Cat Urine Horror

This situation was a learning experience for everyone...even the home inspector!

My client was desperate to find a place to live as their house in New Jersey was closing and they were working in the airline industry at Dulles Airport. They found a townhome to purchase and we were in the process of doing a home inspection.  When we got down to the basement, the wife could faintly smell "Cat" and we all noticed there was a litter box in the utility room so assumed that was where the smell was coming from. There was ALL NEW carpet in the basement and everything looked good.  We closed the deal.

After this lovely couple moved in, the smell still lingered.  After further investigation, the wife determined that the smell was coming from under the carpet.  She called Loudoun Valley Floors and they came out pulled the carpet back and exposed what you see above.  Cat-urine soaked baseboards and cement. The carpet and pad sat so high that it masked the baseboard damage as well as the smell.

Loudoun Valley Floors ended up replacing the carpet and pad and these folks had to hire a company to treat the cement.  It was a costly lesson.

So if you smell a cat or dog in a house and there is brand new carpet, be sure to first, get down and use your nose to see if there is more to the smell and secondly, push the carpet down next to the baseboard to see if you can detect damage that a seller is trying to hide.  Since these fixes, these wonderful clients took the time to find and purchase the perfect house with a big yard for them and their two boys and the townhouse is now an investment property....with no pets allowed!