Hi all, I have recently moved house into an old converted barn. The people that lived here before had many dogs. When we viewed the house, the smell of dog was overwhelming, however I thought that when they left and I gave it a scrub it would be ok. Don't get me wrong, I have nine shepherds that all live in so I am used to the normal doggy odours but this is horrendous!!
Basically we have the original floorboards downstairs and the smell of ammonia is unbearable, I have cleaned the house from top to bottom and the windows and doors are always open in all weathers so there is plenty of fresh air circulating. I decided to mop the floor with my usual dog disinfectant mistral but this hasn't even touched the smell, I have tried bleach too but no change.
I am beginning to think that my making the floor wet whilst mopping has actually made things worse :(

Any advice would be great as it really is unbearable. Goes without saying that any remedy must be dog safe.

Thanks in advance. Lucy :)

A powerful steam cleaner like a Polti will sanitize and kill bacteria which will make it smell better. :)

I'm guessing you'll need to get hold of a sander and take off the top surface. It's probably lost any sealant and moisture has soaked in. I'd sand it, then use a dehumidifier for a few days and then reseal.

try biological washing powder left to soak.

Ditto arched.  You may not be able to remove the source of odours that have sunk into porous materials.  Removing as much as you can then sealing the rest in might work.  I imagine this would entail sealing all floors and walls, since dogs can anoint walls.  You can buy special odour sealing paint for walls and floors but I wonder, if your barn has exposed beams, how to handle them?  Sealant will likely spoil the look if you have them.  Good luck.  I know people who have had this problem, dog urine smell and cigarette smoke smell, and it's awful.

Thanks everyone, luckily it appears to be confined to one particular room so if I need to sand down floors etc it won't take too long. Was wondering if baking soda would maybe absorb some of the moisture from the floorboards, it definitely smells worse since I mopped it :(

I'd be inclined to consult a professional cleaning company too, you probably need as much specialist advice as you can get

How recently did you move?  I wonder if you have any recourse to ask for the previous owners to pay for a specialist cleaner OR whether you can claim on your insurance...  Do try calling your conveyancing solicitor for advice.

If you have original floorboards, are they laid over a cavity?  If so then the urine will have seeped through and soaked the sub floor as well as being absorbed by the accumulated dust and dirt that will have fallen through over the years.  You might be looking at getting parts of the floor lifted to clean it properly.  In the meantime you could look at brushing bicarbonate of soda over the floor and into the gaps as that's quite effective at absorbing odours.  Bicarb is safe for dogs and is the 'original' shake n vac type product.  Obviously you want some of it to fall through onto the sub floor but it might be a good idea to leave it undisturbed on the floorboards for as long as possible, at least overnight.

Good luck

Yes floorboards are laid over a cavity, I lifted one of the boards and the smell is underneath too. Shall sprinkle bicarbonate over it tonight and throw some in the cavity too. Think I will deffo have to consult cleaning company. We only moved two weeks ago but it is completely ruining the joy of the new house as every visitor has commented on it :-(

We moved into a house years ago that had been previously occupied by people with three afghan hounds. The dog smell was strong, but we thought it would leave with them. Most of the rooms were ok, but the dining room was very smelly. On lifting the dark green carpet we found that the dogs must have always pee'ed in one spot (the middle) as the concrete floor below showed an enormous damp patch. We chucked the carpet and under felt and scrubbed the patch with everything in the cleaning cupboard before the smell finally began to abate.
I can't imagine what the dogs living in your house were doing to create such a smell that has impregnated itself into the floor boards. I'm always concerned about doggy odours in the house and try to keep it as fresh as I can. When we last our last dog, we had a break of six months before we got the current one and I was amazed how quickly the dog smell disappeared from the house (and how quickly it reappeared again when we got Isla), but I know I'm sensitive to smells.

I'm wondering fi you could get a large sack of char oal dust to sprinkle onto the subfloor under the boards.

