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I need help, and I'm really, really hoping this is not a padding issue. :(
I had brand new berber carpet installed in a rental house 2 years ago. People with two small dogs moved in right after the carpet was installed, and moved out this past August. This carpet stinks! We've tried enzymes, and professionally cleaned the carpet -- twice!!
Any other ideas?? Property manager says that people like the house, but the smell of the carpet turns them away (I don't blame them!), and really, before I go under, I've got to get this house rented.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!!
If the people who were living there didn't promptly clean up any doggie accidents, it could have very easily soaked through to the padding. Especially if the dogs had accidents in the same spots of the carpet multiple times, which is a definite possibility (if you don't clean up right away and get rid of all the smell, dogs can tend to go in the same spot over and over). If you've cleaned it as much as it sounds like and the smell's still there, my guess would be that it's soaked into the padding.
We had the same issue with this house when we bought it. We had to rip out the carpet and padding and then scrub the concrete floor underneath it twice to get the smell to go away completely. Sorry, indiana_lily! I know that's not what you wanted to hear.
I just hope you've got a concrete subfloor rather than hardwood or plywood--I hadn't even thought about the subfloor, but if you've got wood of some sort and it's soaked into that, it makes your job even harder.
There are products to SEAL the wood underneath but the bottom line is, like everybody before me has said, get rid of the carpet and padding. Do not invest in GOOD carpet for rentals. Buy it either used or the cheap stuff. Unfortunately many people who rent do not take care of the property, that is just a sad fact.
Thanks guys. And, unfortunately, I'm sure the padding was soaked -- I was just being hopeful.
Before the new carpet was put down two years ago, all the old carpet and padding were removed. All the WOOD subfloors got a good dose of Kilz for good measure, too.
I've taken a lot of pride in this rental house -- because I used to live there -- lesson learned, don't buy a house before selling your old one. :)
I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and talk to my handyman about padding. Groan!!
We ripped all the carpet out of our house and are SO happy we did! All the trapped dust and dander was contributing to my allergies and breathing problems. Also, we have 8 dogs and if just made more sense not to have carpet. They are all housebroken but occasionally do throw up.
Oh my. When I read that two little dogs lived on carpet on top of
wood, I felt a tinge of pain for you.
The people next door must be relatives of your previous tennants.
Their dogs pooed and peed in the house and still do.
It was so disgusting, the floors were rotting through. They stepped in certain
sections of the carpet so as not to fall through the floor. Beyond disgusting.
If you put down new carpet, will you implement a no pet rule, or considerably
raise the deposit for those with pets? I feel so bad for those who manage
homes only to have slobs move in and ruin things.
Little by little, I've removed all the carpet in our home except in the living
room and office. As I roll my office chair around, berber on top of the existing
flooring was the best option and shampoos quite well. As for the living room,
I would rip it out if hubby turned his head long enough. LOL.
Wishing you the best. Could you remove the existing padding and carpet,
then paint the floors and place area rugs about?
Sigh. "No good deed goes unpunished," comes to mind here. Initially, I was not going to allow pets -- especially cats, but, since this family lost everything to Hurricane Katrina, I allowed them to move in with their one small dog, and reduced their rent for a year. That's neither here nor there.
I'm sorry about the people next door to you. That is no way to live, and no reason for it.
I shampooed the carpet once again, and this last time really, really seemed to have helped. I'm thinking maybe the first time the carpet was shampooed, my handy man, really didn't do a great job. Anyway, it's much better now. And, we are thinking that during their last month at the house, that's when they decided to just "let everything go," because the house did not smell prior to that.
It's a really old house -- built in 1908, so the thought of taking up the carpet and padding isn't a real appealing idea. I'll be checking the place out this weekend to see how everything looks and smells -- again. If it seems hopeless, then I'll have to consider doing something else.
We are charging a non-refundable pet fee, and raised the security deposit a bit. Because it is a hard rental market to be in, and the majority of people do have pets, it's hard to say no pets at this point.
Anyway, here's a picture of the outside of the house...
