Will KILZ paint help with odor? We're getting new floors next year, but in the meantime I have a raw wood subfloor. We have old dogs in the house who have accidents, and the subfloor just soaks it right in. I clean with this stuff (Nok-Out) that costs $30 a gallon, but still there is a smell. If I paint the floor with KILZ, will that trap the smell and seal the wood to some extent? I'd hate to trap the smell INSIDE the wood by painting, though. What do you think?

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), August 26, 2001

Answers

Shannon- I have never had any luck getting the smell of urine out of wood. I'm not sure what the effect of painting would be but I'll keep an eye on this thread in case someone else has a better response. I have pine floors which are covered with polyurethane. I am paranoid about pet accidents because I am afraid that the smell will stay in the wood. When I board new dogs I either crate them or confine them to one room in which I have rolled out a piece of vinyl flooring over the wood to contain any mess, until I feel that the dog is reliable. You might consider using a piece of vinyl over your subfloor in order to protect it. I cannot imagine the stench that would result after repeated accidents otherwise. The vinyl is cheap and you needn't glue it down if it isn'e meant to be permanent. Very easy to clean, and more sanitary than the wood surface.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), August 26, 2001.

Shannon, a dog door installed in your house works wonders, too. I had an epileptic German Shepherd that "forgot" about asking to go outdoors, but when I installed the dog door he would go outdoors to do his business. An old dog might go through the same thing, not wanting to bother to wait or ask, but still make it outside if he has the option and doesn't need to ask. I would now never EVER have dogs in the country and not have a dog door. Not only are the dogs free from having to ask to go out, I can leave them in the house in the wintertime and go into town for several hours and not worry about them messing in the house, and the biggest blessing, I don't have to worry about dogs being at risk from a fire anymore.

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), August 26, 2001.

Shannon, We had the unfortunate experience of renting a house to a "cat lady" who within a year had "collected" over 40 cats in the house. It was trashed, and she skipped out early. We got rid of the smell through a combination of things: cleaning with an enzyme product (is that Nok-Out?), sanding the floors, and airing the house. I think the sanding really was good, but I guess you can't do that on a sub-floor. Before painting, I'd clean it really well and let it air as much as possible. Good luck.

-- Katherine (KyKatherine@Yahoo.com), August 26, 2001.

Jennifer- you raised an excellent point about fire hazards. I never even considered the possibility. Thanks for bringing it up.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), August 26, 2001.

Shannon,

I've had rental properties in the past and, accordingly, have had to deal with urine odors from animals many times. I used and will recommend Kilz Original. It will seal the wood (or plaster, drywall and even concrete) and stop the odor problem.

Make sure you ventilate well when you're using it as Kilz itself has quite a strong odor until it cures completely. They do make an indoor formula which is supposed to be far less pungent during use but I've never tried it and therefor hate to recommend it.

Keep in mind that Kilz Original is a primer only. You'll need to paint over it to finish the job. They have a website at www.masterchem.com that might help you more than I can here. I hope this helps.

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), August 26, 2001.

Hi, Shannon. We had a similar problem when we bought our property several years ago. It came with a doublewide mobile home (inhabited by quite a number of pets) which was only going to be our temporary home until our business took off and we could afford to build again, which we are still waiting to happen. So, anyway we didn't want to put much money into the mobile home and figured having the carpets shampooed would be good enough for temporary and we hadn't noticed there was a problem when we first looked at the place because the weather had been so dry here. But the first real humid day brought out the odors which I was assured by the carpet cleaning company would be removed by their high extraction cleaning. Well, it wasn't, so we ended up taking out all of the old carpet and padding, cleaning the subfloor with white vinegar, and then when it dried, we painted with a good semi-gloss type acrylic before putting down a new floor. So, much for not putting much money in it, but it was the only way to make the place liveable. I've used white vinegar on a hardwood floor that was separating between the boards when our dog didn't make it through the night once and it took all of the odor away. I just poured it on especially in the gaps, let is sit for a short time because I didn't want to warp the boards, and then vacuumed it up with a Rainbow vacuum and also ran the hairdryer over it for a while to dry it faster. White vinegar works really well and is my number one cleaning product for a cheap, nontoxic way to clean and kill germs. I saw a show recently where they tested it against chlorox and it killed germs just as well. I love our pets, but just don't want my nose aware that we share the same abode. Good luck.

-- Sherry S (natmatters@mail.istal.com), August 26, 2001.

I think the kilz oil base primer will help. The primer does smell so open all windows. Be careful of fire like someone posted. If you have gas hot water heat anywhere near where you are painting turn the pilot off to play it safe. Kilz is fast drying. You could top coat with paint perhaps making a border with a different color.

-- ed (edfrhes@aol.com), August 26, 2001.

I'm betting KILZ wouldn't do anything for odor, although I love the stuff for spot coverage. What does work on thoroughly and repeatedly pee-saturated carpet (haven't tried it on wood, myself), is Nature's Miracle enzyme. Just apply it and then be prepared to wait for quite a while. It's been years since I had to do it, but I think it took a month or two before the smell really went away. The enzymes work kind of slowly but are quite effective in the end.

-- Laura Jensen (lrjensen@nwlink.com), August 26, 2001.

I would suggest a deep soak with Lysol. I dont know for sure if it would work, just a suggestion there.

I do know what Kilz paint smells like (hubby is a painter-I worry for his health working with such strong chemical stuff), and if it dont kill your olfactory senses in the first place, it may overpower the pee smell enough. I know one thing, I would have to be pretty desperate to ask hubby to apply kilz paint in the house where I have to breathe.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), August 26, 2001.

Laura, you'd lose that bet. As I said above, I've used it many times and it's never failed to stop the odor problem.

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), August 26, 2001.

Try lots of white vinegar. I have found it helps quite a bit with urine smells.

-- R. (thor610@yahoo.com), August 27, 2001.

I have had the best luck with an enzyme product called OUT for pets. I buy it in the pet section at walmart. It works well on carpet but I haven't tried it on wood. Good luck.

-- Mona in OK (modoc@ipa.net), August 30, 2001.

I found this remedy in POPULAR MECHANICS MAGAZINE.One quart of hydrogen peroxide,1/4 cup of baking soda and one teaspoon full of liquid dish detergent.Mix and place on "smell" let dry .Smell should disappear.I've used this when our dog caught a skunk.It took the smell away.It was explained that the chemical compounds nuetralized the "smell"chemicals.good luck

-- ward e. richard (wok@aol.com), October 12, 2001.