3 or my inspections this week had three things in common.
(1) No water
(2) Vacant foreclosures
(3) Strong smell of cat urine
There were no orange, or unusual stains, but the smell of ammonia or cat piss was repulsive in all 3 properties! I looked for all the signs, but found no trash burn piles, no chemical stains, ripped out smoke detectors, added exhaust vents, etc.
I was a little concerned maybe they were used for meth labs at some point. The addresses are not listed with the state as properties that had been busted, but that may mean they just got foreclosed on and vacated before they were caught.
I don’t want to scare my clients to death, and all three clients realized they were buying POS properties from the foreclosing bank.
Has anyone had only this smell, and not the “other” chemical smells? Maybe all three previous owners were cat lovers? I just don’t want to endanger the clients, myself, or my assistant while inspecting these.
Maybe meth testing is, after all, a lucrative ancillary service.
The expression goes, ‘If you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras’ unless of course, you are in Africa.
Are there more cats or more meth labs in your hood?:mrgreen:
lol…the margin between the two is growing smaller…Meth is growing to epidemic proportions, and I personally also view cats as an epidemic-I have no use for either (Sorry PETA supporters).
fact is, I’ve smelled cat piss, and know the smell, but have no idea what meth smells like…I’m researching meth identification and find they smell the same, hence my concern.
Generally speaking, you broach the subject in much the same way you would mold, if at all. If you mention the possibility of, without evidence of, and you are wrong, you are toast!
Exactly, Jeffrey. And also fear if I don’t mention it, and someone gets sick, I would be the jam on the toast! (and I would feel bad). The one lady was pregnant and had a 2 yr old, and she was from Bulgaria. I didn’t want to “be an alarmist”, but I did inform her of my concern and why, and deferred to a testing facility.
CYA as always, in this law-suit-happy world we live in! :-#
I inspected a house that smelled like I thought was cat urine. I was wrong, the previous homeowners were keeping ducks in their home, but they did not disclose it. Am bad!