Even the best of trained cats will have an accident on your floor. Unfortunately, in most “accidents,” your cat may not be considerate and choose surfaces that are easy to clean. Most likely, it will relieve itself anywhere it’s comfortable, including the concrete floor in your garage or even the wood staircase.
Hence the need to learn how to get rid of cat pee smell on wood and other types of floors.
If the floor in your home has those annoying cat urine spots, you’re in the right place. This article will explore how to clean various floor surfaces, including wood, concrete, tiled, or vinyl floors.
Using readily available items such as baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, and enzymatic cleaners, we’ll delve into tried and tested DIY cleaning methods that do a thorough job cleaning the urine spot.
We’ll show you how to keep your home smelling fresh and, importantly, negate the chances of repeat offending by your cat.
NOTE! If you have to get rid of a wet/fresh cat urine stain on any floor, blot the affected areas using a disposable rag or paper towel. Soak up as much cat urine as possible before applying the baking soda to the fresh stain to dry it thoroughly. Ensure that you throw away the used rag immediately after use.
How To Get Rid Of Cat Pee Smell On Wood Floor
How to get rid of cat pee smell on wooden floor will depend on the permeability of the material and whether the urine spot is dry or wet.
Cleaning Cat Urine Odor From Impermeable Wood Floors
In cases where your cat pees on wood that isn’t permeable and the seams are well sealed, the urine is likely contained on the floor’s surface. In such a case, giving the spot the baking soda and hydrogen peroxide cat urine wood floor treatment will suffice.
Apply ample baking soda paste on the spot and let it sit for 15 to 30 minutes. Rinse the wood surface and spray hydrogen peroxide, allowing it to soak for a minimum of 20 minutes before rinsing and cleaning the spot.
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Cleaning Cat Urine From Permeable Wood Floors
On the other hand, cat urine that has percolated deep into the planks of wood will necessitate a more comprehensive and more aggressive DIY cat urine odor removal.
Soak the spot with hydrogen peroxide, hydrogen peroxide-dishwashing liquid, or an enzymatic cleaning solution. Place a disposable cloth with the respective cleaning solution over the urine spot.
After that, cover the cloth with plastic wrap and weigh it down with something heavy such as a book. Let this setup sit for as long as necessary to ensure the hydrogen peroxide or the enzymatic cleaner soaks up to the depth the urine reached.
You can rewet the cloth if necessary. However, in most cases leaving the soaked cloth in place overnight or for 24 hours will get rid of odor if cat urine hadn’t soaked deep into the wood.
How To Clean Dried Cat Urine From Wood Floor
As mentioned above, the uric acid in cat urine does not disappear just because the urine spot dries. It crystallizes, and the pungent smell reappears when the crystals dissolve in water again.
Discoloration on the area where the cat urinated indicates that the cat urine soaked into the wood and dried already.
Cover the dry urine patch with a cloth and soak the fabric with hydrogen peroxide or enzymatic cleaner to clean a dry cat urine spot. Cover the material with plastic wrap to contain the cleaning solution.
Weigh it down and let it stay for as long as possible until the dark discoloration disappears.
NOTE! If you have to soak the wood for a long time to remove the odor, the cleaning solution might lighten the spot. Consequently, you might have to sand the affected area and refinish it once you’re done cleaning.
CAUTION! When using enzymatic cleaners, ensure the solution is suitable for wood like the Rocco & Roxie Stain & Odor Eliminator. Some enzymatic cleaning products soak into the wood and eat the cellulose fibers, weakening the wood plank.
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How To Remove Odor From Concrete Floor
Removing cat urine odor from concrete is difficult. While concrete might seem impermeable to liquids, it is porous in reality. For instance, gel-pores can be as small as 3 nanometers in width – too small to detect with your eyes. Nonetheless, they will soak in cat urine and allow the uric crystals to form, holding the foul cat urine smell.
Additionally, it’s daunting to flash out the cat urine from the pores, if not impossible. Moreover, you cannot get rid of the uric acid in cat urine with water, which makes the difficulty of cleaning cat urine spots from concrete all the more apparent.
How to get cat pee out of concrete will depend on how deep the urine has percolated into the concrete. When cleaning a fresh cat urine spot, DIY cleaning methods will suffice.
However, when the cat urine spot is old, you’ll have to invest in an enzymatic concrete cleaner, the best urine spot and odor remover for concrete.
The First Step Is To Clean The Concrete Surface
The bleach cat urine concrete cleaning method does not get rid of the primary source of urine smell – the uric acid crystal. All it does is disinfect the area, killing all the bacteria that might consume the urine to create uric acid.
