This is a basic outline for dog urine on or in the wood of your subfloor. Usually this is when the urine has gone through the carpet, pad and into the wood. Wood subfloor is under carpet, tile, vinyl, hardwood etc. The subfloor in the picture is under hardwood. The urine can get to the subfloor through any of these surfaces but in my experience it is usually the carpeted area's that have a problem first. Subfloor is either plywood, particle board, chip board or a similar product. Sometimes you will have carpet tack strip baseboard and even Sheetrock that is contaminated with dog urine. When this is the case you will need to address these items to get complete odor removal.
You need to remove or take up the flooring material (carpet, tile, vinyl, hardwood etc) that is in the area of the damage so you can get to the subfloor to repair it.
If the subfloor is lightly contaminated with dog urine you can give it a light cleaning and a light treatment of odor neutralizer. Take care not to over wet it and cause additional damage. Let it dry and seal it with a good varnish, shellac or an acrylic sealer. Many times it is not possible to completely clean these porous wooden materials. Thus the need to seal them. This will seal in any remaining odor or contaminate.
If the subfloor has started to buckle and warp from the moisture you can use a skill saw. Set the blade to the depth of the thickness of the floor (3/4 inch usually) and cut an x through the middle of the warped area. The thickness of the blade will remove enough wood material so you can then fasten the subfloor wood back down flat to the floor and support beams underneath. Use flooring screws for this. You may need to make two cuts depending on how warped the wood is. You just need to remove enough wood so the subfloor will lay flat again.
If the wood is too damaged and warped to repair it this way, then again set the blade to the thickness of the wood and cut the damaged area completely out. Cut a new piece of subfloor material to fit, and replace the bad piece. If there is any urine residue left in it anywhere clean and seal that area with the before mentioned sealing products. Then you will need to replace the section of pad and reinstall or replace the carpet. If you reinstall the carpet you will obviously need to clean and treat it (front and back) first.
Or replace whatever flooring material the damage is under. (Tile hardwood vinyl etc.) If you have questions post them below and I will respond.
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#1 by willie at August 24th, 2010
hi i had lumps under my carpet . when i checked the wood on the subflooring has flaked off from the urine. is this a costly repair?
the wood seems to still be good... i pushed hard on it and it still had restiance
#2 by Dog Urine at August 25th, 2010
Willie
If the moisture from the urine has penetrated the wood in sufficient quantities and for a long enough period of time to begin to delaminate (flake off) the wood then it should be replaced. (Just my opinion) I imaging you have a urine odor and contamination in the wood in that area also again suggesting you replace it. I will explain the way I would replace it which is not very expensive but you need to be slightly handy. I take a skill saw and set the blade to the thickness of the top layer of flooring (approx. 3/8 inch) and cut the contaminated area out. Cut it shallow at first so yo don't cut the wood underneath. You can cut again if you don't get all the way through with the first cut. Cut to the nearest floor joist or support. Then from a new piece of flooring cut a piece to fit the hole (use the piece you cut out as a pattern)and replace that piece fastening it with flooring screws to the floor joist. It is not very hard in most cases. If you higher someone it can get expensive and some will charge more because it is urine they are dealing with.
#3 by business review at July 30th, 2011
.......Persistent cat urine problems may require treating your subfloors........................Most pet owners have to deal with urine stains occasionally. When this occurs it is often necessary to treat the subflooring to prevent odors from seeping back through your carpet linoleum and wood floors.