How horrible and upsetting for you. When I had 2 pups close together I found I was getting a stale urine smell which was getting worse and very obvious. I have tiles on the floor and I think it was made worse by underfloor heating.    As  my normal cleaner wasn't doing the job I asked my vet what he uses at his practice and he suggested Trigene, which is available on the internet. I think it would be worth a try, especially if you have a small room you can concentrate on first, but you may have to soak/wash the floor several times as your situation sounds far worse than mine.  You should  be able to speak to someone who can give you advice if you phone the manufacturers directly. Don't bother with the odour control products but go for the disinfectant which can be used safely with dogs.

http://websites.uk-plc.net/Medichem_International_Marketing_Ltd/

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

oops! Charcoal

This stuff is worth a go, it really works http://www.urineoff.co.uk/

So sorry to hear this - as dog lovers we all hate the thought of smelling 'Doggy' - but its very hard not to when you have lots of dogs - and especially when they have full access to the house.

I tend to clean normally each day with a big 'De dogging' once a month - but even so, with 4 giant breed double coated dogs in the house I dare say to outsiders my house must be pretty smelly.

I tend to use diluted hibi scrub on my floors - it dosent appear to do much, but I find it neutralises the odours - and I know its safe when the dogs come accross it. Also, every few months I wash everything dog with pavovirucide fespecially before having puppies - it has a bubble gum smell.

I dont use many air freshners or plug in - only in rooms the dogs dont often go in as I find these simply mask over the top and make the smell worse - like someone with bad body pour squirting deodarant on top .. I sometimes turn the radiators up full blast and dab some fabric softner on them with a sponge - gives the room a great smell !

Thank you all, it seems we are finally making some headway and there has been a definite improvement, I used a steam mop on it, we hired a dehumidifier and I chucked loads of bicarb in the cavity and in any gaps etc. the smell is definitely lessened.

Ghost, it's not normal doggy odour, I have nine GSD that all live in the house so I am used to keeping on top of the everyday doggy smell, this was an awful smell of ammonia from the dogs that lived here previously. Thank you all for your suggestions.

I'm sure that steam is the answer rather than covering the smell with something else.  :)

If you can get hold of a steamer which has a nozzle that you can direct into all the cavities, that might be even better. :)

Yes i think you are right WC, i am going to invest in a decent one as it has definitely made a difference and the house is smelling a lot sweeter :-)

http://www.johnlewis.com/polti-pocket-steam-cleaner/p230843351
Look at this one.  It'll do all your cleaning from oven to floors and windows.  It'll be invaluable in a dog house. :) :)

I don't know if they still do it, but Tescos used to do a spray on orange oil for polishing wooden floors a few years ago.  I never shop there now as I can't stand the place, but I can vouch that it was very good at cleaning and polishing floorboards, and it smelt lovely. 

I wonder if it's the same one I use to spray and clean my beech table? Agree, it smells gorgeous and lasts for quite a while.

Goodness, we are in EXaCtLY the same situation, moved 2 weeks ago, previous owner had at least 15 bulldogs plus some Lhasa apsos and at least one collie and a million cats.

We have 4 dogs and 32 fancy rats so aren't super pernickety but OMG, the place made our eyes water and your nose want to drop off.

We have steam cleaned, jeyes fluided, bicarbonate of soda etc and starting to make headway but floors downstairs need sanding and somehow sealing, in ours the garage was particularly horrific and it's amazing what a difference painting the walls and floor with garage paint has made, the worrying bit is that we know we are getting used to it, so hard to know how bad it still is :(

How she lived here I have no idea :(

Thank you Westcoast, that one looks ideal and a reasonable price too.

Busy dogs I really feel for you, it really takes the shine off of moving doesn't it! I agree about getting used to the smell. We are definitely making headway, I think chucking loads of bicarb under the floorboards in the cavity helped and the steamer make a difference too. I am going to seal them soon ( when I work out how to do it) . The people that used to live her bred Afghans and this particular room was their whelping room, god knows how they lived with the smell and what state it must have got into to smell this bad..........

Interesting that it's Afghans as those were the dogs kept in the smelly house that we bought (see post further up)

My husband says brush salt and bicarb into the floor boards and into the spaces between the boards