New extension being built and it STINKS.

[ShowOfHands]

We are having a downstairs shower room put in and it's built and recently plastered but the floor is still concrete.

It smells like ammonia. It's extremely similar to cat urine. For full transparency, we do have a cat but she never wees indoors. I've been assuming that due to the stress of the build, she had been in there and urinated on the floor at some point and I've tried everything to eliminate the odour. But it's getting worse and worse. It hits me when I walk through the front door and is making me feel ill. My whole downstairs smells like wee and I'm fed up, embarrassed and worried this is our life now.

Is there anything I can try to get rid of the smell? Is it possible it's something other than the cat?

I can't even identify a "patch" where it is coming from. There's obviously a waste pipe in there (no toilet yet) but it's currently covered and the smell isn't coming from there. It seems to be in the air.

It's driving me mad. Do I just have to live in a smelly house now?

Good grief, this is awful, op. It sounds like it's far more than just cat urine. Could it be one of the materials the builders are using?

I've googled and can't find anything that would cause it.

I'm feeling increasingly tearful about the whole thing. Teen DD wants her friends round and I've said no because our house is so disgusting right now.

Can anyone else smell it?

Is the space ventilated?

Plaster stinks! It will go once its decorated. Don't worry about it, it's normal!

I remember plaster smelling like wee until it dried out.

Maybe buy a UV torch. That's what I did when I could smell cat wee but couldn't find the source. Turned out my cat was pissing behind our TV 😩. Once you find the spot (if it is cat wee) there are ways of treating the smell.

Have they fitted the drainage incorrectly maybe?

Agree that it's probably the plaster or another material which the builders have used. Open windows, ventilate and hope it gets better soon!

It won't be the drainage. It's definitely done correctly and was signed off and the smell isn't coming from there. It isn't a drains smell either.

Definitely not plaster as the smell has been there since the structure was put in a couple of weeks ago and we only plastered yesterday.

We can't really ventilate it as the window is boarded up ATM while we wait for the actual window to arrive (Monday) so that will likely help.

Of course!

That's so annoying, sorry to hear. Do you have (human) males in the house? Any chance they are missing the target? Otherwise, wet plaster smells a little bit like wee, as do silicate paints. Our lower groundfloor is freshly lime plastered and painted in silicate paint, but because most of the walls are underground, it's slow to dry out and still smells. Do you have already a radiator/towel rail fitted? Turning the heating on would help dry it out. So would a dehumidifier. I find Unibond non electric dehumidifiers work well. They can be filled with a scented disc to absorb moisture and mask any smells. And cross ventilate regularly, so open the window in the ensuit (and/or the extractor fan), the door and the windows in the opposite rooms (while turning heating off). We installed a ventilation unit that constantly sucks in fresh air from outside and blows it through the lower groundfloor/staircase. If it was your cat, some people swear by covering the floor in baking soda and let it absorb any moisture and smells, and then hoover up. Otherwise, air fresheners? It's almost Christmas, so loads of cinnamon and muelled wine potpourri and scented candles.

Oh, just seen your post that it's not plaster. Still, concrete floor and mortar, so pretty likely to be just trapped moist smelly air. If your window is borded shut, just opening it will hopefully make a huge difference.

I've renovated many times and we've moved walls, built walls, plastered, ripped out ceilings and floorboards etc. Never had this before but thinking about it, I've never not ventilated as we've done stuff. No way of ventilating right now as it's an almost sealed unit with no window and as we've only just plastered, the extractor isn't in yet. We do have a dehumidifier however so I'll put that in there. Not putting air freshener or candles or similar on top of it, as that's a stench too far iyswim. I need to remove this smell and I don't think we can mask it.

And yes we have human males but I'm hoping they piss in the toilet which is upstairs and nowhere near the new extension! They're also house trained 😁

Our house smells the same, bathroom being plastered! I am assuming it will go
once the plaster has fully dried!

Actually dreamt last night that the cat sprayed urine but she really doesn’t🤣🤣

Building chemicals don't come perfumes!

He may have used a sealer

Is it sealant? We had newwindows put in and the sealant stank for a while. Had to open windows and ventilate but I see you can do that

Have you spoken to the tradesmen to see if they know what it might be? Otherwise spray with whole area with an enzyme cat odour spray and see if that makes a difference.

Is it the insulation? That can smell fishy I think. Which isn’t what you say…

Also, have you had new electrics? We had a problem with one of our light fittings and it stank. Almost fishy. Faulty electrics stink. But not how you'd expect. And ours was a brand new light fitting....

Mastic sealer can smell awful until it’s hardened off. .

It's the fresh plaster! Don't worry, it goes after a few days. Just had the same thing here a few weeks ago.

Have you got a dehumidifier? If it's sealed off it might be damp still

It's the fresh plaster

It isn’t.
The op says it was plastered yesterday.
The smell has been there for two weeks

I'd second getting the UV torch..I bet the cat has got stressed with the change and peed everywhere