help, the house I'm moving into stinks of animal piss

[desperateforaholiday]

We're moving into a rented property and the previous tenants have left it in a right state, the whole of the upstairs stinks of dog or cat piss, I think they also kept hamsters.
Ive scrubbed the floorboards with bleach and then again with disinfectant but I can still smell it, its not as heave inducing as before though.
We are having carpets fitted next week and I want the smell to be gone by then, would carpet vac sprinkled everywhere do the trick?

before you do anything, have you spoken to the landlord? This deep clean is not really your responsibility.

Its a housing association and they won't do anything about it, the toilets are disgusting too, but they have attempted to clean them, I think to get the remaining marks off I will need caustic soda

I'd but a generous sprinkling of bicarb of soda on it and leave it overnight then sweep/vacuum that up - it does tend to remove most smells - it's what I used when potty training and clearing up after poorly children.

yuk. Not what you need. I would suggest delaying the carpets but that may not be an option.

re the toilets, if it is limescale caked with other substances, oxalic acid does the trick. It is BAD stuff so be careful. (How do I know this? Moved into accommodation previously used by mummy's little darling who hadn't been taught to clean toilets)

Open all windows and get as much ventilation through as possible ?

Thanks, I hadn't thought of bicarb. I agree with the ventilation, I don't think they ever opened the windows.
Where do I get oxalic acid from?

Have you tried asking the carpet people for advice? The pet wee may have soaked into the floorboards so could get into the carpets -- some kinds of underlay may be better than others. We had cat wee that had soaked into skirting boards in a previous house and had to have the boards replaced. Possibly a surface sanding of the floorboards may be necessary? Would be a big job though . Possibly you could spread fine cat litter over the worst affected parts and hoover up?

I will call in the carpet shop on Monday, tbh the floorboards need ripping out but I can't afford to do that and ideally I want us to move in next weekend.

Firms that clean carpets in pubs, old peoples homes etc have special sprays for canceling out the more organic smells. Give one a call and see if they can point you at something?

You can get special 'pet accident' spray that will sort the smell out. You can get it from any pet shop - bleach doesn't work.

My neighbours house was like this when they moved in. They got a cleaning fluid from the vets that removed the smell from the floorboards.

white vinegar might be worth a shot