about 17.5 million aerobic and facultative anaerobic high enzyme producing bacteria that will multiply greatly when used as directed to urine/wastes. I saturated the area with this stuff and kept it wet for three days...reaplying more Enzyme D as needed to keep it saturated. After 3 days I allowed it to dry completely. The smell was obliterated. We later carpeted the room and never smelled even a hint of cat urine. It is very important to completely remove the urine odor or the cat will continue to go back to the same spot and soil it again and again.

  • cookiebubble1919_gmail_com
    13 years ago

    I have also heard that Apple Cider Vinegar poured directly onto the concrete will work. I have the same issue, but have not tried this yet. I hope it works, if not I will try all the suggestions here. I have used bleach unsuccessfully, and I know that mixing chlorine with ammonia is very toxic. I had a fan blowing the fumes out of my home while I did this. Don't breathe it in, that's very important! I have also used baking soda, which helped temporarily. Unfortunately, as I mentioned before none of those methods worked with the cat urine smell, when it got wet the smell came back! I will post again with the results, and which method, if any, was successful.

  • angelmoe72_yahoo_com
    12 years ago

    I have tried Nature's Miracle repeatedly. IT will work for a while but the smell keeps coming back. I would love to try the peroxide then KILZ method, but we rent this place and our basement is filled to the brim with storage. Plus, there is no way to ventolate. GRRRR!!!!! But I will try soaking the spot in peroxide and go from there. My 'adopted' kitty likes to pee on laundry if it hits the floor and doesn't get into the washer quickly. Keeps me on my toes!!!!!

  • apiccone_cox_net
    12 years ago

    i am a flooring installer so we run into this a lot! there is a product called urine off! it works wonders and rids the smell! it is expensive but it does the job! hope this helps

  • PNWGarden
    11 years ago

    This works! (as someone else posted -- thank you!!)

    Go to this site.
    http://www.remove-cat-urine.com/THE-RECIPE.html

    I too bought a house where the owner's old kitties peed everywhere. I thought "who lets that happen?" until my own, much younger, cats worked hard at a literal pissing contest. No irony impairment here.

    Anyway, I pulled the carpet in my home office because new hardwood flooring was coming the next day. In two places the odor in the wooden sub-floor was overwhelming.

    I used "the Recipe" (sounds very CIA) that night after I had finishing preparing the room for the install. I drizzled the kitchen dish soap, then sprinkled baking soda and then dumped on puddles of hydrogen peroxide. Within an hour or two the chemical reaction had done its job: created oxygen that ate the uric. The smell was gone as was the stain. All that I had to do was scrape a little and vacuum what was left. I was stunned and thrilled.

    So this should work on wood and concrete. I have to do a color test on carpet scraps because the peroxide is likely to discolor carpet...but maybe not if applied the in right order. I shall find out.

    In the meantime, "the Recipe" works. Who knew? Silly chemists -- many thanks.

    Here is a link that might be useful: The Recipe (for defeating cat odor)

  • AlexB87
    11 years ago

    Hello,

    I hope everyone is doing well. I have a question for PNW Garden. So essentially the mixture was absorbed by the ground? Or did you have to drain it? Also, I clicked on the link you provided (thanks by the way) and in it the author suggests saturating the area and doing it two or three times. Is what you did? Or did you just spray it as opposed to saturating it? Finally, I assume this mix would be toxic for a cat. How did you prevent them from going near that area?

    Thank you very much,

  • mountain_lady
    11 years ago

    if you google how to remove cat urine you will fine a wash u can use on the floors. it is not cheap and it will not work 100 %. but it might help some of your problem.

  • NWFACP
    11 years ago

    Any good enzyme digester will kill even skunk odor. Usually pet stores will have this their proprietary name just tell them what you want it for or refer to generic name of enzyme digester. This will kill any odor like magic.

  • cechooker
    10 years ago

    A house rented out to people with a couple of cats turned out to be 23 cats. ALMOST GAGGED GOING INTO HOUSE! Tried vinegar. did not work very well. Tried nature's miracle.. a little too fragrant. Now we're trying SCOE 10X. Finished One room. so far so good...seems like smell is totally gone. Will find out in a couple of days after its had time to settle in.
    The question is, do you think we need to Kilz it also and does it have to be oil-based instead of latex?

  • brickeyee
    10 years ago

    "Any good enzyme digester will kill even skunk odor. Usually pet stores will have this their proprietary name just tell them what you want it for or refer to generic name of enzyme digester. This will kill any odor like magic."

    The problem is getting the treatment down into the concrete as deep as the urine penetrated.

