Kilz and the Family Cat

Okay, let’s be honest, it’s not always necessarily the family cat.  It could be your beloved basset hound who is long on years is also short on bladder control.  Maybe it’s your high-schooler’s ferret, you know, the one he promised to take care of all by himself to prove just how responsible he is.  For the sake of this article we’ll take one extreme example for illustration.  You have a cat (or dog, or parakeet, or ferret, you fill in the blank) who for some reason loves to perform his daily duties outside the cat box instead of inside where it’s proper.  This has left you with a strong, lingering and unpleasant animal odor on the basement floor that you seem unable to completely get rid of.  You see where I’m going with this.

Animals and odors go hand in hand.  To put it more bluntly, animals and animal waste odors go hand in hand.  And if you have a trouble spot in your Crown Point, Hobart, or Munster home, that favorite spot where Rover or Mittens often relieves himself you need Kilz.  The name doesn’t suggest eliminating the family cat, just the lingering urine odor in your subfloors.  Kilz brand has a line of primer products that are your best chance at eliminating entrenched pet odors and can be used on cement, wood and wood subfloors, drywall, plaster, and all types of masonry.

With a cat, you’re generally speaking about either a cement floor, like in a basement or wood subflooring underneath tile, carpet, etc.  Here’s what this odor-killing project looks like:

1. Pull away tile, carpet, or other floor covering to get to subflooring.  If you’re working with a cement floor you’ll go right on to number 2
2. Thoroughly clean subfloor/cement with water and bleach
3. Allow flooring to completely dry
4. Apply Kilz primer according to directions
5. Apply a second coat of Kilz for particularly troublesome areas
6. Replace flooring

Of course, there could be extenuating circumstances, for example, if your cat sprays the walls downstairs.  Kilz works there too.  Here is a great paint solutions page on other product applications like smoke damage, water stains, and more.