Removing dog urine stains from hardwood floors

Question

I've already used a stripper to remove the old varnish. The floor was black in a large area. After the stripper and scraping off the surface, I had a white residue that looked hopeful so I lightly rubbed some Scott's Liquid Gold on it to protect it until we have the floors refinished. That turned them black again. Next, I sprayed a bleach cleaner on the stain and that lifted some of the black to a grey color. Here's the real question: assuming all looks well after the sanding, will the black stain rise up when we apply the stain and/or varnish to the newly sanded floors? Help!

Shira · Answer

Oy, this must be frustrating! Here are some similar questions that got great answers, maybe they can help you: http://www.hometalk.com/diy/clean/house/q-hardwood-floors-cleaning-urine-dog-stains-5286051 , http://www.hometalk.com/diy/clean/house/q-animal-accidents-on-wood-flooring-147619 and http://www.hometalk.com/diy/clean/house/q-how-do-i-get-a-large-urine-stain-out-of-a-polyurethane-coated-hardwood-5940008

The Garden Frog with C Renee · Answer

Pet urine destroys wood floors. The floor is ruined and if the area was black you will want to check the subfloor as well. I had a neighbor who rented their house out to a woman with dogs who ruined the floors and they had to pay thousands to have all flooring removed and areas where the floor was black the subfloor was rotted and had to be removed and replaced. (that is a worse case scenario)
There is no easy fix for this. You could try and sand with a floor sander (that is a lot of work) but from experience if the hardwood floor was blackened by urine, it is ruined. I would weigh out all options of replacing the pieces and then sanding the entire floor and then refinish, hire someone, or replace the hardwood flooring with another flooring option (as long as the subfloor is not rotting underneath). Good luck.

Sherrie · Answer

It has eaten through the poly and reached the wood.  Several things you can try to fix it first.  There is a wood bleach that works depending on how bad the stain is, also sanding can remove a lot of it.  But if your looking for a simple fix there is no simple fix.  If this were a smaller spot I would tell you to sand and re-apply stain and sealer.  We redid our hardwoods and they were also stained by animal urine (before we moved in they had carpeting down) I rented a sander sanded down my floors, used wood bleach in some areas.  It removed most of the stain, but not all of it.  If this is rotten in anyway you need to pop out the wood and replace it with a new piece.  I had to on several spots.  I also had renters who animals ruined wood flooring and it was so bad we-replaced a lot of the wood because it wasn't fixable,  and spandex and sealed the rest.  Hope this helps.

Carole · Answer

Whatever you do, if you test on a small area that is perhaps not so noticeable first that might be better than doing the whole thing and having to rethink it if it does not work and the black still comes through. The more stuff you throw at this problem, the harder it will be I think. Replacing the damaged areas with new wood could be the way to go as Sherrie mentioned. Is the dog yours? Is it male or female? Males tend to cock their leg up things in the home if they are not desexed. Some females will also urine mark. If you don't get rid of the scent (remember a dogs nose is a hundred times more sensitive than a human nose) the problem is that the dog may use that spot again. Hope you find a solution.

Hot Shot · Answer

Might have to stain the floor a dark color...

Gail Salminen · Answer

@Jaime McBrady I think your best option is to rent a commercial sander and sand the entire floor. Not sure if you watch 'rehab junkie 'http://www.diynetwork.com/rehab-addict/show/index.html but she has had several houses with this problem and always sands them and then to sand them sometimes mixes several shades of stain. The outcome is always very good. May be some 'character' spots but very appealing to the eye.

LTorrans · Answer

Even if you saNd the floor you may find it haS leached to the subfloor. Not only will you haVe to saNd but you will haVe to restain the entire floor after bleaching the entire floor aNd even then there maY be discoloration. THis floor is absolutely ruined.

Lola · Answer

Don't bother sanding, see if you can find wood to match and patch it in. You will never get rid of the urine stain and if you continue sanding your floors will really be uneven. There is no way but to take it up and replace. Don't waste your money on other solutions.

Jaime McBrady · Answer

Thanks for your advice, Lola and LTorrans, dismal though it may be. I have little left in my budget so I'm hoping I can salvage wood, if that's even an option. By the time I'm finished spending on the replacement boards, sanding and refinishing, do you think it would be cheaper to lay new flooring over it? My older male dog was recently traumatized and has never before had an accident in the house. We're working on it. Omg, it's so much worse than I ever imagined!

