A Valiant Effort Was Made
Well, no one can say I didn’t try. Ok, I guess you could say it, but you would be a dirty, rotten liar. On Sunday I was having dinner with some friends and I mentioned my urinous carpet problems. One friend suggested I try his Deionizer. It’s a little box that looks like an expensive fan and I guess it attacks the odor at the sub-atomic level or something. I’m not really sure what it does, or if it even does anything at all, but I had nothing to loose.
He brought it by my house Monday afternoon and I took it up to the apartment and plugged it in. I’ve got to be honest, I’m a little skeptical about this thing. I mean, it even sounds stupid – A Deionizer. What is this the Jettson's? He said it costs him about $500 for the unit and the only thing I could think was - SSSSSucker! Like I said, though, I’ve got nothing to loose.
As the deionizer {snicker} quietly whirred away in the background I crawled around on the floor again to see if I could find the source of the overpowering stench. It is incredibly strong. It just hits you in the face as soon as you open the door. The other tenant has been burning incense in the hallway because it tends to creep out there too. I made my way around the edge of the room crawling and sniffing and suddenly – Boom –I found The Spot. This was The Spot where the cat had done his nasty, sinful little deed. Or I guess I should say Deeds, because this was too strong to have been from just one time relieving himself on the carpet. I don’t see how I missed it before. The Spot was just under the window and it extended about a foot out from the wall, and was about 2 feet wide.
I positioned the deionizer {snicker} in front of The Spot and I then ran down to PetCo and bought another bottle of Natures Miracle. When I got back to the apartment I pulled up the carpet around The Spot and removed the padding underneath. I used several sticks to prop up the carpet and I saturated it and the sub floor with the Natures Miracle. I used the whole bottle on The Spot and extended out a good 2 feet in every direction around it. I let the deionizer {snicker} run over-night.
Today after work I ran up to the apartment and – Bam – right in the face again. Nothing had changed at all, it seemed. Maybe it was a little better, but a little better will never do. It either had to be stench-free or I wouldn’t be satisfied. I decided I had had enough. I went down and got a utility knife and 10 minutes later the carpet and most of the padding was piled up in the backyard waiting to be hauled to the dump. Immediately there was a huge improvement.
I went down today and bought new carpet and pad which I’ll pick-up Thursday. I’m going to run the deionizer {snicker} over-night again. Tomorrow I’ll shellac the sub floor to seal it and then install the new carpet on Saturday. The new tenant is supposed to move in on Tuesday. So far, I’ve chewed up about 2/3 of the deposit on the carpet, pad, and other assorted little things. Something tells me labor for installation will eat up the rest.
8 comments:
Years ago while a college, I read a comic strip called the "Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers" or something like that. It was geared towards the drug culture crowd. In it the characters had invented a vacuum cleaner that, after using on the carpet, would separate the particles of spilled substances into their respective piles. After using it one of the guys sampled the piles and gave everything a name. "Here's the pot, here's the cocaine" etc. Then he stopped and exclaimed "What is this little pile of yellow crystals?" Fat Freddy's cat sniggered.
Some day I will blog about my days with my cat pee wood floors. It all happended before I started my blog and it is still paintful to write about now. Long story short, I also was given a deionizer to try (I too snickered)...I tried the Natures Miracle....Lysol, ad infinitum. Vinager in hot water came the closest to doing anything. Ultimately, I ended up cutting out and replacing all of the damaged boards (50-75). That was the only thing that got rid of that damn smell (and dark stains). There is some pathetic irony that I ended up with mice, I think.
I was rooting for you on this....but suspected ultimately the carpet needed to go.
Renters are another breed. Years ago I was renting a house in Michigan and was asked to sign an agreement that I wouldn't throw garbage out the windows...I was so insulted because I am very clean and the house I was renting was in need of scrubbing. Dead mice etc. . The landlady was living in it.She was filthy ...but I can see why renters have a bad reputation.
Good luck, Gary~! And try the Anti-icky poo, seriously - if only on the floor boards. I couldn't even get the pee out of the futon mattress b/c it was an inner spring thing and about 8 inches thick, so how could i rinse it out effectively and not create a big mold bomb - but after dousing it daily for 3 or 4 days, managed to save it. It is now a perfectly functional couch.
I will definitely try the Anti-Icky-Poo next time. If this weren’t a rental, and/or I had more time, I would have tried it this time. My concern was ordering it and either having it arrive too late, or not being able to give it enough time to work. I told the new tenant the smell would be gone or she would have new carpets before she moved in.
I guess we're lucky our cat only throws up on the floor. He did pee on some of the kids toys in the basement, that obviously had to be thrown out. I worry about the floors with all the cat puke, we'll have to get to refinishing them sooner than later. Maybe some of the anti skunk smell recepies would work, like the tomato juice, or peroxide and baking soda?
You are probably sick of advice but I bought something called axi-dent on the basis on another bloggers recommendation (Robyn at bitchypoo.com) who has 5 or 6 cats and am very pleased with it. I ordered from it jccarpert.com. If you do a search for axi-dent on her website you will see it mentioned a few times.
When we bought this house it became apparent that the kids renting here had a cat out in the laundry room. I tried shampooing and all of the other assorted remedies to remove the odor. Nothing worked.
I finally bought a box of 20 Mule Team Borax and dumped it on the carpet and swept it around with a broom. I left it for three days and then vacuumed it up. Miraculously, or not, the urine smell was completely gone and hasn't returned.
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