If only the internet had smellorama

We have six cats, three of whom have chronic urinary infections. They are on special diets for the rest of their lives and they’re happy enough. The problem is, they just. won’t. use. the. litterbox. Hence, we have the Cat Pee House.

As we’ve done with renovations past, (we’ve always had a multiple cat household) we will embark on getting rid of the pee smell this week. That means nothing less than ripping up the floor.

Don’t be sad for us. If the floor was in salvageable condition, we wouldn’t have let it get this far. She was a great old floor, she was. Old long strips, probably installed around the 40’s or earlier. But there wasn’t any life left in her. She was sanded so many times that the tongue and grooves were starting to show. She didn’t have another sanding left in her.

And so we took up the floor. Then discovered the subfloor was destroyed. Ok, now you can start feeling bad for us. That looked to be in decent shape in some areas, but we’re not sure all the damage was caused by our cats. We left the original lower subfloor in, even though it got hit with the pee too.

So, here’s the plan….

This is a temporary solution until we rebuild the garage, adding a causeway to the house. That will be the new cat friendly area. At the rate things are going, all of our cats will be dead by then and we just may be also.

Anyway, plywood. That’s it. We put down tar paper underneath to protect the already peed on subfloor. This week I’ll be caulking, painting and sealing it. And of course, why not repair plaster and paint the entire room while I’m at it?

As with past deadlines, there’s a reason we’re rushing to do this now. Ah, the old house guests! The only time we ever finish projects. So this week, this blog will look like a real “renovation blog” as I chart my progress. Because I won’t have time to come up with any other kind of post.

* Follow this on Twitter.

This isn’t all cat pee. We soaked it in Nature’s Miracle before deciding to tear it out anyway.

Revealing the sub sub floor

The dogs were mostly responsible for the damaged door.

It took us an entire weekend (hubby alone on Saturday) to rip up 2 layers of flooring and install plywood. 

Everything is in the dining room now. Including the dust.