Anyone think there is much value in trying to seal the odors by painting the studs & beams with multiple coats of shellac or oil primer? I did not detect the odor until I stripped away the 1950’s knotty pine panels. That was literally years ago. Not exaggerating. In hot humid weather a strong odor surfaces again.
This house is about 150 years old. The room, which is destined to be the kitchen, is about 16 ft square, with 3 walls being exterior walls. It’s the exterior walls that are the problem. The wood is old, rough cut, and a bit soft. It’s post and beam construction, with rough sawn studs on the beams. Beams include sill beam, upper beam, and smaller support beams in between. The lap siding is nailed directly to the studs. I am reluctant to try the bleach or enzyme because there is just so much lumber to treat and it’s soft and roughcut. I will try it if people think it will actually work.
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In a recent remodel I opened up a wall and found a mice cemetery. In two different stud bays...
at least 30 little dead mouse remains... was quite sick and stunk like no other.
anyway, a coat of kilz helped hide the odor fairly well, but some residual stayed around.
I'm sure there is a better way to take care of the odor, but I do not know what it is.
My parents bought an old farmhouse that had seven layers of linoleum in the kitchen. Three layers down they found a dead mouse. Under the bottom letter was a newspaper (they still have) that was headlined "Lindbergh hailed in New York".
This house also was inhabited by around a dozen cats, and the linoleum had been laid down on the cat poop.
Musta been a"contoured" lineoleum surface!
Ed,
I ran into the same problem with my 1820s farmhouse. I know you said that you didn't want to use enzymes but that was what ended up working the best. Our walls were open for months so I had the "luxury"(???) of experimenting. Simple Solution for cat urine worked the best, undiluted in a spray bottle so I didn't soak everything too badly.
Now that the stench is gone, I wish I could keep the little critters out...
DGW
The fire clean up and repair businesses use Kilz to cover the odor of burned wood so it should work fine to cover mouse odors.
mennen "Speed stick" teeny,tiny, speed sticks.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
spray gun, shoot it w clear shellac, that's the effective base of kilz clear won't leave color pigment around as a telltale that something was done wear good chem mask, cotton painters hood, goggles
I will go with the Kilz or some brand of shellac. I'd been thinking of the oil primer because the old rough sawn wood is so soft that I thought shellac might dry too quickly to penetrate. I'll experiment.
However, Ddubya, it's your experience with the cat odor enzyme solution that has me seriously thinking about doing that prior to sealing. Your house was built in 1820, so I am thinking you had similar conditions of lots of lumber, all very rough cut, and soft. I will be using gallons of the material, spraying it generously daily for weeks. I thought the idea was to keep it moist and thus activated. Yet you say you didn't overly soak it. Did you keep it wet? For how long did you keep spraying? I don't think I will be able to test different methods on different spots because the odor is in the from all over the place.
Re: How much to use etc. I sprayed on enough to dampen the surface but didn't go crazy, flooding the wood. The initial application soaked right in, then I added enough to keep the surface damp, i.e., a few more squirts. That was it. The enzymes only need about 15-20 minutes to do their thing so it isn't really necessary to keep it wet for extended periods of time. Hope this helps. I can sympathize with your predicament and the blast of mouse odor as you walk in on a nice humid day.
DGW
I think I would go with the shellac here sprayed.When I did a flood remediation in 2002, I found a ZEP aerosol called "smoke eliminator" that went a long way in killing the mildew odor and helped later, when I removed a dead rat which was fully envolved in it's final biological contribution... that is the nastiest thing ever, the odor and sight ...
Try OdorXit - it really works. http://odorxit.com
A decomposing raccoon under my woodshed was causing a bit of a "stink". One application of this stuff took care of the problem. I did remove and bury the carcase first. You have to dilute OdorXit. I little goes a long way. Good luck