  • susanlynn2012
    10 years ago

    Thank you everyone who participated in case I need to get odors out again as I had to remove my carpet since the prior owner's dog had been peeing on it so my dogs were marking over the pee. I now have hardwood floors that are floated and clean up easily if the floor is marked my 3.8 dog marks. When I remove the carpet upstairs and install hardwood floors I will get a black light to be sure no pee penetrated to the subfloor since upstairs has a wood subfloor and downstairs is a concrete slab. When I had carpets, all the enzyme cleaners I used only temporarily removed the smell as it was in the padding underneath.

  • kar3n_1407
    9 years ago

    I have a 15 year old feline that was recently diagnosed with kidney disease. For several years we've had litter box issues with her. Occasionally would go outside the pan but now she refuses she use it at all. She has been known to use our furniture, all area rugs as her place for elimination. Most recently she has chosen to use the concrete basement floor or the carpet treads on the stairway leading down to the basement. We had to remove all the treads because the odor was so strong. But she is continuing to use the basement as her choice of where she wants to urinate and deficate. I have read the recommendations that have been posted and will try some...do hope they help because in the future we will be moving and we need to rid our home of the smell. It is also in the area rugs and I have tried so many products that claim they remove the odor but to no avail. I also have the pet spot bot and a small steam carpet/floor cleaner.

  • rogy2222
    9 years ago

    Some very good recomendations here. I too am faced with the task of getting rid of cat urine smell from condo that I rent. The tennant had two cats and it seems like they urinated at will anywhere they wanted. At any rate, there were two areas where they urinated on the carpet so regularly that it saturated the carpet, pad, and even the concrete beneath. What complicates things further, is that the type of concrete the builder used was not regular cement, but rather a lighter weight more pourous concrete product to create the subfloor for the nd floor unit. Well, so far I have tried an enzyme based odor eliminator calleed "Odorfix Plus" However, I am fearful that it did not work very well because the floor would soak it up too quick. So after applying it twice over the course of a week, I decided to go with a Shellac based primer sealer, which after two heavy coats, still has not entirely eliminated the odor. Now I feel that I am screwed because I have now sealed in the smell and Cannot use other extracting methods, because I have applied sealer to the floor. Anyone have any other viabe ideas?







  • drbuzbee
    8 years ago

    I rented a house to a truly filthy renter with cats. I've never cared for house pets because of the filth. I'm grateful for all of the suggestions on reducing cat odor, but I have to say that I think that anyone that have cats in a house that create this destruction to property and prefers to live in squalor are inherently mentally ill.


  • Leonie Halstead
    8 years ago

    Does anyone know if concrete levelor used to install hardwood floors on a concrete subfloor will trap in the odors? They pulled up the carpet in my dining room and discovered urine stains around the perimeter of the room. I am thinking I need to replace my baseboards, too. I will try the hydrogen peroxide solution mentioned earlier tonight, but totally afraid that the odor is not going away after I put wood floors down. Very costly risk to take without taking action first.


  • PRO
    Avanti Tile & Stone / Stonetech
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Any GOOD quality enzime product will take care of this problem. Sure, you may have to use it 3 or 3 times, depending on how much it has settled into the slab....but it WILL work.

  • carlos_henao95
    8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Really liked everyone's ideas but what I like the most is how people love pets in general that is except for drbuzbee or should I call him drbuzkill, to have the nerve to call pet lovers mentally ill is incredible. I know sometime there are medical reasons why animals do this, sometimes lack of know how,etc. but that's the price we pet lovers are willing to pay for the unconditional love we receive from this animals. I want to send a message of appreciation to all those willing to spend some money and time to fix the little and sometimes big problems caused by our furry friends for life. Reading this posts bring a smile to my face and great hope for human kind during this times when we hear so much going wrong in the world. To Mr. drbuzkill you are the kind of people I see all the time that accelerate their vehicle when they see an animal cross the road, shame on you!

  • PRO
    Parker Furniture & Carpet
    8 years ago

    bleach it well, than concrete paint

  • eschenfelder90
    8 years ago

    Hydrogen peroxide worked like a charm. Our old kitty just saturated an area, cleaning carpet did no good as it was well down into the pad. Removed carpet, pad, scrapped floor to remove pad glue. Did not replace baseboards but did replace wooden carpet nail strips. Cleaned area with 50/50 hydrogen peroxide and water. Viola, odor, which had been very lingering, was gone. Installed new pad & carpet. All ok now.

