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Here is how to treat Drywall with Cat Urine odor.

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Removing Urine/Scent spray from Plaster, Drywall and Paneled Walls

Removing urine odor and scent spray odors from plaster, drywall and paneling can be :

1. as easy as spraying a little OdorXit Concentrate on the surface of the material or
2. as difficult as removing the plaster, drywall and or paneling and the supporting wood behind it and spraying OdorXit Concentrate on what's left in the area..

Most of the cases we have had the opportunity to become involved with are not as easy as case 1 and not as difficult and case 2. It just depends on how long the problem as existed and how many times the area has been re-contaminated. Of course, if you or someone else has tryed to cover up or seal in the problem with a sealer or paint or another layer of drywall or paneling, odor removal can quickly become more complicated and expensive.

Hopefully, if the offending critter was your cat or dog, you have only gone as far as washing the area with detergent. That having failed, you made your way here for help. That will put you in the case 1 area unless a previous owner engaged in some kind of coverup attempts.

Because OdorXit Concentrate is a liquid, it has a tendancy to run off vertical surfaces like walls. This is effectively addressed by washing the area with detergent and spraying the affected area with a 1 part OdorXit Concentrate to 15 parts water solution. The detergent removes most of the oily substance (which causes the scent spray odor) on the surface that prevents the OdorXit solution from adhering to the vertical surface, while removing much of the material causing the odor. Because the scent spray is so strong and soaks into the surface, several applications are often necessary to completely remove the odor.

The Easy Solution

1. Wash the area that was scent marked with a solution of Joy or Dawn, rinse it with water, and dry the area.
2. Get a bottle of OdorXit Concentrate and add 1 ounce to 15 ounces of water in a 16 ounce bottle with a trigger sprayer and spray the area with a fairly fine mist several times over the next day or 2.
3. If the odor remains, it is most likely odor that is coming from behind and between the baseboard and the wall. If you are lucky, you can ajust the sprayer nozzle to a stream and squirt some OdorXit solution into the gap between the wall and the baseboard.

The Not So Easy Solution

Having tryed the Easy Solution above and it failed to remove all the odor from the area, a more agressive course of acting is indicated.

When the urine and scent spray runs off of the wall, it often runs behind the baseboard. Depending on the porosity of the material the baseboard is made from, it may be necessary to remove and treat it and the wall behind it separately. Often it is cheaper, faster and easier to replace baseboards if they are made of very soft wood or structural foam. (If you are working on an older (pre 50s) house with plaster walls and 6 to 8 inch high baseboards, do not remove the base boards until all else fails.) Further, the drywall may be so heavily involved you may have to remove and replace the lower part to eliminate the damaged drywall or paneling and gain access to the wood behind so that it too can be treated with OdorXit Concentrate to remove the odor.

1. Using a flat style Wonder Bar, carefully remove the baseboard from the wall.
2. Inspect the drywall and baseboard for yellow staining or prudently sniff the base board for signs of spray odor. There will be a matching odorus spot on the wall and possibly on the carpet and floor.
3. Using the Wonder Bar or claw hammer, remove the nails sticking out of the wall prying to the side to aviod punching holes in the drywall, paneling or plaster.
4. Once you have matched up all the smelly spots on the baseboard to the matching spots on the wall, remove the baseboard from the area (to reduce the amount of odor in the area).
5. Wash and rinse the odorus areas as above and spray with the 1 to 15 OdorXit solution. It may take several applications to be completely successful.

The really agressive solution

If the easier solutions fail to remove the odor even more agressive and (unfortunatly distructive) solutions are indicated. In the paneling/drywall case; check for liquid damage or soft drywall at the bottom of the wall.

If there appears to be water damage, there is almost always urine/scent spray behind the paneling or drywall on the 2x4 plate inside the wall and often the bottom end of the studs will be stained and contaminated as well. If this is the case, there will be urine under the plate that needs to be treated as well.

Removing the bottom 24 inches of drywall will insure that you have access to all the contaminated area and plenty or room to manuver in the area. Additionally and more importantly, when you are finished with the odor removal phase and are putting the wall back together, you will be working with 24 inch wide piece of drywall that has a tapered edge on the top, making the finishing process much easier and the piece of drywall will be strong enough to handle easily without it breaking.

Paneling is not quite so easy to repair so it may be necessary to remove the entire sheet. If done carefully it may be salvagable.

Removing plaster and lath or heavy wood plank paneling is much more work and should be done by a professional because the damage incurred can be extensive and the repairs very expensive. However, once inside the wall the odor removal process is the same.

Often spraying the studs, the top, sides and under the plate will be adiquate to eliminate the odor. If that is not the case, injecting OdorXit Concentrate through holes drilled through the plate may be necessary.

Don't forget that the flooring is always involed at this level of contamination.

Click here for a comprehensive discription of working with wood flooring.
Click here for a comprehensive discription of working with concrete and ceramic tile flooring
Click here for a comprehensive discription of working with carpet and padding

Last Update was November, 2009
Last updated April, 2013

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