Smelley Problem...

So I've just moved again... and the only real major problem we have is the smell:o the previous owner had two dogs which she let have the run of the downstairs and garden when she was away (daughter would come and feed them regularly so they were well catered for) which means that the downstairs has a really bad unwashed dog odour and also the garden stinks to high heaven of dog poop the downstairs is completely laminate/lino flooring and so far we've bleached the floor and smell still permeates through that!:( is there anything which we can use to get rid of the smell? and can anyone think of anything to get rid of the smell in the garden as well?

Many thanks,

- Aesculus

 

for indoors buy some old fashioned dettol (the brown liquid) .... add 1/2 a bottle to a bucket with 2 litres of water and wipe all the walls/cupboards/surfaces and mop the floors

the place will smell like a public toilet/hospital for a while and may help ... you may need to do this a few times

then, buy one of these (Yankee candle sandalwood) ... many Clintons card shops, and garden centres stock these .... loads of yankee candle sellers on ebay aswell, but buy the large jar as it has a larger surface area and the smell is stronger than the smaller jars (costs approx £18 for a large jar, but you get approx 500hrs of smell):



for outside, mow the lawn to pick up all the dog poo with the lawnmower

 

Try cleaning the floor with a STRONG solution of white vinegar. Leave it set for a good 5 or 10 mins before you mop it up. About 1/2 of the bottle mixed with water and normal washing up soap, just a squirt. Do this as needed and it should help. You can also try adding some bicarb of soda ( baking section in the shop ) although that is better on carpets. As for the outside just pick up and poop you find and let the rain and weather kill the smell. Yay.

 

Like you haven't already done it () but the first and obvious thing to do is have the doors and windows open as much and for as long as you can stand, then back that up with washing the floors with something like Jeyes fluid - diluted as indicated on the tin - or Zoflora (available in any supermarket) which is also excellent.

You're probably going to have to use whatever you choose, several/many times before you get rid of the smell completely. When you get around to it, redecorating will help, in the meantime I'd steer clear of 'air freshners' since they just mask one smell with another - or combine the two which is even worse - but go for odour eliminators, probably the plug-in type which give continuous 'fragrance'.

If you've the time and inclination, I'd brush dry bicarb., (just ordinary cooking bicarbinate of soda) over the floors, particularly getting it into the minute cracks between laminate flooring boards and around skirting boards, leave it for a day or two, vacuum it up and repeat - it's 'cheap as chips' and great at 'soaking up' odours (my cat's litter tray always has bicarb in the bottom and I always keep a small pot in the fridge).

 

If you can, try lifting a bit of the lino to inspect underneath. If the flooring is chipboard, then that could hold the "problem". The company I work for manages over a 100 rented properties and it has been known for tenants to replace the carpets with lino/laminate after the animals have wee'd on the carpets and they don't want to be found out!

 

Thanks everyone that gives us some ideas to b getting on with and hopefully the smell will go, in the house it's just an unwashed dog smell and luckily no other dog smells, if that makes sense:WINK1:

Many Thanks,

Aesculus