starting last phase of new house...
bathroom. dogs left closed up in bathroom by previous owner. p.o. also
had teenage sons. bathroom had vinyl flooring, now pulled up, bare slab
(with glue remnants) exposed for almost two years now.
bathroom reeks of urine. badly. has been scrubbed (and rescrubbed) (and
then rescrubbed again...repeat countless times) with almost everything we
could lay our hands on. toilet removed, cleaned and replaced. vanity
simonized as well. wife is convinced floor is the source of the problem,
i.e., stench has penetrated the slab. fwiw there is (was) a crack in the
room that we filled with concrete crack filler.
this weekend I'm laying tile in the room. installing a new vanity and
toilet, etc. only the tub stays, and that only because there's no way to
get a new tub in. my thinking was that this would solve any problems,
sealing the floor. but now I wonder...if it is the slab (and it really
couldn't be anything else except maybe the drywall, and it's been painted
with multiple coats of killz and latex bathroom gloss) is the tile/mortar
permeable enough that smell could get through it?
please say no...otherwise I suspect we'll have to sell this house. no one
uses this bathroom now, and between children and a wife we need, oh, about
12 bathrooms in the house.
since I'm going to tile even if it might permeate through, can anyone
recommend a cleaner? I just thought of baking soda. we've discovered
bleach and ammonia make the situation worse, apparently it has something to
do with a reaction to the acidic urine. we've tried pet odor
removers. any other suggestions?
thanks in advance.
scott
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