Help! Getting rid of mouse urine/odor

[babr]

:help:We had a total of three mice in our basement this winter; but their odor remains and we use this area for guests

I have tried the vinegar, then the baking soda then the arm and hammer baking soda method; i haven't hear any good news on the web. we have both linoleum and carpet

I hate to buy something off the shelf if I don't have good confirmation that it works

oh we have also used airing out; but its pee and pee smells as you know by animals don't go away

signed pulling my hair out

[razz]

Don't know if this would work for lino and carpet but someone who left squash in their car trunk and had it go really rotten was advised to simply sprinkle coffee grounds in the car, let it rest and then vacuum it all up and the smell was gone.

I cannot remember if it was fresh ground dry coffee but expect that it was. Worth a try anyway.
http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf319481.tip.html

[bae]

I've had good luck with "Nature's Miracle", but you need to follow the instructions with it, and be patient.

[Mrs-M]

Babr. Take a look at this. http://biokleenhome.com/

I used (Bac-Out Stain & Odor Eliminator) with great success about 3 years ago. At the time I had two babies in diapers and the old diaper pail I was using was starting to show/smell it's age. No matter what I did/tried in the way of removing odour from the pail, nothing worked, so I dropped by our Industrial Janitorial Supply Centre and the sales lady recommended Bi-O-Clean. It worked.

[pony mom]

Nature's Miracle is the bomb! Great at removing tomcat spray, so mouse pee should be a piece of cake.

[babr]

thanks guys; for all your help; i would look into all these options; i love baking soda and vinegar for some things but its just not working on this stuff; i can't believe the smell from just three mice; but they say you wouldn't beleive how uch urine they release or maybe its just the odor; like cat urine

[Mrs-M]

I think it's just the odour Babr. Ewww!

[babr]

yeah we had such a pleasant nonsmelly basement and three mice created the smell of well the fact that you had some type of animal; it wouldn't be such a big deal but the rest of the house smells fine; so company comes and then you get them settled in the basement and as soon as you are at the bottom of the stairs there comes the odour as you call it mrs. m; and personally it would bother me; its like what is that smell; it would keep me up at night; not what you want your guests to experience unless you want them to leave in that case just let a mouse loose in your home and voila; no more people in your home; you would have the place to yourselves lol

[MagicRat]

Mice evolved to have stinky pee, they use it as part of their mousy social structure and communication.

My cottage has had mice in the past. Much of the smell is from ammonia and other chemicals that have remained when the pee dried up. The only way to clean this up is to get the items wet, so the dried up pee residue can be dissolved in water then mopped or sucked up. Floors like linoleum need to be mopped with a regular floor cleaner.

Carpets need to get washed/shampooed with an industrial type wet shampoo machine. You could probably rent one. You might have to do the same with furniture, if it stinky. I have found that carpet or furniture that really stinks simply must be thrown out.

[Selah]

We had problems with mice at our former house out in the country. They would routinely move into the kitchen and take up housekeeping under the fridge. Pee-eww! After getting rid of the mice, just lots of water and Pine-Sol eventually got rid of the smell, but fortunately they never moved in around carpeted areas. Half the battle is actually finding where the pee is. If it's soaked through a carpet and into the wooden subflooring, you may have a bigger problem. I hope it hasn't!

[babr]

well i have tried three different methods; yes i have been working on this since i wrote this post; vinegar/baking soda; nope; pet urine removal; nope industrial cleaner nope

the urine is in one of the cupboards big time and has soaked through; if i keep repeating putting solution on these pressed boards we will have to buy new and install boards; an endless circle

i guess if we have guests we will deal with it then; i am tired of spending money and time on this

oh and now we have spring mice; i used the ant killer i bought last year which worked; this year they are making a what appears to be a storage area on top of the drops of sugar/killer; what is up with me and the critters?

its a no win solution; no advice; just send hugs; big sigh

[razz]

Oh dear, sorry to hear this. How are they getting in? You may have said but I don't remember so wondered about cutting off the access.

[babr]

:doh:i meant to say ants; i have mice on my brain

[HKPassey]

Ugh, I know what you mean. I had a major mouse invasion last spring that in less than two months left my heating system full of their foul little leave-behinds. They also turned the carpet in the corners of the spare bedrooms sticky. Yuck! For months, my house had two states: cold mouse pee (furnace off) and roast mouse pee (furnace on). I couldn't afford to have my ducts and furnace cleaned. I seriously fantasized about matches and accelerant a time or two. lol.

