Bought a cottage this summer. Long list of To Do’s and fixes to be made (like removing the glass wool insultation STUFFED INTO electrical boxes! Yikes!).
Another job is to remove insulation that previous owners insulated the first floor joists with. Yes, the cottage has a basement and they insulated the floor joists and even put a vapour barrier over it. I guess because the basement was cold and humid and they were too cheap to waterproof and insulate the foundation.
Here’s the problem. I have started to remove the insulation and found lots of mouse dropping and it STINKS! I think there must be lost of mouse pee in there that is stinking it up.
How do I get rid of the smell? I was thinking of spraying the joists and underside of the subfloor with shellac. Would that work? Any suggestions?
Edited 11/6/2007 7:38 pm ET by canoehead2
Replies
be careful not to breathe too much, you might be exposing yourself ho hantavirus.
Use some white pigmented schallac to seal it with.
"What's an Arkansas flush?......It's a small revolver and any five cards."
There is a product designed to neutralize pet #### smell.It is usually available at those big pet stores.I think it is called natures miracle.
shellac's not a bad idea if it's dry.
but be sure to turn off all possible sources of ignition, that much airborne alcohol could be like a distillery fire...
Expert since 10 am.
Try this stuff:
http://www.ptbent.com or 800-478-2368
I was at the cat show and the lady in this booth sprayed a towel with vinegar. She sprayed the Knock-Out on it and you couldn't smell it.
Kowboy
She would have demo that over ammonia to convince me
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Actually, vinegar does work-mice pee pH is >7. Vinegar(pH<7)neutralizes. Do not use bleach-makes problem worse. Have had similar experience, only worse-with rat #### and poop in a dirt floor crawl space. Put on grungiest clothes, showercap, gloves, mask, and went to work.
I think a lot of us would love to see a picture of you wearing a showercap while working. :)
What is it worth to you?
:) The mental image I have is probably funnier than any picture :)
I know that the vinegar can neutralize pee odor, but if that product was demonstrated on vinegar odor as stated, that wouldn't prove anything about whether it can kill pee odors
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
spray the shellac clear should be ok that's what we used to seal up fire jobs, smoke smell would not return wear quality chemical mask w replaceable filters and goggles
"I'm not responsible for my actions."
Thanks everyone.
calling the resident mouse poop expert... the bat light is shining, canoehead2 needs you
Sorry y'all I was in NY on business (man is the traffic in Manhattan crazy or what wow).
Our infested with rats house stunk horribly. If the place was insulated with fiberglass insulation you something similar you can pretty much guarantee that its all soaked with rodent ####. If the PO's poisoned the buggers then you got dead mouse also stinking up the place. Its a safe bet that they are probably inside the walls in the ceiling and you will not get the stank out unless you demo and remove the soiled building materials.
2nd and 3rd the mouse droppings hantavirus thing. The probably of the mouse droppings containing hanta are very, very high and you are surrounded by them....wear a good dust mask-this is not a time to cheap out.
After you have removed as much soiled building material as possible its time to neutralize the stank. I've heard good things about natures miracle but its not cheap. What I used was. You want to mix up three parts water, one part bleach, one part white vinegar, and a splash of pine-sol. Buy a cheap garden sprayer (this will destroy it) cover yourself and wear goggles and a good filter-mask and soak all the stinky areas with the oxidizing solution. You can tell when you hit a juicy part because the solution foams up a bit. Keep spraying till there is no more foaming and you should be done. It took three good soakings on the rat pee soaked framing to get rid of the smell.
Hope this helps,
Daniel Neumansky
Restoring our second Victorian home this time in Alamdea CA. Check out the blog http://www.chezneumansky.blogspot.com/
Oakland CA
Crazy Homeowner-Victorian Restorer
I use fabreeze on my hockey equipment and that stuff gets ripe!
"it aint the work I mind,
It's the feeling of falling further behind."
