Very Smelly new house, help me please!

[YouKnowOfTheCrunch]

Today is the day that we get the keys to out new home. It's amazing, there's just one catch; it stinks.

The previous owners had a dog which was basically allowed to crap all over the house.

We're ripping up all the carpets and putting in new ones, but I suspect that the smell (oh my god the smell!!) will have pervaded the floors beneath.

What can I do? I don't want to be changing the carpets only to find it still stinks, so I want to treat the wood with something.

Any suggestions?

Best of luck!

Lift the carpets all the way to the floor boards. Get rid of it! Air the house - stick heating on and open the windows all day every day until carpets go down. Obviously before the carpets go down - give it a week at least.
Clean the floorboard with cleaner suitable for untreated wood floors. I think ecover do something. Also clean the walls, skirting, doors etc.

Strip out the carpets and underlay. I Mop floors using the Method almond wooden floor cleaner or a steam cleaner but suspect you may need to use zoflora, diluted bleach or detol. I would be tempted to use a little jeyes fluid but it's more suitable for dog kennels, stick to a household disinfectant.

Open all the windows and doors to get a breeze through the house and thoroughly clean the skirting and doors.

Stay away from plug in air fresheners.

Get rid of carpets and scrub floors, skirting, walls, radiators, anywhere the dog may have lay. I'd do it with a thick fragranced bleach. open windows as long as you can and heat on full. Do it every day, twice a day for a week. Good luck. We replaced floorboards in ours as the smell just wouldn't go. Let's hope it's concrete floors eh?

Get this or some similar enzyme cleaner from the pet shop and use it to clean. It is great for biological smells like vomit and poo. I would use it on the floorboards if you have to.

www.medicanimal.com/product?product_id=204378&locale=en_GB&ptc=googlebase&utm_source=uk_googlebase&utm_medium=uk_googlebase&utm_campaign=uk_googlebase&gclid=CJm6wsnYu7oCFdPItAod2hAA2g

I remember reading that biological washing detergent was good for pet smells too

You can get a pet smell neutraliser from Pets at Home which does not have ammonia in it.
Most cleaning products do have ammonia and I think it makes the smell worse?

I would also think about using an ioniser which can help kill horrible smells like cigarette smoke.

Getting rid of the carpets will get rid of the smell I'm sure and by lifting them you will be able to see any stains and can scrub them. Open all the windows for as long as possible.

Definitely give yourself a few weeks between removing the old carpets and putting new ones down. Wash the floors daily, and let them air as much as possible. Fresh air and diluting whatever has permeated the floors should get rid of it, just don't rush to put the new carpets down until you're certain there is not a hint of the smell left.

Test it out by closing all the windows and doors (internal as well), putting the heating on then going out for a few hours. If you come in and can't smell anything then you've got rid of it.

You are all brilliant!

Expat, think we might need it :)

Downstairs is concrete, but the dog has clearly been shut upstairs for long periods.

I would happily use jeyes (I oddly love the smell) but I don't reckon it'd be what the rest of the family go for.

We've got two weeks between getting the carpets up and getting new ones down, so that's a fair while.

First plan of attack is to flea bomb the place.

When I'd taken up the bathroom carpet in my new house, wooden floorboards were wet with wee, and it took about three weeks of bleach scrubbing and airing to make it bearable - wish I'd known about bicarb, but I did use assorted disinfectants too.
Two weeks is not a long time before recarpeting.

are the upstairs floors chipboard or "planks"

Replace the floorboards. I moved into a house as a teenager which had previously had cats not allowed out living there. I could still smell a whiff of cat pee when lying in bed 2 years later, despite all carpets being removed and copious jeyes fluid.

I've heard vinegar gets rid of the smell of cats pee, so it might work for dogs poo.

This one is tried & tested in similar circumstances & works - rip everything up, soak floors with hydrogen peroxide - sprinkle bicarbonate of soda over all of it & leave overnight - then hoover up all the bicarb

the bicarbonate will soak up up the peroxide, bringing with it all the smells ( this works for peed on mattresses too)

Then if you feel like it, wipe down with something that smells nice

Good luck

what everyone else said and boil whole lemons in a big pan of water instead of chemically air freshener

Loving the lemons idea.

I'm beginning to worry that this smell will linger.

I think there's chipboard under the carpets so that can happily be ripped up too.

I've been in and opened all the windows, which helps, and we've got industrial cleaners coming tomorrow to clean everything, I will then try your suggestions.

I really hope something works.

If the dog pooed on carpets then you have a good chance of getting rid of the smell. If directly on floorboards then I'd be more worried!

Steam I think it's all on carpets.

I saw somewhere the suggestion of sealing any floorboards with varnish before recarpeting, so after all the cleaning and airing I might give that a go too (unless anyone has any scare stories for me)