Likewise, the alternative floor disinfection method of using Trisodium Phosphate (TSP) cleaning solution has the same effect. However, the remaining uric acid will produce a pungent smell whenever it comes into contact with water.
Whichever disinfection solution you choose, always wear personal protection equipment (specifically gloves and eye protection gear) and open the doors and windows to keep the air flowing.
The ideal bleach-water ratio is 1:1, while the most effective TSP mixture is half a cup mixed in a gallon of warm water.
Pour your cleaning solution on the urine spot and scrub with a short bristled brush. While scrubbing, ensure the area remains wet for at least 15 to 20 minutes. The cleaning solution will soak into the concrete, following the urine’s path.
After the cleaning solution soaks into the concrete, rinse the area with clean water and vacuum it with a vacuum cleaner until it dries. Let the spot air dry for at least overnight and ideally for 24 hours.
While you can skip the pre-treatment cleaning, for the best results, you should clean the concrete surface thoroughly before moving on to the odor removal methods below. Disinfecting the urine spot allows the odor removal process to work more efficiently and faster.
Method #1: DIY Cat Urine Concrete Hydrogen Peroxide Cleaning Method
Using hydrogen peroxide is one of the best solutions for how to get cat pee out of concrete. You can use this hydrogen peroxide cleaning method, and it will yield the desired results. However, you can make the process of cleaning the concrete floor a tad more manageable by using a homemade hydrogen peroxide cleaning concoction of:
- 32 ounces of hydrogen peroxide,
- A quarter cup of baking soda, and
- 2 to 4 drops of dishwashing soap.
Mix the ingredients until you have a homogenous mix in a plastic spray bottle. Given that this mixture is enough to spray a small patch 3–5 times, store the spray bottle open to let out the oxygen given off by the mixture.
To use this cleaning solution, spray the mixture generously, ensuring the urine spot soaks into the concoction.
Allow it to dry for 2 to 3 days before soaking the spot again. Respray the area until the odor dissipates completely.
Method #2: Use An Enzymatic Cleaner For Concrete
One of the most effective solutions for how to remove odor from concrete floor is to use an enzymatic cleaner. Read more about cleaning pet urine spots using enzymatic cleaners here.
After Cleaning The Concrete Surface, Seal It
Aside from cleaning cat urine from the concrete floor, it’s a brilliant idea to seal the concrete to ensure no repeat incidences of your cat peeing on your concrete floor. The best method for how to seal concrete from cat urine is to follow the manufacturer’s directions.
A concrete sealant makes the concrete moisture-resistant and gives your floor a nice shine.
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How To Remove Odor From Tile Floor
Like with other surfaces, cat urine doesn’t clean easily from tiles. Once the urine dries, it leaves a murky residue that has an offensive smell and stains your lovely ceramic tiles. Additionally, when the cat urine is left to sit on your tiles for too long, it will soak into the tiles and grout, making it even harder to clean.
How to remove cat urine smell from tile floor will depend on how much the urine has soaked into the tiles and grout. Unfortunately, using an aggressive cleaning solution can damage your tiles, exacerbating the problem.
The best DIY solution for how to remove pet odor from tile floors is to clean the tiles with a baking soda solution. Baking soda is not corrosive and will not damage your tiles.
Avoid using vinegar and hydrogen peroxide as DIY cleaning methods, even if the baking soda paste does not work. Instead, buy an enzymatic cleaner to get rid of any stubborn stains.
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How To Get Rid Of Cat Pee Smell On Vinyl Floor
The good thing about vinyl flooring is its resistance to permeability. The PVC-coated fiberglass flooring material does not allow liquids to soak deep into the materials, which is a problem with other types of materials.
As such, even when your cat pees on vinyl flooring, the cleaning process does not have to account for any soaked cat pee.
Nonetheless, you must do a thorough job of cleaning cat pee. The combination of baking soda paste and vinegar as covered above will work well to eliminate the cat pee smell on vinyl floors.
And since vinyl flooring is wear and stain resistant, it will withstand the corrosive power of vinegar and the staining from cat urine.
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Conclusion
Cat urine odor emanating from your floor does not dissipate on its own. Just because a urine spot is dry does not mean you can expect the pungent smell to dissipate soon. Furthermore, regular cleaning of your floor will most likely fail to eliminate the smell. Use our trusted cleaning methods to get rid of lurking cat urine odor emanating from your floor. Keep your home smelling fresh!
