cat poop problem

av-geek

My wife and I moved into an older house about a year ago, and had been dealing with a cat dropping odor we couldn't get rid of (we don't even have any pets). It was especially bad when it rained or was damp out.

Looks like I found the problem, but I don't know how to take care of it. The house was neglected for several years, and the previous owner apparently let the crawl space door hang open. The neighborhood is full of feral cats, and apparently, the crawl space was their "litter box" I discovered this when I was down there fixing some plumbing issues about a month or so ago. When we looked at the house during the summer, I got under there with the home inspector, and neither one of us caught this because it was dry out and had not rained in several weeks (the foundation vents were open too). The stench however was so bad this time I could not even go down there.

I am thinking I might need to wait till summer, but what will need to be done here? I am thinking an arduous task of excavating about 6 inches of all the dirt in the crawl space is going to be the only way to take care of this. Any other better or easier ideas?

epson

here you go, read up: http://www.ehow.com/how_6600902_remo...pet-odors.html

noquacks

Once you get in there, and remove most all the crud, sprinkle some baking soda generously. Most odors are amine/amonia based, and baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is the best thing to cover it with. Then, give it as much air as possible. Air (oxygen) is the best friend here, and time.

__________________
Alexander Pope: [a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing]

av-geek

Baking soda, of course! It is alkaline and cat urine is acid/ammonia. Now, I wonder where I could buy it in bulk? It is gonna take lots of baking soda..more than a grocery store would sell. Would buying big bags of calcified limestone, like what one would put on the yard help too?

gobug

I had to do this for my odor control business a few times. Cat odor is tough. You must remove all the contaminated dirt from the crawl space. No deodorizing products will go as deeply as the cat urine. Having the odor get stronger after a rain fits in with my experience. Wear a respirator while digging out the contaminated dirt. It is then fairly easy to tell if you have dug deep enough to get rid of the odor. I recall removing a couple pickup loads of the smelly dirt to lessen the odor to tolerable.

paulsmith544

If you want to get rid of the odor you should fist put some baking soda or things like sand or mostly powder on it so that it will reduce the nasty smell of it then take a piece of clothing or towal and take the odor out and dump it in garbage. and if you have cat problem just get a dog. or put some sleeping pills in the meat and put it open in your kitchen..