I used to work in a pet store: to really eliminate urine smells, you absolutely have to use an enzyme-based product - Nature's Miracle is the one we used in the store - to get rid of the odor completely, especially on permeable surfaces, and to prevent re-marking. Since I have severe chemical sensitivity, I used a similar product called Pure Ayre, which contains only the enzyme, mint oil, and water. It worked quite well, and actually smells really nice, sort of minty vanilla. I had to saturate the carpets several times, but it did remove the odors eventually. Vinegar is also useful, though it doesn't as effectively break down the biologicals. It does make the spot less attractive for future marking! (Nobody wants to mate with anybody who smells like a pickle, I guess.) Tea tree oil, diluted in water, is also very effective at removing odors and killing bacteria, although it has a strong smell itself for a while. There's a product called an "odor sponge" that's used commercially for removing serious mold/smoke smells. You have order it online, just google the term. They come in little tubs like cottage cheese: you just take off the lid, place them in the smelly area, and let them absorb until they're used up. I used them to successfully remove the odors after my little brother let the dogs use my mother's new home as a toilet for six months. Cost about $6 apiece, and two took care of the entire double-wide. You might also look into those germ-killing UV lights you can buy in the stores: like sunlight, they're supposed to help remove pathogens and break down organic sources of odors.

Good luck. I feel for you: I had to stop the exterminator service (it was either give up and hire an exteriminator, or let the rodents carry off my house) after losing my job, and the little devils are just starting to show up again. I swear all they do day and night is widdle on stuff! Well, after chewing it and using it for a roll in the hay...

[Zack]

We had an odor, dirty feet/socks x's 10, in our family room that eventually permeated the whole house. Discoverded that due to shoddy carpentry, gaps had been left on the sides of the new windows, sliding glass door etc which allowed mice to enter and take up residence. Hopefully the mice are gone and we've had the whole family room gutted and replaced with new insulation and cedar. The exterminator placed bait traps in the ceiling prior to closing up everything but before finding out we had a mouse problem, we had new blown in insulation put in the attic and the eves foamed. I'm hoping that when the work was being done in the atiic the mice made a hasty exit and that the foam kept them out. Now that the heats been off, the smell is back! The work was completed in Nov at a cost of almost 15K. The house has been buttoned up with all the openings sealed so I'm 80% sure the mice are gone but what to do about the smell? It's worse at night but dissipates rapidly with a window open. When the studs in the family room were revealed, any places that hsd urine stains were sealed, even though there was no odor. Any suggestions would be appreciated. We're pretty discouraged.

[babr]

I feel for you Zack; it was funny i read the post and didn't look at who started the post but as i read it i thought wow they have a similar problem that i had; can't remember when it hit me that it was me posting but i do have health problems which effect my cognitive abilities big time; so its not surprising; forgot it was just last year that this whole thing occured

I did the natural stuff then went to the industrial people and used their stuff which did nothing; so i put out baking soda and said screw it; luckily we didn't have company; because eventually the odors disappeared; maybe dried out as our basement gets very dry in the winter

so i have no helpful solutions to this; we were lucky that it was in an area that only dh goes down to nightly to exercise etc.

i really feel for you; it smells nasty!! keep in touch and let us know what you found out; i have alot of chemical stuff now that i need to get rid of

[Wildflower]

I'm another one to recommend Nature's Miracle. Saturate the area where the urine/urine odor is with Nature's Miracle, then let it completely dry-eventually there will be no odor at all. It has worked 100 percent at my house. I always recommend it to anyone that has any kind of animal urine odor in their house...

[Zack]

Thanks babr and W'Flower. I've used Nature's Miracle on the dogs' "accidents" and it works well. The problem is that I've had the family room re-done with new insulation and tongue and groove cedar so any urine stains are now covered(even though they were sealed with a metalic spray paint I still think the odor is seeping through. A dirty feet/socks kind of sickeningly sweet odor). I'm hoping but not too optomistic that the smell will dissipate over time but I think I'll most likely end up tearing out the one wall where the nests were and re building with all new lumber..cha ching...again!! Now that the weather is back to seasonal and cold and the furnace is on the smell is almost gone. I use ClenAir HVAC Odor Block and place it in the air intake section of the furnace. Comes in 2 pound "bricks" for that use or from 1/2 pound to 3 pound tubs that you open and just place in a room. Supposedly this product doesn't just mask the smell but eliminates it somehow. This has been a very frustrating not to mention expensive experience. Again, thanks for your help.

[babr]

i will keep crossing my fingers for you Zack; what a major problem; makes me feel fortunate that ours wasn't such an expensive problem!! hope you don't have to tear anything up