Paint smells like cat pee.

Anonymous asked 10 years ago

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.

15 Answers
Anonymous answered.

The problem has been resolved. We first placed a dehumidifier in the room to dry it out. Then we painted with an oil-based sealant (e.g. Bin) over the malodorous (Olympic low odor/ low voc latex) paint. Then we painted with latex over the oil-based. The room is back to normal. The problem was definitely the paint.

Anonymous answered.

This seems to be a major problem with some manufactures; Valspar, Behr and Olympic

Best to choose a non toxic type of paint.

Anonymous answered.

I have the same problem–purchased paint from Lowes–never had a cat in my home. Started to smell within 2 days of painting. It gets worse everyday. I used white paint. What can I do?????????

Anonymous answered.

You will need to primer over the paint then repaint. The primer will seal up the smell. The best is shellac primer but Kilz or equivalent should work.

Anonymous answered.

I am also from Sioux Falls, also painted about 2 years ago, and the color we used was also Aloe Vera. I am the one who posted earlier that I used Bin oil-based to seal the paint, then repainted with Diamond Vogel paint. The smell went away immediately, but it does return when the house is warm and humid. Please give me a call at 999-1232. We should go to Lowe's together. I went there by myself initially, and they told me they had not heard of this problem, called Olympic for me and Olympic said they had not heard of this problem either. Interesting that we used the exact same paint and had the exact same problem, reporting it independently.