Animal Odor Removal & Cleanup
An unexplained odor in an attic, wall, crawl space or other part of the home may be more than a smell problem. Wildlife can leave behind urine, droppings, nesting material, contaminated insulation or, in some cases, a deceased animal.
Air fresheners and deodorizing treatments may change what you smell temporarily, but persistent animal odors usually require identifying and addressing the source. Depending on what is found, that can mean animal removal, contaminated-material removal, cleaning and decontamination, odor treatment, and restoration of affected areas.
Critter Cleanup NY helps homeowners throughout Long Island, New York City, Westchester and the surrounding area identify and remediate animal-related contamination and odors.
What is Causing That Smell?
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Animal-related odors can come from several different sources, and identifying what is causing the smell is the first step toward removing it.
Urine and droppings can accumulate where animals nest, travel or repeatedly return. In attics, waste can soak into insulation and other porous materials, allowing odors to remain even after the animal is gone.
Dead animals can produce a strong odor as they decompose. When an animal dies inside a wall, attic, crawl space or other concealed area, locating and removing the source may be more difficult than simply finding where the smell is strongest.
Strong animal odors come from chemical compounds released by urine, feces and decomposing tissue.
Urine can develop a sharp ammonia odor as urea is broken down by bacteria, while fecal odor is produced by compounds including sulfur-containing chemicals and other bacterial byproducts.
Decomposition releases a complex mixture of volatile compounds as tissues break down
Why Does the Smell Persist?
Removing an animal does not necessarily remove everything the animal left behind. Urine, feces, nesting material and other contamination may remain in an attic, wall cavity, crawl space or other affected area after the animal itself is gone.
Porous materials can make persistent odors especially difficult to resolve. Insulation, unfinished wood and other absorbent building materials can retain contamination, allowing odor-producing compounds to continue entering the air.
A dead animal can create a similar problem. Removing the carcass eliminates the primary source, but fluids or contaminated material surrounding it may also need to be addressed depending on where the animal was located and how long it remained there.
This is why successful odor removal is less about covering the smell and more about finding its source. Once the affected area and materials are identified, the appropriate cleanup, removal, treatment or restoration can be determined.
Read more about animal removal, waste cleanup, property restoration and insurance.
Professional Animal Odor Removal
Effective odor removal begins by identifying where the odor is coming from and what is producing it. That may mean locating a dead animal, finding areas contaminated by urine or droppings, or determining whether insulation or other materials have absorbed animal waste.
Once the source is identified, the appropriate cleanup depends on what is found. Waste and nesting material may need to be removed, contaminated insulation or other porous materials may need to be taken out, and affected surfaces may require cleaning and treatment.
At Critter Cleanup NY, our goal isn't simply to make an animal odor harder to smell. It's to identify what caused it, address the affected area, and leave the space clean and usable again.
Critter Cleanup safely and effectively rids homes of animal waste and odor throughout Nassau and Suffolk Counties, NYC, Westchester, New Jersey, and the entire Tri-State Area.
Nesting materials and contaminated insulation can also hold urine, feces and other animal waste. In some cases, treating the air alone will not resolve the problem because the material producing the odor is still present.
Skunks and other wildlife can create odors that spread beyond the immediate area where the animal was present and may be absorbed by nearby materials.
Not every unusual household odor is caused by wildlife. But when a persistent smell appears along with scratching noises, droppings, damaged insulation, nesting material or other signs of animal activity, the odor may be part of a larger wildlife or contamination problem.