Restoration & Refurbishment

Urine stinking 3 bedroom house worse case scenario

Anonymous user 23/02/2024 - 3.18 PM

Hi all, A 1930s 3 bedroom semi house near me is coming up for auction, it is cheaper then usual but that’s becuause it’s infested with urine smell, I mean BAD. The WHOLE house stinks. There is nowhere to escape from the smell apart from the garden :) Seems like the previous owner was elderly and had multiple cats for many years before being taken away by social services. I have saved up for many years to do a refurbishment, and this is very near my house so location is great for me, but am concerned if purchased I may need to gut everything now and am only used to refurbishment without gutting so need professionals in of course this time round. The bad smell is coming from everywhere, including walls, all floors under carpet (it’s wood by the way under carpets on both floors). I’m 100% sure all flooring will need ripping out, and have no idea if walls will need treatment too either, so wondering if I bought it, will changing all the floorboards everywhere, (even new stairs needed) will eventually fix the smell, and if so, are we talking weeks for smell to go after gutting or could smell take even years to leave (if done properly)? Finally, Would a budget of around £20,000 (just for changing everything over that may contain smells) even be enough for changing all flooring in a 3 bedroom semi with the full treatments on walls)? With an auction property it’s hard to get someone in to see before it’s sold soon so I need to estimate time and costs and know if it’s even possible to do without knocking the whole house down. Finally, do I need specialists in first, (or do smell specialists even exist) or will a general builder be able to take this on effectively (I would feel sorry for the workers having to sniff the smell while they work though so they may charge more when they smell it). If anyone has experience in this, would be grea to hear your views. Many thanks.