Hey guys! We're still alive...I've missed blogging, but this house is sucking up 110% of our free time. We're hoping to move in this weekend!
The basement has really set us back, time wise. The jack*ss who owned the house before us (we also call him "that sh*thead," among other things), owned a dog that he had no business owning. The dog escaped from the fenced in backyard and bit someone, so the owner locked the dog up in the basement. For 4 months straight.
This breaks my heart for the dog. The dog was forced to go to the bathroom in its playspace, which is so cruel.
We knew the basement was gross when we bought the house, but I didn't think that clean up would be this intense. The basement is unfinished with concrete floors, wooden stairs, a walk out, a 4 windows. Last week Ryan and I soaked the floors with Comet and hot water and scrubbed with these nylon scrub brushes he bought at Big Lots. That made it smell worse, because then it smelled like old dog pee and wet dog. Yum.
Then the drain clogged. Ryan pulled out handfuls of matted, soaked dog hair, but the drain wasn't draining 100%.
The next day, Friday, my mom and I scrubbed again with a special product made for animal urine in concrete. That got off at least 1 layer of grime. (Mom had a snake and unclogged the drain. A dog toy was stopping it all up). I took a shop vac (best thing EVER) and sucked up all the fossilized dog turds and huge wads of dog hair, then we scrubbed the floors again with vinegar.
It still smelled worse. The more we scrubbed, the more dirt leeched up from the concrete floors, the more urine smell we seemed to unlock. The smell was rising upstairs, too.
Saturday. Saturday we scrubbed twice with Tri Sodium Phosphate and a power sprayer. This was the most effective thing yet. We've come to the conclusion that the stairs (which are wooden) are responsible for a great deal of the smell, so we're painting those with a special odor blocking paint. We're also going to rip out the wood shelving that's down there. It's oak, and we hate to do it, but even if the dog didn't pee directly on the wood, those shelves have been marinating in that stench for years.
Just working in the basement requires masks for your face and gloves. It is the grossest thing I think I have ever done. But we are finally seeing some progress, because when we got to the house yesterday, the odor seemed much less pungent than it has.
Anyway. Hopefully I'm buying a camera this weekend, so I can document all of our progress!
Did you run in to any roadblocks with your home?
First of all, I'm surprised that you haven't called the SPCA. This type of animal cruelty is disgusting. Secondly, I can't believe you've cleaned so many times and it STILL smells. I'm so glad you've been able to clean all of this and I hope you get to move in this weekend!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, what a mess. Our basement is creepy, but luckily nothing like that! So glad it's finally getting better, though!
ReplyDeleteHannah-
ReplyDeleteThe neighbors called the cops and animal control on the guy. They ended up removing 1 dog from the home but let him keep one (??). Animal control wouldn't do anything so the neighbors started calling the realtor....it was a huge mess. The guy has absolutely no business having a pet. Normally I'm so hesitant to call-I'm always afraid the Human Society will get the dog, and since the dog was mean and aggressive (who would'nt be after those living conditions, right?), I know that the dog would've been put to sleep after 2 weeks. It's sad to say, but I do believe that the dog would've been better off.
People should have to have a license to have pets. And kids maybe, but that's a whole other blog post!
Okay so this kinda happened with us too, but not that bad.....the previous owner had a huge St. Bernard in the house and kept her overnight in the entry way of the house with hardwood floors. It smells like dog urine so bad and we can't get it out!
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