Sandy · Answer

buy a nice rug

Kelly Schubert · Answer

Put down Dark Stain

Shawn Brown · Answer

Very helpful post! I am looking at redoing 110 year old hardwood floors, long leaf Yellow pine with some pet area stains over the years. Very helpful, thanks everyone!

Cynthia Lee Wells · Answer

This has been so helpful, I just moved into a rental and when I did the walk through it smelled so bad my friend and I held our breath. I asked the landlord to have it cleaned, he said he would. When it came to move in day I walked in and it still smelled terrible. So I have bern wearing facemasks in hope it helps me stay healthy. I  asked the landlord about it he said he had ' Chem- Dry clean the floor.  Well we all agreed it needed to be done better and felt they did a very crappy job. So the landlord rented a 'Rug Doctor' with shampoo and urine stains chemical to spray down with it. My friend cleaned each room 4 times and it was blackish brown each time. 'Can you say yuck'. Needless to say it still stinks terrible, so I will begin to remove it today, oh what fun. Yesterday I went to the hospital was told I have bronchitis acute and the urine in the carpet can make it worse. I am not going to wait for my health to get worse. I don't have money to move into another place right away, so wish me luck. What a way to spend my birthday. Any advice is helpful and appreciated

Cynthia Lee Wells · Answer

Thanks the landlord said he won't be able to do anything for 3 weeks or more.

Camille Carlin · Answer

Cynthia Lee Wells You might want to contact Idaho Legal Aid Services. Check out this website: http://www.idaholegalaid.org/node/1333/landlord-tenants-rights-responsibilities It seems to me that your landlord has a definite responsibility to correct any situation that is affecting your health and safety. Best of luck.

Glenda Blankenship · Answer

i just had my 63 year old floors re done.they looked just like yours. we had to replace the worst hardwood .the hall was not as bad so they sanded and finished them .there are dark spots .not black just dark.

Kathie M · Answer

Use Hydrogen Peroxide.  Soak a paper towel (small spots) or a rag/towel.  Place on stain.  Weight down with something heavy.  Let sit.  It will bleach out the stain.  Might have to repeat several times.  Worked on my black spots on hardwood floor.

Gail Hall · Answer

Hydrogen peroxide does the trick as per Kathy M but I covered with plastic wrap

Amy · Answer

I like to cover stains with furniture 😬

MD · Answer

JonDon.com Harvard Chemical Pet Stain Off, I had 30+ year old dog urine stains to the point that the capet pad was full of mold and stuck to the floor, a friend that had a cleaning company told me about this site as the place he purchased all of his supplies. The prev owners did not clean for the 30yrs they owned the house, and they put new carpet over the filth. I dont like carpet and given the house was built in 1908 I knew dispite the agent telling us there was no hardwood, there was original hardwood but in really bad shape and this is the only thing that worked.

Vickie Weakley · Answer

SEAL WITH A DARK STAIN WITH SEALER

Sherrie · Answer

Several ways to fix it each aren't that easy.  Strip that area.  Use wood bleach, not laundry bleach.  Stain and re seal.  Replace the wood stain, and seal.

Amy · Answer

Yup... like... couch goes there. lol it's how I rearrange sometimes. :)

Julia Angleworm · Answer

The answer to that depends on one thing.'How Deep the Urine(liquid) sank in. I've been in wood floors off and on for many years. What ever tips you try will blacken up and just be a darker place. Except paint. Sorry.

Kat4317366 · Answer

I have some dark strips that are urine stains. I usually clean it up as soon   as it happen with vinegar. I read to soak a cloth with peroxide & let it sit for 20 min.

Debbie Gartner · Answer

Most likely, these boards are permanently damaged and you either need to replace them or use a dark stain to camouflage them. You can read more about it in this article. http://theflooringgirl.com/hardwood-flooring/how-do-you-get-rid-of-pet-stains-in-hardwood-flooring.html

Dick Phillips · Answer

Okay. Here is what I did and it has worked on Black Dog urine spots. I started out using a paste of white vinegar mixed with baking soda. I saw this on line but it did not do that much, still black. Then I went to spraying regular hydrogen peroxide on the stains. I worked that in a little with a scotch brite pad, resprayed to make it wet and then coated it with a generous coating of baking soda. I put a fan on it and let it dry completely for 24 hours. You can see that the baking soda changes color a little as it seems to suck out the pee. SO the question is will it get it to pristine? Still working the project. I'll come back and let you know, but the black spots are completely gone. Now slight gray shadowing.

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