Pungent odor???

[Anthony D. Peden]

Looked at home built in 2004 today.
It was vacant, relatively clean home, but there was an odor in the home that smalled of cat urine.
The clients say that when they first viewed the home it was not present but upon return trips the odor was there.
They said the crawl space door had been open which could have allowed some cats to get in there.
After leaving the inspection it dawned on me, could this have been a home built with Chinese Drywall. Not having experienced this before I'm not sure.
Has anyone experienced the smell associated with Chinese Drywalll? Can it have an odor of cat urine?
This was in Gallatin, TENN. Has anyone else in the area suspected Chinese drywall?

[Rick Maday]

Could simply be urine. Cat/racoon or other wildlife.

Could be from meth activities (rumor has it those places smell like cat urine).

I am not familiar with Chinese drywall to comment.

[Larry D. Kage]

Originally Posted by apeden

Looked at home built in 2004 today.
It was vacant, relatively clean home, but there was an odor in the home that smalled of cat urine.
The clients say that when they first viewed the home it was not present but upon return trips the odor was there.
They said the crawl space door had been open which could have allowed some cats to get in there.
After leaving the inspection it dawned on me, could this have been a home built with Chinese Drywall. Not having experienced this before I'm not sure.
Has anyone experienced the smell associated with Chinese Drywalll? Can it have an odor of cat urine?
This was in Gallatin, TENN. Has anyone else in the area suspected Chinese drywall?

I believe the Chinese drywall odor is more sulfurous (rotten eggs) smelling.

[William E. Siegel]

Larry is right. Plus check the Air handler coils and any copper fittings and wires you can find. . If they are black you may have chinese drywall. Howerver that smell does not generally go with Chinese drywall.

[Wayne B. Wilson]

Did you see any red spots any where, Meth cooking can smell like cat urine

[James E. Braun, CMI]

If it looks, smells and tastes like cat urine, than it must me cat urine. I had a similar situation except the previous owners did not disclose they had geese in the house. Sad but true.

[David P. Valley]

Get Chinese drywall off your mind. Like Larry stated, it smells sulfurous.

All animal urine is distinctive and pretty easy to locate when your on your knees. Definitely write it up in the report because urine stains will require floor removal in most situations.

[Scott A. Hand]

And as James mentioned, taste it and see if it tastes like cat urine! Because we all know that sometimes something might smell like cat urine but the second you put it in your mouth it tastes totally different.

I recommend then to give that a try. Because regardless of the SMELL it is all about the TASTE of a home.

[Wayne B. Wilson]

Originally Posted by jbraun

If it looks, smells and tastes like cat urine, than it must me cat urine. I had a similar situation except the previous owners did not disclose they had geese in the house. Sad but true.

They cooked their goose !