Smelly problem

[wiltingfast]

Ok, have an issue in the children's bedroom. They have bunkbeds and my lovely ds sleeps in the top. For a few weeks I had noticed a faint smell, blamed bottom bunk child as her bladder control has been slow to come in. Changed padding, changed sheets, aired duvet, still a smell. Scrubbed mattress, febreezed it... STILL a smell. Decided must be the mattress and no point buying a new one until dd in full control so called in dh to turn it in the meantime.

Well, dh found a pile of piss under the bed, soaked into towels that were stored there etc.

Turned out ds had the very bright idea to piss carefully out his top bunk at night straight onto the floor.

We've cleaned it up, we googled and used baking powder and vinegar and scrubbed it a second time. And a third. It's been a few weeks now but there is still a faint unpleasant smell in the room. I've visitors coming in two weeks and I'm desperate to get rid of it. It's a wooden floor, I'd have thought it would be gone by now?

Any tips on what else we can do to get rid of the smell?

Sorry. Aren't they just unbelievable?

I don't know how to get rid of the smell though

Have you tried the stuff specifically for getting rid of pet urine smells? They have it in my local co-op. Kids really are little delights sometimes

I know! Feck's sake. Imaginative little bugger

I'll look for the pet smell product, thanks a mill!

Simple Solutions Pet Odour and Stain Remover. Pets at Home sell it. Sometimes it's in the dog section, sometimes in the cat one.

Just noticed you've said it's a wooden floor. It's probably gone under the flooring/floorboards too. Sorry.

Depends on how long it has been there...if it has got into the boards (they aren't properly sealed) you may never get rid of it ...might need to replace the boards
I bought a house that had a piss on the carpet in bedroom - an old person had lived there so maybe spills from a chamber pot??
(although I also slightly suspect one of the house clearers as it didn't smell when we looked and still seemed damp and no-one had lived there for almost a year -and they took some stuff away that I bought and had to bring them back....so were probably pissed off -although when we looked the patch would be under a bed and it wasn't till the sun got to it it really stank... and it was there a couple of weeks before the carpet was lifted (house being renovated) Anyway I tried everything on the bare boards - including washing them with lots of water (soaking them) and bicarb/vinegar etc etc and then hoovering with a wet hoover ...in the end I had to have that area replaced

Yeah bit afraid we will have to replace. It's just the bare boards, nothing fancy, I suspect it has soaked in between the gaps and they are not sealed there :(

I'll try some of the stuff mentioned anyway and see if I can get a good lot between the gaps.

Maybe I should soak a cloth and put it over the affected area for a few nights?

Smell isn't horrendous or anything, but it is stale and a little acrid... AND I WANT IT GONE!!!

Boards were sanded and sealed btw, what I mean is it's not an installed floor...

If they are floorboards like planks, they can be taken up and hosed down in the garden. You also need to look at the joists, which you can scrub, and possibly the plaster ceiling below.

Taking up floorboards is a common and useful thing to do. They are usually nailed down, but use screws when refitting.

If it is chipboard, it belongs on the bonfire.

You could try a solution of biological laundry liquid or powder - as long as it's wet the enzymes will continue to work and break down what's left in the floor? It doesn't need to be soaking, but a spray refreshed every so often should do it (worked on a cats piss outrage on a wooden floor)

Have you tried leaving bicarb thickly sprinkled on the affected area for several days, even vacuum up and replace over a period of say a week?

I've had similar issues with one of my ds's (he was also the one who wanted to make a stink bomb and not only sneaked a couple of raw eggs to his room but wee'd into a couple of small containers and left them hidden on a shelf.... yeah.. I banned 'Horrid Henry' (!) I can laugh about it now 7 years later ) I've also had/have dogs who've had accidents. If on hard floors (Lino or old floorboards) I've scrubbed with hot soapy water and bleach but if this didn't help or on carpets (scrubbed with hot soapy water), I used to cover with bicarbonate for as long as possible. I'd thickly cover the area with bicarbonate, leave for at least 24hrs then hoover and replace. You can sprinkle the bicarbonate into the gaps as well.

Might be worth trying before lifting/replacing the boards?

I would have thought you could reseal the boards with clear varnish. Even if it's soaked right through to the joists I'd have thought sealing the area above with a few coats of polyurethane would be enough to stop the smell.

Thanks everyone, it's floorboards like planks. We have tried baking powder and bio powder. Is bicarbonate v different? From the comments I think we haven't left it long enough. Only a few hours. So will have another go and try and get it in the gaps. If that doesn't work I guess we have to pull them up...

Daisychk I'm amazed your ds survived! What an escapade!

If it's been going on for a while you may have to replace the floorboards - sorry. Once the urea crystals build up there's not much that can be done apart from removing them physically.

I hope it's not that bad.

baking powder and bicarb are slightly different things - Baking powder is actually a mix of bicarb with tartaric acid (cream of tartar) - they react together slowly in the presence of moisture and heat - like bicarb and vinegar but much more controlled - which is what makes a cake rise!)
Much cheaper/efficient to use just bicarb!!