Advice please - Valspar emulsion left house smelling of cat urine

Discussion in 'Painters' Talk' started by LJG, Apr 17, 2017.

  1. Natasha Musselle

    Natasha Musselle New Member

    Hello, I know this an old thread now...but we are still suffering the effects of Valspar’s faulty paint. We painted in summer 2016 and it took me until 2018 to work out the cause of the horrible urine-like smell. We had bought and totally renovated a house, largely with Valspar paint so it took a long while for me to realise the paint was the cause - I initially thought the previous owner must have had animals who had peed in the house. It was only with extensive Googling about how to get rid of urine smells that I chanced upon others affected by Valspar’s paint.

    The reason for my post is that the Dulux Trade Stain Block Primer we were told to apply by Valspar hasn’t worked. Originally the smell at least seemed diminished - but now it is back with a vengeance in hot weather.

    Does anyone have any tried and tested solutions? Or been in the same boat with using the Dulux Trade Stain Block as advised only for it to be unsuccessful?

    I am starting to fear that legal action might be necessary! Very stressful. :(
     
  2. Natasha Musselle

    Natasha Musselle New Member


    Please could you tell me if you ended up taking legal action, and if so, what the outcome was?
     
  3. JodiePry

    JodiePry New Member

    Please see my post, just before yours. Plain white vinegar. It works! Saturate your walls with it. I haven’t had a smell since my “treatment”. Don’t dilute it, use it neat. If the smell is really bad, do it again in another week or so.
     
  4. Natasha Musselle

    Natasha Musselle New Member

    Please could you tell me if you took legal action, and what the outcome was? We settled with Valspar 2 years ago but the Dulux Trade Stain Block product they advised hasn’t worked. The urine smell is as bad as it ever was! Considering legal action myself now...
     
  5. Natasha Musselle

    Natasha Musselle New Member

    thanks for your reply! Had you already repainted when you used the vinegar? We had actually already gone over the Valspar paint with another colour from another brand as we didn’t like it, and then it has had 2 coats of the advised Stain Block, +2 coats of F&B emulsion and the smell is STILL leaking through!!!
     
  6. Natasha Musselle

    Natasha Musselle New Member

    What solution was effective for you in the end?
     
  7. JodiePry

    JodiePry New Member

    I put the vinegar directly over my smelly paint.
    Nevertheless, it won’t cost you a lot to try it out, and it’s invisible so certainly easier than repainting. I would try it out in a room that you can close the door on first perhaps. See how you go, you have nothing to lose!
     
  8. Natasha Musselle

    Natasha Musselle New Member


    Hello, did bleach work for you? What concentration did you use?
     
  9. Natasha Musselle

    Natasha Musselle New Member

    Thank you, I’m desperate for a solution and vinegar certainly would be a cheap and easy one!
     
    JodiePry likes this.
  10. JodiePry

    JodiePry New Member

    I can’t imagine how stressful going legal must be!

    Seriously...please try vinegar first.

    Absolutely saturate your walls with it. Use it neat, do not dilute.

    It’s easy, and it really does work.

    Let it dry for a couple of days on your wall, and then do it again. It will make your eyes water and your home will stink for a while, but it kills the ammonia smell dead!

    Try it, you won’t regret it!
     
  11. Natasha Musselle

    Natasha Musselle New Member

    It is 4 years since we painted with the faulty paint and the smell has never gone, despite using Dulux Trade Stain Block Primer as advised by Valspar. It’s only in hot weather we can smell the terrible urine smell. Did you find a solution?
     
  12. JodiePry

    JodiePry New Member

    Bl
    Bleach is not effective.

    Bleach, bleaches, that’s all.

    A great example of how effective vinegar is.

    I moved into a house and cleaned the toilet with bleach, as you do.
    I got out a black light, and there was still pee splatter everywhere! It was disgusting!
    I got out my spray gun with vinegar, and under a black light there is absolutely nothing there. Vinegar kills everything, including weeds in your garden if your patient enough!
     
  13. Natasha Musselle

    Natasha Musselle New Member

    Please could you tell me what your £12 fix was? Sorry if you have written it in another post...
     
    PatQ likes this.
  14. Natasha Musselle

    Natasha Musselle New Member

    Please could you tell me which sealer you used and how you resolved it? We used Dulux Trade Stain Block. 4 years on and it still stinks in hot weather!
     
  15. Natasha Musselle

    Natasha Musselle New Member

    That is very interesting! At the moment your vinegar fix is sounding my best bet... I am just worried that the vinegar will have to go through a further 6 coats of paint which are on top of the original faulty Valspar. Unbelievable that it can leak through like that!
     
  16. Wayners

    Wayners Screwfix Select

    Dulux stain blocker is water-based . You needed a shellac. Thought that was advise from B&Q?
     
  17. Natasha Musselle

    Natasha Musselle New Member

    Like you, the smell drove me so crazy for 2 years I started saying I wanted to sell our house - crazy, when we had totally renovated it from a wreck but I thought the cat pee smell must have been caused by previous owner. Did you have to take any legal action? We were compensated but the product they recommended didn’t work...
     
  18. Natasha Musselle

    Natasha Musselle New Member


    The advice we got from Valspar when they compensated us was to use Dulux Trade Stain Block. I wonder if they realised it didn’t work and then started recommending the shellac. Or, being cynical, they might have told me to use the Dulux as it isn’t smelly like the shellac would be. If I’d used that, we would have had to move out of the house - especially as we had a 1year old - and perhaps they didn’t want to give a greater payout to reflect this.
     
    Wayners likes this.
  19. Natasha Musselle

    Natasha Musselle New Member

    B&Q didn’t handle it at all for us - all our correspondence was with Valspar.
     
  20. Astramax

    Astramax Super Member

    Are you 100% sure they advised Dulux as it was widely understood to be sealed with Zinsser BIN which is a shellac sealer as @Wayners has already pointed out.
     

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