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Home > Rodents > How to Get Rid of Mouse & Rat Pee Smell in Walls, Attic, & Under the House

How to Get Rid of Mouse & Rat Pee Smell in Walls, Attic, & Under the House

Old suitcases in the attic

The smell of rodent urine is pungent and difficult to ignore. Unfortunately, it can be the last remnant of a mouse or rat infestation that is difficult to get rid of. Luckily, there are lots of home tactics you can use to get rid of the smell of rodent urine for good.

Here are some methods you can use to get rid of the smell of mouse or rat urine.

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The 8 Ways to Get Rid of Mouse and Rat Urine Smell in Walls, Attic, & Under the House

1. Baking Soda

baking soda
Photo Credit By: NatureFriend, Pixabay

Baking soda is an easy way to remove unwanted smells. Baking soda absorbs the particles associated with scents; it’s not uncommon to leave a cup of baking soda open in your fridge to ward off unpleasant smells.

You can do the same thing with mouse or rat urine smells in your house! Simply leave a cup of baking soda uncovered in an area that smells strongly for a while. The baking soda will remove the odor particles from the air and leave the room smelling fresh as a daisy.


2. Vinegar

Vinegar is another excellent solution that you can use to get rid of unwanted smells in your home. You can apply vinegar directly to the source of the smell, or you can boil vinegar to release the compound into the air.

Unfortunately, while boiling vinegar will remove the odor particles from the air, your house will smell like vinegar for a little while after you boil it. If you can’t stand the smell of vinegar, you might want to pass on this one. While it’s very effective at removing odors, the pungent smell of vinegar may be too much for some people.


3. Enzyme Cleaner

Disinfectant spray and deodorizer
Photo Credit By: Squirrel_photos, Pixabay

Commercial enzyme cleaners break down the particles of urine and other biomatter into gasses that are released into the air as the solution evaporates. This won’t be super useful on walls, but it’s great for removing smells from carpeting, flooring, and other surfaces you can access easily.

You can combine an enzyme cleaner with baking soda to pull the smell particles out of the air faster by leaving an uncovered cup of baking soda next to the area you’ve treated with an enzyme cleaner.

To treat an area with an enzyme cleaner, thoroughly saturate the surface with the cleaner. Then leave it to air-dry. It can’t possibly be simpler!

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4. Hydrogen Peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide is often used as a color-safe stain remover, but it’s also excellent at neutralizing smells. Hydrogen oxidizes the substances it comes into contact with, turning them into water and oxygen that evaporates into the air. As a result, it leaves behind no residue or smell. So, you can treat areas with it, and rest assured that they won’t smell afterward like mouse or rat urine or hydrogen peroxide.


5. Coffee Grounds

pre-ground coffee
Photo Credit By: martin_hetto, Pixabay

Coffee grounds can act as a natural deodorizer. Just leave a cup of uncovered coffee grounds in a room you want to deodorize. Then, replace every 2–3 days as necessary to eliminate smells.


6. Raw Onion

Raw onion may make some people cry, but its deodorizing ability is unmatched. Just like coffee grounds, you can leave a bowl of raw onions out in a room to help deodorize it. Keep an eye on the onions, though. While the ideal changing time is 2–3 days, they may spoil earlier than that, and you don’t want to leave rotting food in a room you’re trying to get to smell better.


7. Charcoal

charcoal
Image Credit: Hans, Pixabay

Charcoal is also suitable for eliminating smells. You’ll want to use the same kind of charcoal you’d use at a barbeque in the summer and leave a nice big bowl of the stuff out in a room you want to deodorize. You can leave this out as long as you’d like, but its efficacy decreases rapidly after three days without a change.


8. Commercial Deodorizer

There is no shortage of products on the internet advertised to remove smells from your house. The following non-exhaustive list of products will help remove odors from your home if left in an area that needs to be deodorized.

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How to Treat Your Home and Neutralize Mouse and Rat Urine Odors

The best way to eliminate rat urine odors for good is to use the above techniques. In addition, you will want to use a combination of an enzymatic cleaner or hydrogen peroxide with baking soda or vinegar since enzyme cleaners, and hydrogen peroxide both oxidize scent particles. At the same time, baking soda and vinegar both pull the smell out of the air.

1. Neutralize the Odor

The first step is to neutralize the odor with either an enzymatic cleaner or hydrogen peroxide. This will release the scent particles from the surface they’re trapped in and into the air. Give these solutions time to release the scent from the treated surface. Then it’s time to use something to pull the scent particles out of the air.


2. Pull the Scent Out of the Air

Baking soda or boiled vinegar will draw the smell out of the air. Leave an uncovered cup of baking soda or boiled vinegar in the room you’re treating to help remove the scent particles from the air.

If baking soda or vinegar isn’t in your style, you can use a commercial deodorizing sponge, bag, or candle to neutralize the odor once it’s in the air.

person lighting a soy christmas candle
Image Credit: Marta Filipczyk, Unsplash

3. Fresh Air

The last step is to circulate the air in your home. You’ll need to open the windows and put on some fans to help the air circulate in your home and remove the smells for good.

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Final Thoughts

Unpleasant smells are the worst, and rats will leave behind a whole host of weird smells. Luckily, removing the remaining odor is much easier and cheaper than getting rid of the infestation. A quick treatment with a home or commercial deodorizer should be all you need to put the rat infestation behind you once and for all.


Featured Image Credit: toubibe, Pixabay

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