Pet Urine Stain and Odor

House Doctor | Gary Dymski

July 20, 2000

Q. Help. We just purchased a house, and the previous owner must have had a pet that used the interior to urinate. I have ripped up the carpets and scrubbed the wood planks on the floor with bleach. This seems to have removed a lot of the odor, but when you walk in the front foyer the odor still hits you. I think some of the stain might be trapped under some peel-and-stick tile that was used in the front entrance area.

What else can I do to remove this odor before I put down the new flooring and carpeting? Humid days seem to make the stains in the wood show up again, but I don't know if I should clean the floors with bleach again or use something else. -Donna Gaus, Selden

A. Before ripping up your wood flooring, you can try a couple of things. I'm not sure how much success you'll have, however, because it seems these stains/odors are imbedded in the wood and behind the peel-and-stick tiles. Bleach is one way to battle odors and stains on wood floors, but there are other ways, too.

For both the wood floor and tile areas, try mixing one cup of hydrogen peroxide to a tablespoon of baking soda. Add a teaspoon of dish detergent and stir well. Apply this solution to the stained areas, let sit for a spell and then rinse with cool water. Try this a couple of times. This mixture comes from "Haley's Hints," (3H Productions Inc., $ 24.95, 400 pp.) by Rosemary and Graham Haley.

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You also might sprinkle the area with baking soda. Cover with newspaper. Let the baking soda sit for a couple of days, then sweep it up.

The National Wood Flooring Association (www .woodfloors.org) suggests applying white vinegar to the stain and letting it stand for an hour before wiping it up. Repeat if necessary.

I'm not sure you're going to have much success with cleaning up the peel-and-stick flooring, however. It's my guess that the pet urine has seeped into the the adhesive behind the tile and the odor is there to stay unless you remove the flooring.