How to Get Cat Urine Odor out of Wood Floors

Impermeable Wood Surfaces

Impermeable, well-sealed wood surfaces do not allow liquids to pass below the top coating. Check on this by depositing a few drops of water on the top of the flooring. Wait for about two hours. If the water is still beaded up and standing, you can consider the surface to be impermeable.

1. Spot-Clean the Area

   Clean the problem area first with water and a sponge to remove the majority of the urine spot. Paper towels or even old newspapers also work—and are more environmentally friendly for this purpose.

2. Dispose of Cleaning Supplies

   Dispose of the sponge used previously and thoroughly clean out the bucket. Doing this will ensure the area does not get recontaminated during the rest of the cleaning process.

3. Apply Product

   Spray the odor-removing product directly on the problem area.

4. Let Soak

   Depending on the specific product, you may need to leave it soaking on the urine area for a short period.

5. Wipe Area

   Wipe up the urine with a new sponge or with a clean rag.

6. Rinse Area

   Lightly rinse off the area with clean water.

7. Let Dry

   Let the area completely dry out.

Tips for Cleaning Cat Urine off Impermeable Wood Surfaces

• Factory- or pre-finished wood floors can be more affected by cat urine than site-finished wood floors. Pre-finished floors' planks are individually stained and sealed in a factory. After the installation in your home, seams remain, which may allow for the urine to permeate. Site-finished floors are raw, unfinished wood floors that are first installed in your home and then stained and sealed. The benefit is that sealant has permeated and filled in the seams, preventing the urine from entering.
• Before you take any drastic measures such as sanding the floor, first try cleaning the hardwood floor with a cat urine odor removal product. If the wood floor has a solid finish, with no seams between the boards, there is no reason why these products will not work.
• Determine if your floor is actually made of wood, since many floors that appear to be wood are, instead, luxury vinyl plank, wood-look ceramic tile, or laminate flooring. All of these are liquid-impermeable surfaces and can be cleaned with a urine odor removal product. These products are specially formulated to eliminate odors and sometimes even remove the urine itself. Typically, they contain water, hydrogen peroxide, and a host of other agents such as sodium hydroxide and alcohol ethoxylates.

Permeable Wood Surfaces

If your wood floor has gapped seams or a poor finish that allows liquids to soak in, you may have to sand away the cat urine. The urine and its odor will have already sunk into the seams or the porous surface. As long as you have solid hardwood floors, you can deeply sand them with a drum sander. For engineered wood floors, only light sanding with a disk sander is possible, since the top wood veneer is too thin to allow for deep sanding.

1. Check for Floor Thickness

   Determine if your floorboards have enough thickness left for another sanding. Pulling up a threshold is a good way to determine the thickness of your flooring. If the flooring has been sanded at or just above the tongue-and-groove, it is too thin to sand.

2. Tape up Plastic Sheeting

   Contain dust with plastic sheeting taped to doors, windows, and other avenues where dust might escape.

3. Rent the Correct Sander

   Rent a floor sander. For minimal sanding, rent a vibrating floor sander or floor disk sander. If you need deeper sanding, rent a drum sander. For sanding close to baseboards and trim, rent an edge sander or you may choose to buy a random-orbiting sander for your home and use it instead.

4. Remove Quarter-Round and Baseboards

   Remove quarter-round with a flat pry bar before sanding. Before using the pry bar, run a box cutter along the joint or seam to cut through any caulk or paint, and cover the prybar with a cloth to avoid damaging your baseboard or walls. You'll do a better job, too, if you can remove the baseboards.

   As with the quarter-round, gently pry back the baseboards with a flat pry bar. Make sure that the back of the pry bar is resting over a stud for better support. If the baseboards are heavily painted-over, removing them may cause more damage. In this case, leave them on and sand as close as possible to them.

5. Sand Floors

   Run the drum sander over the flooring. It is easy to cause irreparable damage to your floor with a drum sander, so be patient and never press down on the sander. Never let any sander rest in place while running; always keep it moving. Always start with coarser sandpaper, then work down to finer grits.

6. Clean up Debris and Sawdust

   Thoroughly clean the floor with a broom, followed up by two damp mops, with the mop thoroughly pressed out so that it feels almost dry to the touch.

7. Apply Floor Finish

   Coat the floor with a water-based urethane finish.