  • Marie Groves
    7 years ago

    Our two cats who have never gotten along, have recently started using the fireplace and slate hearth to urinate, despite cleaning and scooping 2 litter boxes daily. Have used SCOE 10X with some luck, but either not using enough or not getting the entire area. Recently scrubbed the area with Lysol/water--I know cats don't like Lysol smell. It's not yet thoroughly dry so have no results to report. However, in case it doesn't, I'm tempted to try the hydrogen peroxide or bleach or vinegar options. Does anyone know a solution to use on firebrick and slate?

  • Vith
    7 years ago

    Bleach doesn't really work for odor removal, mostly masks the smell for a while. H2O2 or orange goop usually does the trick for odor removal.

  • Jamie Clark
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    I have an issue with my cats urinating in my basement as well. I pored full strength Nature's Miracle and Urine Off on the floor and wall and left it for an afternoon. It states on nature's miracle that you shouldn't use other cleaners as they may 'set' the odor. So, the order is still bad after one treatment. Has anyone had any luck with trying the hydrogen peroxide or bleach and water combination and then going back and trying the enzyme remover again? I just don't want to try the bleach or hydrogen peroxide to find that doesn't work either and then the smells are set in the concrete. Thank you.

  • eschenfelder90
    7 years ago

    See my comment of December 13. The 50/50 hydrogen peroxide/water works fine on concrete. Stop stressing and do it.

  • Michael Costa
    7 years ago

    The reason Nature's Miracle says not to use any other method of cleaning is because they know you will use another method before buying it. Now they have an excuse as to why their product doesn't work. Nature's miracle is junk. My wife and I are current replacing flooring in our house. We adopted a 3 year old cat that was left behind after the owner moved. We found out why she was left behind. She pisses and poops everywhere. She had some kind of pancreatic issue and was on steroids her whole life. She died at the young age of 12. We loved her so we endured the daily treasures left behind. I would destroy another house full of flooring for that cat. It's a small price to pay for that unconditional love. This is Pita (acronym for pain in the arse)



  • Kimberly Gallegos
    7 years ago

    breezybre it worked!! Hydrogen Perioxide worked it took two treatments but significantly reduced the throat burning in the air. Thank you for sharing!!!

  • Vince Laratta
    7 years ago

    My son bought a house that was saturated with major cat odor. We thought pulling out all the carpet would do the trick. Nope.. The cats went around the perimeter of the rooms. We replaced the tack strips, some baseboards, cleaned with bleach, and then painted 3 coats with Kilz. Problem was fixed and has not come back.

  • Sonflower5
    6 years ago

    I have had major cat urine odor in the basement, please TRY HYDROGEN PEROXIDE - 50/50 in a spray bottle FIRST before proceeding to the more expensive concoctions! I had tried a product specifically designed to solve my problem to no avail. After reading about the peroxide solution, immediately grabbed my empty sprayer bottle, put some water in it, then peroxide to match, nothing scientific about it, went to the basement and sprayed the offending corner. I turned the dehumidifier on to dry the area more quickly. Went back downstairs a couple hours later and t h a t odor is gone. Couldn't believe something so simple could work so well. Thank you brezzybre & eschenfelder90, I can open the basement door again!

  • nadir now
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    ...my cat luna has always bothered me with her problems, she is always quarrelsome and I never run out of orders. and among the problems I had with my cat luna was not using her litterbox,,,,where my cat urinated everywhere in the house, like the kitchen, the bedroom, the sofa, and the carpet.. which caused me a great inconvenience, ....However,recently Ifound this plan : ( https://bit.ly/3pMMYaJ ) .After I followed this plan, my cat luna became obedient and only urinated in its litter box...

  • dogsandcats7
    2 years ago

    I had bad renters that allowed cats and a dog to urinate repeatedly in a concrete floor basement. i used straight 3% hydrogen peroxide on almost all of the floor and 1 foot up the brick walls. just squirted in on and saturated, letting it dry acouple days each time. 4-5 applications and used about 10 bottles each time. smell is gone now, even when it rains or with winter heat.

  • susanlynn2012
    2 years ago

    Thank you dogsandcats for letting us know that the 3% hydrogen peroxide worked!


  • Jennifer Kuriger
    last year

    Re using clorox or bleach..bleach has ammonia whi h is also in erine so using blea h just makes it worse..even if u cant smell it your animals can and they will mark the territory by peei g there

  • Pam Kempf
    4 months ago

    We also had an elderly kitty that in his last two years used the entire basement as his litterbox. We ripped out the carpet and padding. The bleach water treatment on cat urine was so toxic, it nearly made me sick even with plenty of ventilation and DID NOT help at all. Our concrete floors are in-floor radiant heat, so I am nervous about applying Kilz. I am going to try the peroxide treatment first and then, if I have to, apply the Kilz. Wish me luck.