So just about a year ago my husband and I brought home our third cat. It was a male cat and about six months ago we noticed a stench in our home and knew it was either cat spray or cat pee. So we had our carpets professionally steam cleaned. Since then whenever we run our heat or our air we can smell that stench coming up out of the vent system. I know he messed around the vent system because our registers are white and I could see spotting on them. So now we are thinking about having our air ducts cleaned out professionally as well ... has anyone had this done to their home and did it help with any smells coming out of the system? I am just thinking there must be a lot of bacteria growing down in those vents and thats what is adding to the smell ... thanks for any help!!
All they do with air duct cleaning is blow air through and vacuum. Nothing more. If you notice WHICH vents it's coming from, I suggest scrubbing those, and if you can, unscrewing the vent covers and cleaning the louvres and as much as you can reach with bleach or any kitchen cleaner or those pet odor cleaners that use enzymes to eat away the urine smell. That's the only thing that will help - not air duct cleaning.
Mleissa
well we are pretty certain the smell is coming from both of the dining room vents. I have taken off the floor registers and soaked them in hot bleach water and then I took a hot bleachy soapy rag and washed as far down as I could get my arm to go but the stench is still there ... I just thought that when they do air duct cleaning it would remove that odor because there are several websites that offer an odor neutralizer .. plus its supposed to remove bacteria which I would assume is growing in there now because of old pee .. but I don't know ... I am very frustrated because I sure do love my cats and would hate to get rid of him but I CANNOT live with an animal peeing in my house!
On the air vent cleaning, you can describe the problem and they can do more than just vacuum it, but as a19 said, know who you're dealing with so that you aren't ordering more than you need. We had a little guy who liked to pee in vents. We could usually catch him in time, but unfortunately, we discovered his "pee vent" fascination the hard way. DO NOT use amonia based products if you try to clean it yourself. Use a bleach based product. Good luck.
thanks everyone ... I would hate to spend money on the service and not have it even work ... of course I have e mailed a few companies, explained the problem and of course they all e mailed back and said sure we can take care of that no problem ... but again, you just never know ....
My dh used to work for a company that does air duct cleaning. I've personally seen the crap that comes out of the ducts if it is done prepoerly. It will make you sick! If they have a truck mounted unit, it is like sending a mini tornado thru your ducts, and NOT just a vacuum. There are some companys that use machines that basically vacuum, bit if it's done prpoerly, it does work! We had ours done when we moved into our house, and I saw what they got out of them. It's nasty!
Well, it can't hurt to try and cleaning out the ducts every few years is a good idea anyway.... the BIG thing though - is he still peeing/spraying in the vents? If he is, this has to stop first!!! Sometimes there are medical reasons cats spray - or stress. If there are other cats around, he may have a hard time adjusting - some cats can't. To see if this is the root or not, confine him (or the other cats) to a certain area of the house and see if that behavior stops.
Melissa
My dh used to work for a company that does air duct cleaning. I've personally seen the crap that comes out of the ducts if it is done prepoerly. It will make you sick! If they have a truck mounted unit, it is like sending a mini tornado thru your ducts, and NOT just a vacuum. There are some companys that use machines that basically vacuum, bit if it's done prpoerly, it does work! We had ours done when we moved into our house, and I saw what they got out of them. It's nasty!
Our's was a truck mount, and I said "vacuumed" because it's basically just air being forced through, but that doesn't take care of cat pee - just dust!
I remember him offering some air purifier or something for mold, but knew we didn't need that. We had REALLY bad dust problems until we had our ducts cleaned - now our dust in the house is cut in half. LITERALLY, we would have dust bunnies a day after cleaning!!! Plus, we learned that some idiot had stuck in an air filter behind a return air vent and it was screwed shut and since then, painted over a few times. It had probably been there for YEARS and it was soooooooo caked with dust it was scary.
Be prepared to clean up a mess too if you have this done too.
It's not so expensive either - worth a shot, right?
Melissa
well I do not believe that he is still peeing in our home ... in fact I am so paranoid about him still doing it I went out and bought a blacklight! We checked his favorite spots from the first time we smelled it and it came up pretty clean, a few pieces of lint from our socks but no stains! whew! I know I smell it extremely strong when we run the heat or the air, mainly the air now that its warmer ... we do have three cats total in our home, hes the only male and he is neutered and the two girls were spayed ... in our neighborhood there are stray cats and I am wondering if they are spraying around our house foundation .... I wouldn't think our cats lead stressful lives they are pretty pampered ... air duct cleaning for our house would run us around 200.00$ not chump change for us but do-able if we thought it would work ... I don't believe we would need anything for mold .. just maybe and odor killer or bacteria killer ... what a predictiment!
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