Don't forget to change the wax ring. I know it obvious to us who do this work, but it's not always obvious to others who may not be used to doing dirty work.

Take off the toilet seat and clean the hole where the screw goes thru the toilet. I suggest a new seat and screws and nuts. This happened to me. The more I cleaned the more it smelled. The cleaning water would seap into where the screw was and released more urine smell. Discovered this when the seat broke and had to be replaced. Do this before replacing the whole toilet. It is cheaper.

I had this experience previously and what needed to be done was replace the old toilet, and the wooden floor under the base of the toilet. After years of urine going down the front of a toilet, it tends to invade the sub floor.

I just read this e-mail and I wanted to tell you about a great product that I found about 10 years ago. It removes urine odor! I know, I have a cat that likes to mark his territory and that stuff smells. I also use it when I mop my tile. This is the product name and address and phone #. (I don't work for the company)
A.I.P. Industrial Strength (Anti-Icky-Poo).
It is made by Mister Max @ 1-800-745-1671 or for more information go to www.mistermax.com.
I hope this helps someone.

Another possibility that I have encountered is the floor boards will hold the oder. You may need to replace the wood. Tom

In my laundry room I have two pumbs. One is a sump pump that pushs out the water from the bathroom on that level and from the washer(basement level). The other pump is from a Be-Dry system. Sometimes there is a very bad sewer smell. At first I thouht it was when it rained, but then it happens sometimes when I wash clothes and some times it doesn't. It has even happen when it is dry and has not rained in days. The Be-Dry pumb always seems to have a little water in it. We have a septic system and the house is 13 years old. Any ideal where the smell is coming from and if so what I can do about it?

We have a home that we purchased in Texas as an investment. We want to sell it. We have replaced the counters, sink, and garbage disposal. I have scrubbed the inside of the kitchen cabinets with everything including lemon juice and salt. I have sprayed them with vinegar and left a small bowl of vinegar in the back of each cabinet in hopes that it would get rid of the smell. I suspect that it is a result of lots of frying and no cleaning. I fear it has permeated the cabinets.

How can I finally get rid of that smell without having to completely gut the kitchen and replace the cabinets?

I have considered sanding them all down inside and sealing with Satin Polyurethane.

Your recommendations?

Thanks,

Sharon

You don't say how old the house is but we had a similar situation in a house built in the 20's. Finally figures out it was the concrete subfloor that was holding all those odors. We took it out and put in a wooden subfloor and hauled those odors away. What a difference! It may be your wooden subfloor from years of missing the toilet!!

A similar thing happened to me. I moved into my older house two years ago and I cleaned from top to bottom before I unpacked but there was always an unpleasent smell coming from the bathroom. I figured since it was an older home that maybe it just needed a little more elbow grease so I cleaned it again to no avail, the smell never went away. One day I decided I wanted to lay a new floor because the floor that was in there was nasty. What I uncovered underneath the floor was the most unspeakable disgusting smell!! There were also all of these nasty tar like black or brown spots all over the floor underneath the floor that I had torn up. I scrubbed the floor with alcohol and then bleach and Lysol cleaner and let it dry then I layed the new floor on top of the old floor and I haven't had a problem with the smell since.

If you try replacing the toilet and that doesnt help, then I would try replacing the flooring because you never know what could be lurking underneath it (heck you might not even really want to know!!).

I am a home owner who is a jack of all trade but a master of none. I have acquired some knowledge while serving 20 yrs in the military and through the many different jobs I've had over my fifty plus yrs, I am not affraid to try just about anything doing with home repair or remodeling. (I just call my misstakes my signature mark). But while installing a temporary floor in the kitchen until we lay ceramic tiles, I took up all the 1/4 round and regular 2" molding, I can't quite get the right way to make all the miter cuts to fit right. I remember someone showing me to put a pencil under the molding but I don't remember where (i.e. molding standing or molding laying flat on back or face on the miter saw base), but anyway when I'm done the cuts are sometimes too short and ends won't meet up, or even if I get close the angles of the cut won't match up. So I would sure appreciate it if you could tell or show me how to make the measurements and cuts correctly. Thank you,Al

At about the half way mark in our 32 yr old home/we had built in '75/ the one tile shower was retiled and cement board put in to replace sheetrock. All because of black mold in the last 3 bottom rows of tile. Only a few years into the new construction the mold is back. We try to keep it as dry as possible. Should we just retile the bottom section? The second time the grout was replaced with bath/tub silicone...help, please. Patricia, MO

Hi Ed: Can you tell me what is the best water softener to buy? Salt, magnetic,or the one's with chemical compounds? I don't like the idea of putting sodium in my drinking water, or discharging the used salt into the groundwater. Thanks, sincerely, Lloyd

Urine smells are eliminated in the bathroom by bleaching the concrete flooring. One you bleach it, get it all cleaned up and the concrete has totally dried out, then seal the floor. Then you can go back and replace any flooring without fear of urine smells due to animals or human accidents. This is done in any room of the home.

I agree with Ed--start with the toilet and all those nooks and crannies he mentions, but this one is also a possible bellwether of other issues. For example if its more septic than urine smelling you may have a venting issue (i.e. there isn't one) or a piping issue (Johnny Remuddler before you didn't install a P-Trap somewhere.) What I'm saying is, there's about 110% chance Ed is on the mark (if he lived anywhere near me I'd bend over backwards to get him as my plumber) but take a deep breath (outside preferably), there might be more lurking as you peel back the layers.

Try renting or purchasing an Ozonating Machine as my husband leaves my home smelling really bad with his body oders! He can't help it of course but running the Ozonator machine gets rid of all bad smells, mildew, from fire and other really bad oders... It's been worth every penny to me!