The previous owner of my house had dogs, and they apparently peed on the carpet in one of the bedrooms upstairs. I didn't notice anything during the purchasing process because there were air fresheners in the room, but after a while I started noticing it. I had already decided to put in laminate floors upstairs (decided on that during the purchase process), and when the installers came, they remarked on the pee smell. They removed the carpet and the underlying padding and put in the laminate which had padding already applied to the underside, so no separate plastic vapor barrier was put it.
At first the urine smell went away, probably because it was masked by the laminate flooring smell.
Once the weather started warming up and I've adjusted the thermostat, the urine smell is now more noticeable. It's not overwhelming, but it is noticeable.
The way I see it, the following needs to be done:
1. Remove the laminate flooring
2. Identify the affected area
3. Treat the stain by either:
a. Clean the subfloor (plywood);
b. Replace the subfloor;
c. Put in a vapor barrier to block the smell
4. Replace the affected laminate planks (I have a couple of extra boxes, and it's easily available at Lowe's (but only there))
5. Put the floor back together
Any advice on how to deal with this?
Any recommendation for a local company that can help me?
Thanks in advance