I recently had to get rid of a tenant who I suspect was breeding pit bulls. I inherited him when i bought the building. Two rooms were full of evidence of dog feces and urine. After I remove the remainder of the personal property I need to get moving on the filth.
What is the best way to clean up after 2 years of dog feces and urine? Will it make sense to sand wood floors or should I replace them altogether?
Thanks.
John
I would try sanding them first. If there are a lot of stains, you might have to bleach the wood. Most flooring places give free estimates, so that might be a place to start. You can let them see the floor and tell you what they think will work. Replacing the floor will be very expensive. In a rental, I might consider using a stain and odor blocking primer and putting down carpeting or vinyl rather then replace the wood with more wood.
Yes, well said dear. I suppose it will depend on how much the OP wishes to spend. One point is that the dog mess will have seeped down into the small joins between the floorboards if they weren't filled and sanding won't touch that area but it could still stink especially in warmer weather. I tried bleaching my floorboards once - to no avail, the stains remained though the wood was lighter. I have scrubbed then painted my floorboards with cheap floor paint to hide stains and it looks nice and bright and is sealed from smells and future mishaps, not that I have pets anymore but maybe one day I will. Some type of flooring can go on top safe in the knowledge it is as clean as I can possibly get it underneath.
Upon further inspection I will hace to clean up fecal residue and mouse droppings before dealing with the floors. What do you recommend for removing dried fecal matter that has adhered to the floors? I will probably use a shopvac for the mouse droppings.
John
I would use a good dust mask while cleaning up any dried fecal matter. I would probably use a broom and dust pan for the loose stuff rather than the shop vac to minimize the amount of particles that you release into the air. Breathing particles of mouse dropping can lead to diseases. I would scrap up the bulk of the dried matter that is stuck to the floors. Then I would mix a 1:10 solution of bleach to water and thoroughly wet the are using a garden sprayer. Let it sit for at least 10 minutes, then use the scraper to removed what you can. I would repeat the wetting and cleaning until it is all cleaned-up. After that, you can either use an enzyme product like Nature's Miracle (from pet stores) or Odoban from a warehouse club or janitor's supply to deal with the odor. The bleach solution will sanitize the floor. The Nature's Miracle will break-down the residue and remove the odor. It might take a few applications over a couple of weeks. The Odoban is OK to mask odors, so you might want to use that as a temporary remedy while the enzymes are doing their job.
One thing you might consider if the odor lingers is to rent an ozone machine. You can put it in the space and let it run for a couple of days. That might take care of lingering odors that have permeated places that you can't reach. I would use a good stain and odor blocking primer on all the walls, ceilings, and woodwork and then paint. If you aren't going to refinish the floors, I would prime them also. Zinsser makes some great primer/sealers
Yes, good sealers will do the job. Our neighbors moved into a dog/cat infested house and had to do *something*, on recommendation of a contractor friend they cleaned, sanded the real difficult spots (fecal residue) and sealed the entire floor throughout the house. A large undertaking, but well worth it in the end.
snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net (Redlocks)WROTE: I recently had to get rid of a tenant who I suspect was breeding pit bulls. I inherited him when i bought the building. Two rooms were full of evidence of dog feces and urine. After I remove the remainder of the personal property I need to get moving on the filth. What is the best way to clean up after 2 years of dog feces and urine? Will it make sense to sand wood floors or should I replace them altogether? Thanks. John------------------------------------------------ Response: I sure hope you took this tenant to court for damages plus it's illegal here in Michigan to bred pitbulls for fighting.
When I was an apartment manager for 5 years one tenant who was evicted had 2 ferets living in apt. with her. The critters used the floor has a litter box plus chewed numerous holes in wall paneling. Never completely got the feret odor gone.
Saying is true their are bad landlords but sure in hell a lot of tenants who deserve to live in a barn.
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