Tell me I can get the whole place walloped in a weekend...

[AllRoadsLeadBackToRadley]

Long and boring- sorry.

We've been on the council list for a while now. Yesterday, we were offered a place. It's PERFECT.

The officer than came back to check ours. That's when we came back down to earth with a bump...

She's told us that, as the place is ready now, we may not be able to do the work in time (I asked for a week). That's painting the place magnolia, and a deep clean (we have cats).

She's going back to the office on Monday, and it would put us in good stead, I think, to be able to tell her that we've already painted, nd the deep clean is booked (it is- first thing I did)

Give me hope, please? I spent last night sobbing my heart out (unlike me- I'm one tough mf).

On a side note, we feel we should have been told what was expected of us BEFORE we viewed...we could have done it way before now!

It's mainly just me and DH. My DB will give us a few hours this afternoon, and I've had tentative offers of help from a friend- but she has so much on that I wouldn't be surprised if she cried off. (She's lovely- she's just going through a berevement)

I can see the hall being an issue, it's Noddy Hat Blue!

Please give me hope? I'm going to make a start now before the DC wake up, and I have to start working around them!

Put the cats in a Cattery. It's the easiest solution. You've done amazingly well

Can you have the windows open all the time between now and Wednesday? That alone will make a massive difference. And move the litter trays from the hall. Having them there will mean it's the first thing people smell when they walk in. Put them on the balcony for the inspection. And concentrate on cleaning rather than finding things to cover up the smell. So wash everything possible.

I think there's a Zoflora pet one? I honestly think hot water and disinfectant should help a lot.
Also things like net curtains, throws, cushion covers, washing everything (within reason) can make a huge difference to how clean a house smells.

Wash the floors with water and bio washing powder then bowls of bicarbonate of soda dotted about. It will soak up smells. Bicarb is amazing

I would try and get this from Pets at home cat urine remover.

And actually, if you’ve done all that, you won’t need to pay for the deep clean, so that’s a win

The deep cleaner man has been to assess. He said that the only place he can smell cat is the "cat cupboard"...RESULT!! He promised that they will discinfect it for me and get rid of the smell in there.

A day of hard work ahead to prep for the clean tomorrow...but I got this.

Is it ok to be cautiously optimistic yet?

Because I'm a clutzy fucker who spills things, we opted for leather sofa etc, so everything is wipe clean!

You've done really well! You should be proud of yourself and cautiously optimistic. I hope it goes well for you.

Oh this sounds promising fingers crossed for you

I think you can be more than optimistic actually. I look forward to your positive outcome.

Leave the optimism locked away until after assessor visit and decision !!!!!!

Well done! You must be exhausted but at least you can joyfully collapse knowing everything is sorted by the end of the week. What do you mean by cat smell? Do they have accidents? I would start opening windows now to get fresh air circulating, preferably leave them on a ventilation lock 24/7.

MsMims the litterbox stays in a cupboard which is in the hall. So you can smell it as soon as you walk through the front door. I'll try to post a pic in a minute, so that everyone can see whet I'm on about.

The cleaner man said that he could only smell it when he got near the cat cupboard, anf that with some discinfectant, it would come out. He went all through my house, and he has no reason to lie to me, so I'm optimistic about that.

See the open door at the back? Thr cat cupboard is at a right angle to that. (Sorry about the floor- we tore that part up because it was partly the source of the smell. We're taking it with us so that won't affect it in any way)

Anti bac litter will really help. Chuck a load of bicarb on the floor for as long as you can then hoover it up. Empty the hoover.

Ps, sorry for not answering questions straight away...I have my phone on huge text, takes me a while to read through everyone's comments, by which time I've forgotten what I should be answering!

The windows are WIDE open. Because I'm so busy over the next day or two, I'm not leaving the house, so they can stay wide open.

Litter box will be on the balcony as soon as DH comes home. We will be leaving that door wide open too.

Ha! I have a SHITLOAD of bicarb, because DH bought it instead of baking powder by accident! Can I put it on the bare floor?

Zoflora is excellent at getting rid of odour.

Might be worthwhile looking into why it got so smelly in the first place. A litter tray in an enclosed area is never a good idea. Perhaps your litter is not suitable. Don't mean this is in a judgemental way, just something to address so you're not in this position again. I wouldn't like walking into a house and smelling cat pee straight away and I have indoor cats and litter trays so no way judging.

I don't see why not! I've used it on wood floors and on carpets. Fab stuff.

Wood pellet Cat litter is far superior for absorbing smells.

Method ALmond floor cleaner is fab for laminate and really deals with nasty cat niffs.

I have cats and litter trays and I did have an elderly cat who liked to pee over the edges of his tray, but that method stuff really freshened the flooring up.

It's interesting that they're being so prescriptive about cleanliness when there was someone on here the other week (albeit a troll) who was complaining about the state their offered property was in. The over-riding response on here was tough luck and that most had seen far worse from council properties.

Delurking to say good luck to you, can that friend who was too poorly to help paint have the cats to stay until this is over and you have your new keys?

Sorry again but...

I'm getting conflicting info while researching about Jayes Fluid. Some of the websites say use it, some say it's toxic to cats! Do any of you guys know anything about this?