Eliminating cat smell and stains on brick floor

[Liz Kershaw]

Hi all, sorry if this has been covered before but I'm new to the site. We've just moved to a (c.1600) cottage with a brick floor laid on earth. The previous owner had 17 cats and allowed them to relieve themselves freely in the living rooms (urghh). So, we have a smell to eliminate. We also have lime/mineral deposit stains on some of the bricks. Can anyone help with ideas to a) remove the smell without adding another (i.e. by using Jeyes) or ruining the surface of the bricks and b) ideas to remove the limescale and polish up the bricks - they do have a bit of an age patina, which is nice. Obviously we won't be sealing them with anything as we're aware of the importance of letting them breathe. Any other hints and tips for restoration of brick on earth floors will be really welcome ... there's a dip in one part of it which could do with being un-dipped.Thanks! Liz

 

[LadyArowana]

First of all welcome to the forum and congrats on your recent house purrrrrrchase. For a somewhat natural cleaning mix you could try a paste made with ordinary baking soda and water, leave on for a while and then wash off, to get a bit more aggressive add in some salt and dish washing liquid, final hope sprinkle the baking soda on and spray with some white vinegar which will fizz............ Unfortunately the harsher the treatment the more likely it is to ruin the surface/ remove patina. Always worth trying out the recipes on a very small and inconspicuous area.

Normally the person to ask for anything cat related is Joce, but she would not thank me for suggesting that her lovely kitties do anything as uncivilised as befouling their residence.

 

[MatthewC]

Normally the person to ask for anything cat related is Joce, but she would not thank me for suggesting that her lovely kitties do anything as uncivilised as befouling their residence.

Actually I thought the first person for Kats was Penners but then I remembered that's KitKats, isn't it?

 

[skier-hughes]

Do not use any household cleaning problems as this will add to the stench.
If M' Lady's suggestions don't help, you can by odour removing products from your local pet shop, which use natural bacteria to break down the waste. Only problem is, so many cats' so much waste, over possibly some large amount of time might be very hard to accomplish
Items such as this
http://www.petweeaway.co.uk/

 

[LadyArowana]

Normally the person to ask for anything cat related is Joce, but she would not thank me for suggesting that her lovely kitties do anything as uncivilised as befouling their residence.

Actually I thought the first person for Kats was Penners but then I remembered that's KitKats, isn't it?

:lol: Mr P is most definately *not* a cat person, devil's familiars etc.....

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh - I always feel sad when I read of stories like this. Poor cats. They aren't naturally particularly sociable with one another, and they hate mess, and naturally seek out private leafy spots for their business, so I think they'd have been very unhappy in those conditions And how very unpleasant for you to move into!

Anyway, I've successfully removed all traces of male cat wee (the scent marking kind!) with sugar soap dissolved in hot water and a good scrub. I'd try that and just not worry about the patina. Patina = time + dirt + wax + use and you can get all that back again. After it's been scrubbed and scrubbed to within an inch of its life (not forgetting the lowest 2 ft of wall where the smell will also be impregnated) and rinsed with bucket after bucket of fresh water, and then dried thoroughly, I'd then finish the floor with these products which will give shine, breathability and a fresh linseed smell which is very nice.


http://www.ironmongeryonline.com/product/Liberon-Stone-Floor-Sealer-1-Litre/16004/gs/?gclid=CM2Kq7fp8rkCFXDJtAodoW4ABw

And then this

http://www.ironmongeryonline.com/product/Liberon-Stone-Floor-Wax-2.5-Litre/22866/

Lovely products and should be fine on brick - do one with the whole process first and see how you like it. I used it on my stone floors here which are highly porous limestone, that were filthy from dogs and the previous owner could scarcely believe they were the same floors when he came round. If you have lot of hard floors it's worth buying a buffing machine for the buffing of the wax.

 

[Liz Kershaw]

Thank you! I've replied more fully on my other post thread (useless newbie double poster...) and the suggestions are really helpful. I'll post with results in a couple of weeks.

Liz

 

[Penners]

http://www.petweeaway.co.uk/

Didn't Doris Day sing about that product in Calamity Jane?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqi9Hr-xCI8

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[andrew gayton]

a surgical spirit based scrub followed up by a scrub down with unpurfumed soapy water worked for me when the grizzly local tom cat broke in

 

[worms]

Liz, all the suggestions above are good and well worth pursuing, however, it may be that the build-up of cat pee is just too much to clear in this way. Having some experience of male public toilets it is relatively common for prolonged urine exposure to be completely resistant to all attempts at deep cleaning and complete refurbishment is often the only cure.

Since you also mention a dip in the floor that needs resolving, I wonder if this is a case where careful lifting, replacement of the urine-soaked substrate and relaying might be the best long-term option. It may be that this would also allow you to improve the insulation, resulting in a much warmer floor.

 

[Liz Kershaw]

Dear all,

Thanks for the very helpful replies ... I'm just starting on it now with sugar soap and then the Liberon kit as suggested. The situation has improved a little after I put a product from Lakeland in the room - a sort of absorbent natural bag -at least it's bearable enough to work in/on now. I'm going to try the cleaning up route and see how it goes. Wish me luck ...

 

[LadyArowana]

Dear all,

Thanks for the very helpful replies ... I'm just starting on it now with sugar soap and then the Liberon kit as suggested. The situation has improved a little after I put a product from Lakeland in the room - a sort of absorbent natural bag -at least it's bearable enough to work in/on now. I'm going to try the cleaning up route and see how it goes. Wish me luck ...

Good luck, look on the bright side, nothing smells forever, even radioactive things have a half life.

 

[Keithj]

Yes, but do you know the half-life of cat pee?

 

[LadyArowana]

Yes, but do you know the half-life of cat pee?

Six years!

 

[Feltwell]

I just want to know if Bruno Brookes has offered to lend Liz a hand......

 

[Penners]

Yes, but do you know the half-life of cat pee?

No, but I could forecast the half-life of any cat that peed on my floor...

...notverybloodylong.

 

[worms]

Yes, but do you know the half-life of cat pee?

Six years!

But surely cat pee has nine lives?

 

[angrybird]

many years ago Tom cats pee was used to make mascara water resistant! as it's water repellant thats probably why its so difficult to remove the smell :?