Bozini Latini
http://www.ingrainedwoodworking.com
Hey canoe head. I have a cottage in northern Ontario, around Sudbury - where I grew up. We don't even have electricity there, never mind a basement. Most of the best ideas for the smell have already been stated.
Now you add to your fall close up list, distribute the mouse food, aka Warfarin.
Welcome to the endless work of the pleasure of owning a cottage!
Let's not confuse the issue with facts!
I've caught at least a dozen mice already with traps (squeemish DW and kids stay in the car when we arrive while I empty the traps). I'm not looking forward to removing the vapour barrier and insulation. Suspect it will be really gross.
The previous owners stored a huge bag of bird seed in the basement. Must have been a real smorgesborg for the little rodents!
Edited 11/8/2007 8:48 am ET by canoehead2
Edited 11/8/2007 8:48 am ET by canoehead2
Nature's Miracle hands down.
I purchase the gallon containers (PetsMart) & transfer to a spray bottle. There are some warnings on the container but it literally EATS away the pee residue. I basically clean up anything that's obvious. Shake the the spritz bottle and then spray the entire area until wet. Let dry (let no pets/people mess with it) and check it out. The nice thing is that you can go over it as many times as necessary.
Nicht schneien, NICHT SCHNEIEN!! As far as red alerts on escapes, we are over 20 & I'm not counting anymore. She just wants playtime w/Sheba. When she's done, she goes back over the fence. Dogs are weird.
heh heh I read the post without looking at the name and when I started reading the bottom byline I knew it was you!
Darnitall. I hate being predictable.A double recipe of Mocha Panna Cotta, a quadruple recipe of Fleur De Sel Caramel. I think I'm ready for Mother's B-day party, tho she may just look at the bowl & ask, "Where is everyone elses share?"
Before treating the smell, and before disturbing anything, treat the area and the air to a good soaking with lysol, go outside and enjoy the fresh air for 15 minutes, then come back and do your thing. Mouse pee carries disease (including hantavirus, which has a pretty high mortality rate) and when you stir things up you can breathe it in.
For the poster who said not to use bleach: that won't work for the smell, but bleach is great at killing the germs that can kill us. It has to be soaked in before disturbing anything though.
Thanks. I've heard about hantavirus and how it can survive in dried rodent droppings.
I've heard about hantavirus and how it can survive in dried rodent droppings. No smidt!!! Use a respirator rated for biohazards.
Let people know that you have been cleaning up rodent dropings so if you get sick the medics will suspect Hantavirus.
It is easily aerosolized when disturbed, so really soak everything with disinfectant, and make sure you give it time to work. Here in Utah opening up of homes that have been unoccupied for awhile has resulted in several deaths.
Your wife and child are right to be squeamish about going near dead mice. They not only carry disease, but the fleas and lice that jump off their dead bodies also carry disease.
Might the same concerns be realized with bat droppings?
Never seen anything on Hantavirus in bats. Bats are rabies carriers. That is they can have the virus and not die from it. Most cases of rabies are from bat bites. Know of only one reputed human survivor of rabies. Rabies is a very scary virus as it is fatal if you are not treated after being bitten by a rabid animal.
Got me wondering as I need traverse an old unused attic and after rigging a flood up there during an exploratory mission all I could see were bat dropping atop the celluose, beneath the ..eek..old k&t wiring.
I'd wear a respirator. Some scientists suspect that rabies virus can survive for thousands of years - it has been hypothesized that "curses" associated with entering certain Egyptian tombs were actually people catching rabies that had been entombed. I'm not sure if it survives in the droppings, but if you had any bats drooling up there....
Whoa. Never thought I'd read that I might get 'cursed' as a result of taking care of this problem.
Maybe I should just get a positive pressure biohazard suit, a backpack-mounted spayer, industrial-grade rubber boots and gloves (with double layer of nitrile underneath just in case), put up a yellow caution tape perimeter 100 meters from the cottage, leave DW and kids at home and spray that bleach, detol, vinegar solution everywhere!
Sheesh!
Anymore I'm kinda thinking 'well, ya know...'.