Remember my recent posts with my GREAT organizational tips and my PROUD pictures of how great everything looked all put in it's place?? Well, my bubble has burst....and I am none to happy about that.
You see, about a week or so ago, we noticed a HORRIBLE smell in the loft. It has been a constant point of anger and frustration for us for years (though not to this recent magnitude)...for WHATEVER reason, some of our animals think the loft is a toilet for them. Seriously...our cats peed all over the perimeter of the room, even warping the base boards!! We ended up needing to rip out that carpet and bleach the floor underneath (which being upstairs is sadly not concrete) and putting in temporary carpet. That seemed to help.....SEEMED!!
Then, my dog....the little one, not the big one....decided that the middle of the floor looked like a GRAND place to start peeing. Now, as a home schooler, we are accustomed to being home ALL the time. Thus, whenever any of our two dogs want to go out, all they have to do is ask. This dog, though, decided it wasn't good enough to just ask to go out...she decided to start going in the loft. There is nothing quite so grand as walking across the floor every day to find a cold, wet mess. I swear, she did it so often, the carpet was in a CONSTANT state of wetness...between her peeing on it and us using cleaners on it. We put our dogs up when we are gone, and so it is EXTREMELY frustrating to know she is only out when we are home....thus all she has to do is ask. Oh, for as long as we have had her, I have not taken it for granted that she will ask...we have her on a schedule in between her asking. We let her out multiple times a day. But, she still pees on it multiple times a week.
With school starting, we recently did a thorough cleaning of the area she has been using. Matt had the brilliant idea of putting a rug over the spot to maybe "confuse" the dog from peeing on the carpet. Then the odor came. It was a horrid odor...unlike any we have seen. The litter box was in that room and we thought...the cats must've done some really yucky business in there. We cleaned the box, but the odor remained. Matt investigated. One or both of the cats had decided to use the rug as a toilet....soaking through said rug...through the rubber bottom (intensifying the smell) and soaking through the carpet. It was DISGUSTING. There was/is no way I can do school in such conditions...the smell was just atrocious.
Anger set in. Why do we have pets?? Or, why do we have such bad luck with pets?? We have had two dogs that have been AMAZING (one died a few years ago...the other we have now), but all other pets we have owned have been AWFUL!! Ok...the cats provide us with some interesting moments....there is nothing quite so great as curling up with a cat on your lap. But why do they pee outside their litter box. We tried getting more litter boxes...NO GO!! One of our cats recently decided to start peeing on the tile in our kitchen!!!
So....what does this mean for my beautiful, wonderful loft/school room. We IMMEDIATELY knew we had to cut out the carpet. The smell was making everyone sick. So, now I have exposed plywood floor. We have wanted to get laminate upstairs anyway and have been trying to get someone out here for a quote, but we are not prepared, yet, to pay for it (maybe in a month or so). Here is what we are dealing with....it is GROSS!!!!!
You see, about a week or so ago, we noticed a HORRIBLE smell in the loft. It has been a constant point of anger and frustration for us for years (though not to this recent magnitude)...for WHATEVER reason, some of our animals think the loft is a toilet for them. Seriously...our cats peed all over the perimeter of the room, even warping the base boards!! We ended up needing to rip out that carpet and bleach the floor underneath (which being upstairs is sadly not concrete) and putting in temporary carpet. That seemed to help.....SEEMED!!
Then, my dog....the little one, not the big one....decided that the middle of the floor looked like a GRAND place to start peeing. Now, as a home schooler, we are accustomed to being home ALL the time. Thus, whenever any of our two dogs want to go out, all they have to do is ask. This dog, though, decided it wasn't good enough to just ask to go out...she decided to start going in the loft. There is nothing quite so grand as walking across the floor every day to find a cold, wet mess. I swear, she did it so often, the carpet was in a CONSTANT state of wetness...between her peeing on it and us using cleaners on it. We put our dogs up when we are gone, and so it is EXTREMELY frustrating to know she is only out when we are home....thus all she has to do is ask. Oh, for as long as we have had her, I have not taken it for granted that she will ask...we have her on a schedule in between her asking. We let her out multiple times a day. But, she still pees on it multiple times a week.
With school starting, we recently did a thorough cleaning of the area she has been using. Matt had the brilliant idea of putting a rug over the spot to maybe "confuse" the dog from peeing on the carpet. Then the odor came. It was a horrid odor...unlike any we have seen. The litter box was in that room and we thought...the cats must've done some really yucky business in there. We cleaned the box, but the odor remained. Matt investigated. One or both of the cats had decided to use the rug as a toilet....soaking through said rug...through the rubber bottom (intensifying the smell) and soaking through the carpet. It was DISGUSTING. There was/is no way I can do school in such conditions...the smell was just atrocious.
Anger set in. Why do we have pets?? Or, why do we have such bad luck with pets?? We have had two dogs that have been AMAZING (one died a few years ago...the other we have now), but all other pets we have owned have been AWFUL!! Ok...the cats provide us with some interesting moments....there is nothing quite so great as curling up with a cat on your lap. But why do they pee outside their litter box. We tried getting more litter boxes...NO GO!! One of our cats recently decided to start peeing on the tile in our kitchen!!!
So....what does this mean for my beautiful, wonderful loft/school room. We IMMEDIATELY knew we had to cut out the carpet. The smell was making everyone sick. So, now I have exposed plywood floor. We have wanted to get laminate upstairs anyway and have been trying to get someone out here for a quote, but we are not prepared, yet, to pay for it (maybe in a month or so). Here is what we are dealing with....it is GROSS!!!!!
It is absolutely disgusting!! We have sprayed the area with bleach. Plans for the weekend is to take out the rest of the carpet and paint the plywood floor underneath with a paint to not only make it "more attractive", but also to cover up the odor...seal it up.
We try to tell ourselves....we wanted to put in laminate floors anyway, but it is hard not to get upset when you are forced into it. In the meantime, we moved the litter box...are taking out cats outside more....are taking the little dog outside more. Left on my own, I would get rid of all of them (except our Husky, who is innocent in this whole mess)...but different members of the family have different attachments to certain animals. I am stuck. God willing, we will get laminate floors soon (which, I REALLY wanted anyway) and the peeing will END...school will continue in a non-hazmat way and we can put this all behind us.
At least I have my binders.......right??
We try to tell ourselves....we wanted to put in laminate floors anyway, but it is hard not to get upset when you are forced into it. In the meantime, we moved the litter box...are taking out cats outside more....are taking the little dog outside more. Left on my own, I would get rid of all of them (except our Husky, who is innocent in this whole mess)...but different members of the family have different attachments to certain animals. I am stuck. God willing, we will get laminate floors soon (which, I REALLY wanted anyway) and the peeing will END...school will continue in a non-hazmat way and we can put this all behind us.
At least I have my binders.......right??
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