# eliminating mouse excrement smell



## bubbler (Oct 18, 2010)

Our house had a mouse problem some years ago before we bought it, the joist bays between the first and second floors have some sprinklings of mouse poop--I know first hand because I got a face full when we demo'd our bathroom, that seemed to be a particularly bad spot.

Recently I've been working in the knee wall attic and I've seen some small amounts in the bays there.

There is a definite musty basement/attic smell with some faint urine smells... in dry conditions it's not a big deal, but when it's humid it gets quite funky.

There is no active mouse problem... but is there any way--short of tearing up the floor boards in the second floor--to eliminate the smell? It tends to seep into our living space (bedroom) particularly if we run our window fan on exhaust--it pulls air from the knee walls/attic space.

Any ideas?


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## PAbugman (Jun 29, 2010)

Since no active rodent problem now, or for some years prior, it’s hard to believe that the odor would linger that long. I would look at other possibilities before tearing apart in any serious way. Urine/musk/fecal odors would have dried out in time, unless there was fresh contamination. If there is a dampness issue, then that could allow the odors to linger longer, but chronic dampness would bring its own issues, such as mold/mildew. I’m not familiar with mold testing, but that may be in order before you tear apart. Get as much info as possible; be open minded; don’t have your mind made up that this is rodent odors even though that is a common one and you have at least some evidence.


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## bubbler (Oct 18, 2010)

PAbugman said:


> be open minded; don’t have your mind made up that this is rodent odors even though that is a common one and you have at least some evidence.


Well, I guess I'm assuming no active mouse infestation because,
- we hear nothing (and I'm up late, sometimes 2-3AM and perfectly quiet)
- we have two cats who have caught mice at rental apartments
- none of the droppings appeared fresh, all very old
- no food has been gotten into in the kitchen
- I have been storing bird seed and grass seed on the ground in our basement, bags have the zip-lock seal on top, no chew marks, etc...

You may be right though that the smell is something else. It could just be typical mold/mildew type smells associated with a humid, but closed off space.

The limited insulation we have does appear to be installed correctly--kraft paper faced toward interior space--with the exception of our rafters, it is installed facing toward the knee walls there, but I believe that is still correct.

Everything up there is 50 years old, and there is some evidence (waste) of either a cat or raccoon getting up there--all very old & dried up--so I'm thinking it may just be humidity reactivating older stuff.

The smells in the bedroom were obvious over the summer, I noticed them this weekend because I had the knee wall hatch open while working in there, and in another room I had a window fan setup to exhaust (just because it was warm inside, but cooler outside, so I wanted to draw air in).


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## boman47k (Aug 25, 2006)

Ozone machine?

Sorry, did not notice the date on this thread.


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