Buying a Metro Detroit home that has pet urine smell

What do you have to do when you are thinking of buying a Metro Detroit home that has pet urine smell. In the past week I have been in 3 or 4 metro Detroit homes that have had over whelming stench of pet urine.

My worst experience with pet urine was a $400,000 high end Novi Condo on a golf course. We walked into the condo and every two feet there was a yellow spot. It looked like the condo had polka dot carpeting. There was that much cat urine in the home.

Depending on the where the smell or the pet urine will determine how easy it is to get rid of it. I will split it up into areas.

• Basement - I believe the basement is the easiest place to get rid of pet smells. Strip the carpeting or flooring. Bleach the floor or use heavy duty cleaner to scrub the cement floor. Be sure to ventilate the area. Open the windows and use a fan to get rid of the bleach smell. Don't kill yourself by breathing in too much bleach or amonia. Be careful!
• Ceramic tile floors - again use a heavy duty floor cleaner. Be sure to consult a flooring company on what to use. You don't want to ruin the finish of the tile.
• Hardwood floors - strip the floors - (screen them or sand them) Then refinish them
• Carpeted floors on the main floor or on the second floor. Take the carpeting up. Inspect the wood floors underneath it. You may have to either prime the floors or replace the sub floor in some sections if the odor persists after the carpeting is up. The pet urine may have gone through the carpeting and soaked into the sub floor if the area was a favorite pee spot for the pet.
• Some pets may have urinated on the wall. Again the solution is either to remove the section of the wall or clean and paint.

So if you are buying a Metro Detroit home that has pet urine smell that is overwhelming don't underestimate the cost or the time to repair the home. And just don't skimp and throw down some powder or spray some aerosol. Do it right the first time.

Russ Ravary your Livonia real estate agent serving Oakland, Livingston, and Wayne County