Your yellow house is so pretty! Have you checked with a company that cleans after a fire? I think they have something that takes out any smell. We had a cat smell in one corner when we moved in, I think the poor thing died there. We got an odor neutralizer from a chemical company that dealt with pest control, I think. We had to take up the carpet in that area, spray the walls and flooring, put a new piece of pad in then put the carpet back down. We then cleaned the entire carpet with this in the water. I'm sorry I can't remember the name, it has been 25 years, but there has to be something.
I hope what you have done fixes it. How kind you were to those people. Please note that odors often go away during dry weather, only to bounce back when it rains or gets humid.
I wish I had awesome hardwood floors under the padding. :( Everything was stripped two years ago, and alas, no great hardwood.
Thanks for the compliment on the house, KM. I actually lived there for 12 years.
And, thanks for the idea about the hazmet type people, Cathy. Ouch, they are expensive!!
We're just going to have to see what's going on with the padding, that's all there is to it. Cut out the yucky stuff, and staple new padding in its place. That sounds like a fun job, doesn't it? :)
I just wanted to tell you of my experience with odor... milk was spilled in the back of my van during a grocery shopping trip soaking the carpet. I cleaned it with my small carpet cleaning machine and then sprayed it with a layer of febreeze. That was the end of that ... even on hot days everything is fine. You might want to try it before you start ripping out carpets and flooring. It has worked on everything I have ever had an odor problem with... and no I am in no way connected with frebreeze. Just a grateful customer. I find it a I do not want to be with out product...shirleyt
thanks Jen,
I love febreeze, use it at home, both the carpet spray and the plug in stuff (I smoke). Unfortunately, there are just certain things febreeze is useless on, and the rental house carpeting would be one of those things.
I know febreeze works well, but I have found I'm hugely allergic to something in it, can't even walk down the isle at the store. Be careful with it around people with allergies until you are sure they are okay with it, it is a chemical.
It is a rarity for me to buy Febreeze, because we once lived next door
(in an apartment, of all things, front doors in close proximity)
to a lady who used it instead of cleaning.
She thought she would just spray a gallon a day and that would fix things,
but in the process, the smell just sickened me. For a long time I could not
handle the smell of Febreeze. It just reminded me of cat urine and nasty
household.
Two weeks ago I bought a bottle of it and have been using it gently,
ever so gently. LOL
indiana_lily hi!
When I moved into the house I reside in now, the previos owner had a dog in which I'm sure of it) used the dining room as her toilet. Now matter what I cleaned with, or how hard I tried, the smell would not go away. For months , I bought every household cleaner immaginable, even bought the "pet odor" products, nothing.
Then one day, I found a product called Nature's Miracle, at PetsMart. It was expensive(20 bucks a gallon), a pain in the butt to apply, took over a week to work, ( the label says, "can take up to two weeks to work") and low and behold, one day, walla, the small was gone. I even got down on my hands and knees sniffing the carpet! LOL
Nothing , nada, zilch!
You follow directions, and you have to satuate the carpet, clear down to the floor, it initially has a strong odor of rubbing alcohol, that goes away as it dries. It's a pain, but the stuff works. I'd rather spend 20 to 40 bucks doing that, than redoing floors if I don't have too.
No , never been there, but they tell me it is nice, DH wants to move there, eventually. I gotta tell you, 3 of my most favorite people are from Indiana. My DH is a VERY serious diehard Colts fan! I'm originally from Silver City New Mexico.
I hope you have the best day, Indiana! And PLEASE , eat some cake for me, cause I need to lose some weight! :D
Well, Hoosiers aren't all that bad. :) Obviously, since you married one!
So far, so great today!! Just received two dozen roses with a teddy bear and chocolates from the greatest boyfriend ever, and am thinking that maybe I should just take half the day off. :) Can I just eat chocolate instead? LOL!!
I happened across this thread looking for something about smells in old houses. Our daughter house, originally a rental, was broken into last week end while she was out of town. She has had it just over a year. She has moved back in with us until a new door etc can be fixed. She is a bit spooked to live there alone now. It has a "smell" and I say as long as she is out lets get the smell addressed. My suggestions include pulling up all of the carpet and pads, pull out the bathtub surround (there is a plumbing problem of little water coming out of the shower head)and address the plumbing. There could be a moisture problem & smell from under the plastic? We have removed all the old curtains etc. Where else? I wish I could go in a gut it but . . .
