We have one room in our house that was painted two years ago using Olympic interior satin latex paint from Lowe’s. In the past few days the room has developed a distinct cat pee odor. We, however, do not have a cat and there has not been a cat in the house. Does anyone know of something specific about this paint? The color we used was Aloe Vera.
I am experiencing the same cat urine smell. I used Pittsburgh paint latex over Kilz primer. The only common thread seems to be we all painted a variation of green. (I am assuming Aloe Vera is green)The Kilz primer said it would take 2 weeks to fully cure. Maybe I should of waited 2 weeks to paint over it?
We painted a room which had had a new doorway put in. Because there was bare plaster my husband painted the plaster with old white paint before we put the top coats on. Within two days just that one wall began to stink of cat pee. We were devastated as we'd spent a lot of money on the room only to find we couldn't let anyone in there!! It gets worse as time passes so we will try the sealant idea mentioned above. To the person who thinks this is ludicrous I'd say come and sniff it for yourself. Unless there's a cat with acrobatic skills or one that walks a hire wire to ensure covering the wall from ceiling to floor my money's on the paint.
Hi! I'm the person that painted with Behr, Gem Turquoise. I've spent thousands of dollars just to fix the smell in my daughter's room after painting it the color I just mentioned. I took the paint to an EPA specialist (scientist) and had it tested to help determine the reason for this smell. Behr indicates their paints are low VOC, and I thought that maybe VOC's were causing my problem and Behr was lying. According to the EPA specialist, my paint was very high in ammonia. According to this specialist, ammonia is not considered a VOC (in paint anyway). He told me there was way more ammonia in my paint than necessary and I think that is what caused my problem. I ended up replacing the drywall (huge expense and mess) but in the long-run it was worth every penny. The smell was awful. I fought everyday for months for reimbursement from Behr and even consulted an attorney. After spending months talking to Behr and Home Depot, Home Depot ended up filing a claim with their insurance company (after MONTHS of calling Behr everyday). A $30 paint job should last 2 days and cost $30. NOT thousands of dollars. I was reimbursed for the cost to replace the drywall, but the aggravation during this time was terrible. I hope everyone here gets a permanent solution to your problem. My solution was replacing the drywall. Keep fighting. We should not have to live with paint that smells like cat pee! Good Luck!
FYI: After the new drywall was ready for painting, I ended up going to my local Sherwin Williams store. They let me smell every can of primer and paint before I bought it. I wouldn't buy anything that smelled even slightly like ammonia. I'm sure they thought I was crazy, but they let me do it anyway. 🙂
Had the same problem after using old paint, tried everything and then one day by chance I had a bathroom air freshener can in my hand so I sprayed the wall with it. Smelled rough for a day and then the smell was gone, and has stayed away!!
Same problem here, older people in this apartment before I moved in, landlord told me that they put an additive into the paint to nutralize smoke odor.. either way I thought the people who lived here before me pissed all over the apartment, calling the management company Monday, I just moved in here, and I have to sleep on the couch, the bedroom is unbearable, the smell has caused me to have a site throat, and kicking up my asthma.. something has to be done.
