What will we need to do to stop new house smelling so badly of dog?

[NeverTwerkNaked]

Had an offer accepted on a house, it’s perfect for us in terms of location and layout etc but unfortunately smells terribly of dog! I suspect that is why it hadn’t shifted yet and we negotiated quite a good discount on that basis. Am thinking we will need to replace the carpets but is there anything else (pricey) we should budget to do, or would getting someone in to do a deep clean be enough?

what sort of dog?

carpets out asap, and a thorough clean of all floors should suffice, but if it was a big hairy slobbery sort then the walls and ceilings might need going over too!

tbh once all the dog infested furnishings are out that should make a huge difference.

no idea what type of dog, they had taken him out while we looked round. There wasn’t obvious hair everywhere but the smell was strong.
You’re right, it could be the furniture and dog basket as much as anything. We will definitely replace carpets though as they were pretty battered anyway. Just know it won’t feel like home if it smells like it does at the moment!

Can you hire a Rug Doctor to clean the carpets 'til you get round to replacing them? A thorough clean might shift a lot of the smell.

As pp said it's probably the carpets that are holding the smell. I'm a dog walker and the houses that have wooden floors over carpet in their home hardly smell of dog at all.
Once they've moved out with their furniture and said smelly dog and you throw out the carpet it will be fine in no time 👍🏻

On rented accommodation I once used good old shake n vac without really expecting it to work, but it really shifted it.

We bought a house a couple of years ago which smelt very strongly of dog.

Didn't notice the smell when viewing as vendor had incense burning and windows open.

We ripped up and replaced all the carpets as the smell was unbearable (actually ripped them up the day we moved and had no carpets for over a week).

We're looking to move this year and I will try and avoid buying a house where there's a dog.

Deep-cleaning the carpets or replacing them should do it, and wouldn't put me off a house.
Smoke, however, would. I have refused to buy second d-hand cars for this in the past. You can never truly get rid of that.

We bought a house from a dog owner and before our furniture was delivered we lifted and disposed of every single carpet. The smell went away almost instantly. There's no point in trying to hide the smell by spraying stuff as it just won't work. When we viewed the house we accepted that the carpets were a write off even though they were in quite good condition.

A decent professional carpet clean should deal with it.

Carpet cleaners won't deal with the smell that has been absorbed by the underlay.
Don't waste your time/money/effort.
Rip out carpets and underlay before you move in.

I think our plan will be to replace all the carpets as soon as we get the house. We negotiated down on basis we would need to do that and have the cash saved. Don’t think we could have afforded a house so big if it didn’t need some kind of renovation.

I guess what’s really worrying me is whether that will be sufficient to get rid of the smell, but most people seem to agree it should be so that’s good!

And good point about replacing underlay too!

You might need to sugar soap the walls too, OP...PIL's dogs used to lean against the walls and leave greasy marks. Comes off v easily though.

Don't waste your time, effort and money cleaning someone else's disgusting carpets. Turf them out as soon as you get the keys. I'd rather have bare unfinished floors than carpets that harbour the previous occupant's filth.

Wash the walls with vinegar and water, heat pans of vinegar and water on the cooker and leave them simmering (try not to inhale it).

Get rid of the carpets and underlay and clean the floors with either the vinegar mix or buy the huge bottles of Simple Solution from Pets at Home (in the dog section) and a spray bottle.

You can scrub the floors with it and wash or spray the walls with it after the vinegar.

I bought a car that had been used for transporting dogs for several years and it reeked. I soaked it in Simple Solution and aired it well, eventually the pong went.

It's not that easy to shift dog smell. We have been in our house almost 2.5years. Upon viewing we didn't smell dog but Windows were open and a Yankee candle going.
It had solid wood and laminate floors down stairs and carpets upstairs. Tiled bathrooms and kitchen.
We removed carpets the day we got keys as the horrific dog smell just hit us. Aired the house. Steam cleaned floors and walls with dettol/zoflora solution several times. We polished the wood floors.
Still dog smell.
Millions of products used everywhere from bi carb to antibacterial powders.
Next stage was decorating throughout.

We have no replaced every radiator and thst has helped but we still get a whiff if the Windows havnt been open for a few days. We have nothing left of the previous owners. We decorated, no curtains or blinds if theirs, scrubbed every inch, replaced all the carpets and several wood floors for no other reason, replaced intetnsl doors, new bathroom and new kitchen.

It's shocked me how we can still get a whiff of it sometimes.
We think all that's left to replace is a couple of skirting boards (despite being cleaned and decorated) and the actual floorboards.
It does get me down if I'm honest.

I would rip out the carpets and repaint throughout if possible. As a dog owner who is also quite fastidious it’s fabrics which hold the smell the most but equally dogs do mean that the walls get tatty quicker and it’s easy for floors to get engrained with dirt in grout etc. I keep my dog in the kitchen and on muddy days it can take 3 times of scrubbing on my hands to get the floor clean. If owners haven’t done this then things like that will smell. Get a radiator brush as there will be dust and hair trapped there.

Eek! Feeling a bit nervous now

My daughter had problems getting rid of cigarett smells
They had to take out all of the carpets, wash the walls and ceilings as they were brown from the smoke and then repaint all the walls and ceilings before they got rid of the smell. It’s a lovely house though and was worth it. If you love the house I would go for it

Sounds like you're going to replace the carpets, but if you don't you'll probably need to flea treat the house - Indorex (vet or ebay) is best. Follow the instructions carefully.

That’s good to know dodie

You don't need to flea treat the house if there aren't fleas. I have cats and dogs and have no fleas (and my house doesn't smell either)

Was planning to just replace the downstairs carpets plus stairs and landing, as upstairs didn’t smell so bad, but that’s a good point about fleas eljay !

Strange thing is we are at my parents house this week and they have a dog but it doesn’t really smell at all (or not to the extent it would bother me)

ARGH. Dog Owners. Rank.

And then there are cat owners.