Urine smell under house/ registers

[Rosemary]

I had to replace parts of skirting after hurricane IKE. I can smell urine beneath the home (concrete slab) and now notice it coming from 2 of my floor registers. I think I may have rats under there as I saw some insulation shredded. I know I need to get the critters out but what about the smell on the slab? Thanks, Rosemary

[shadow745]

Tell you what I've done for cat urine on outside furniture with cushions...... I came up with a mix of 1 pint of bleach, 1 pint of Simple Green and mix this with 3/4 gallon of water. I then run this through my pressure washer and do all my cleaning outside, including the cat urine issue. It works great at cleaning, disinfecting, mold/mildew removal etc. and leaves behind a nice clean scent and won't damage any surface that I've used it on.

If you apply something like this with a garden sprayer you can use much less of the chemicals. Maybe 2-3 oz. of the bleach and Simple Green mixed with 1 gallon of water. At that concentration you shouldn't need to rinse either. It's the best and cheapest cleaning solution for outside use I've seen. Later!

[Yanita]

Hi,

There are alot of special cleaners https://homerepairgeek.com/home-floorin ... crete.html , I can't say what works and what does not... I have used a product called Nature's Miracle, which can be purchased at any good pet store. It is safe to the animals and removes, not covers the scent. It breaks down the organic materials in animal waste.

Be very careful on what chemicals you mix with bleach, you could/can get a volatile chemical reaction.

I am going to move this topic to the Off Topic forums...this forum is reserved for repairs only.

Thanks,
Yanita

[shadow745]

Yeah you do have to be careful with what is mixed with bleach, but Simple Green is totally harmless mixed with bleach and cleans everything outside better than anything I've tried. I don't care what it is...... mold, mildew, animal stains, tree sap on siding, etc... Works better than any pre-mixed solution you can buy for pressure washing.

Some of the enzymatic cleaners work well for animal issues, but some are a total waste. Later!

[Demolition]

Some Ventilation tubes have insulation material wrapped inside the aluminum foil. If that stuff gets wet it stinks. You might have some mold in the tubes that makes it stink too.
I would recommend buying all new ventilation tubes underneath. You can pull the metal boxes and clean them up and let them dry in the sun.
The few days you will be under the house... air can blow under there and dry it out some.
Wear some coveralls and dont bring them in the house till after they been washed to prevent bringing yukky smell in the house.

[jubangy]

Another good cleaner that works really good on animal urine is a cheapo called awesome from dollar tree. I would however spray just alittle bit on the surface you are going to clean with it to make sure nothing gets wrecked, as this cleaner for something so cheap literally is awesome. I have seen it sprayed on mold and watched it run right off. Good luck I know from all the stray cats in my neighborhood that it sucks to have to deal with. One thing you may want to try when you are all done is spreading some moth balls down around the house, I originally did that for the skunks but it seemed to deter the cats as well including mine as she used to like to escape out the front door and hide underneath but now she doesn't go anywhere enar the door

[Rosemary]

Thank you all for the replies. I tried some of them but it has not killed the odor. The urine is actually from rats that have been going underneath the house. They have urinated on the vapor barrier/ concrete slab and have marked around their entrance. I will keep trying to rid them and the odor. Rosemary

[Yanita]

Hi Rosemary,

I fear that these rodents have actually gotten into the underbelly into the insulation and left there deposits there as well. The only way to remove the scent from there is to replace all damaged insulation.

Yanita