I would tear it up and live the the subfloor for a while. Possibly I would look for a mega-cheap carpet remnant to put down for the time being, or paint the sub-floor. You should plan on sealing the sub-floor in any case.

Depending on how iffy the hardwood floor project was, I would DIY Novalis vinyl planks in the dining room.

I understand your frustration with the stains...there's nothing worse. I would definately rip it up and choose one of the options you are considering. Even if you think you get the carpet clean, every rainy or humid day, you'll be reminded by the smell.

Regarding your options:
1. recarpeting only the dining room may be a good idea so that you can use the room, be comfortable in the room and save money for the eventual hard wood. using an inexpensive carpet may only cost you a couple hundred dollars.
2. This is something you would need to decide for yourself. Yes, it would solve the current problem and finish off both rooms. It would probably also be cheaper than putting hard wood there in addition to the remaining rooms. I would look at the floor plan carefully and decide if all wood floors is beautiful or maybe too much wood.
3. I don't think this is a very smart option. In the end you'll spend alot of money and you probably won't get the look you want.
4. leave it - again...the smell on hot days!
5. you probably won't be happy using the room with only a sub-floor...especially if you don't know when you'll have the funds to do the hard wood.

I hope this helps; keep us posted!

I'm posting a link to a thread on Novalis flooring - couldn't find it when I was posting earlier.

I haven't used this product myself, but others seem happy with it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Discussion on Novalis flooring.

Agree with Graywings. Find a carpet remnant that fits the room. YOu could also add binding to edge in a color of interest, either binding made for such or a heavy fabric cut on bias. Binding can be attached with carpet glue or FabricTac, an easy finish.

Her idea of the Novella planks too. They are looking better quality wise and would be an easy install which could be removed later.

I personally would live with the sub-flooring until I could do hardwood ... if you get several quotes, you might be amazed at the differences. (We had to redo our entire first floor after a flood, so had to get many quotes for the insurance company ... and were shocked by the variance in the quotes. Ask around to find a great craftsman who doesn't maintain a storefront - we found the best quality/prices that way.)

Paint the sub-floor (we've been living on our painted sub-floors for years now). Buy a carpet remant or an inexpensive polypropelene rug.

It will buy you more time to carefully think about your long range plans.

I agree with Chelone, paint the sub floor, preferably a dark color and hit the yard sales and estates sales for a nice area rug. Cheap solution and you'll have not wasted any money. If you do go all wood floor, consider varying the tone of the color. A continuous color floor throughout a home can get monotonous. Good luck.

Years ago we had a cat with a UTI and she ruined one of my carpets. Had it replaced when we thought she was better only to have her pee there again:( Had the area cut out and recarpeted only to have her do it again before the glue could dry!! The smell is horrendous to get out....almost impossible. Before you do anything make sure it still doesnt smell or every humid muggy day will remind you of your cat. There are some products you can buy at a pet store that truely help eliminate the odor. I would make sure you treat the subfloor, or replace it if it smells. Rip up the carpet and let it air for a while....weeks, before you cover it back up.

I think you definitely have to get rid of the carpet. However, if your current sub-floor is wood, the smell is most likely in it, too, and you'll still have a problem. I'd try either vinegar/water or Nature's Miracle or Simple Solution on the subfloor - the last two can be purchased at pet stores. You may have to replace that section of the sub-floor as well. Then use a remnant or area rug until you can get to the permanent new floor.

Thanks for the advice... I have my dh out right now trying to get some Simple Solution or other enzymatic cleaner as a last-ditch effort for the current carpet. This truly could not have come at a more inconvenient time. I'm trying to organize my house, establish my office space, and clean everything for some overnight guests.

Dear friends of ours have a carpet cleaning business. They also have a $60,000 brand new machine that works with special product to go all the way down and extract pet urine, leaving the rugs looking and smelling fresh. They are some of the most expensive cleaners in my area but they are in high demand. And I have read, (also told by my friend, Syndi) that renting a rug machine is a fairly reliable waste of money. Pros have the stuff to do the job right. Why not make some rug cleaning phone calls and find out if someone in your area has the real deal to do this job right? That might buy you some time.

Red

Take up the carpet - the subfloor will be saturated with urine and no matter how many times you clean the carpet you're not going to get at the urine that's soaked way down into the wood. Don't waste your time trying to deodorize the subfloor, anything waterbased can delaminate plywood. Sealing it with an odor-blocking product is the way to go. I posted a couple of months ago about handling this very situation, and I've linked it below. Assuming the subfloor isn't splintery (ours was), the suggestion of painting it temporarily and putting down a carpet remnant or a very inexpensive interim flooring like the Novalis or a p&s vinyl tile (Cryntel from Lowes is surprisingly nice and only $1/sf) is a good one.

For those pet owners who DO want wall-to-wall carpet despite the potential for accidents, there is a padding that has a moisture barrier attached, so that urine, vomit, etc. don't go below the level of the carpet backing (still bad enough, but...). When DH mandated carpet for the bedroom in our previous house, we put down a carpet tile (Milliken's Tesserae) that had a moisture barrier between the carpet part and the padding, and we could easily take up and replace any section that was damaged.

FWIW, we had an expensive rug cleaning company with the super-duper extraction machine come out to do our upstairs carpeting when we put the house on the market. It did not work because the subfloor was still thoroughly 'contaminated'.

Here is a link that might be useful: 'a hint for those taking up pet-damaged carpets'

Is your subfloor wood or concrete?

If concrete it would be easy to pull up the stained carpet, wash the subfloor with CLUB SODA, then let it dry, wash again with bleach water, let it dry well, and then paint/seal the concrete and just put down an inexpensive area rug for the interim. I know someone who pulled up ALL of the carpeting in her house and just sealed the concrete floors to accomodate her numerous pets.

If you want to keep the carpeting and there are just one or 2 spots that need attention (and your subfloor is NOT wood) you might try pulling up the carpet and taking it out to your garage or driveway, then pour some bottled CLUB SODA on the carpet, let it sit for several hours and then extract it with a wet vac. Clean it again with carpet cleaner, and let dry thoroughly. (Turn the fans on and let it dry really well.) The club soda enzymes will actually "eat" the odor-causing bacteria and this does work. (I have used Club Soda to remove the cat urine smell and it does work)

That said, if your cats have stained the entire carpet, then I would just pitch it because most animals will go back to the same spot and keep "marking" it if there is any glimmer of odor left. If you think you've got it all out, you may need to have new padding put in (not expensive) and a carpet installer re-stretch the carpet but it's still not as expensive as replacing it with new wall to wall carpet.

If you have a wood subfloor, you will need to pull up the carpet, padding and possibly replace the subfloor because that odor will not come out of the subfloor if it has soaked into the boards.

I've also read somewhere that a black light will show any pet/urine stains that are on walls/woodwork so you might want to check that out too. In other words, don't assume if you got the floor taken care of that you're done. If that smell is on the wall or trim or subfloor, the next animal will be back to mark that area again and you'll be wondering why.

Sorry this is so long but I totally agree with Johnmari above. This is one of the worst things to deal with in a house and requires alot of work to eradicate and patience to deal with.

Well, the good news is, I don't have any more cats and don't plan to. I do have a well-behaved golden retriever and she does not mess in the house.

So... I really need to just make this livable and hopefully undetectable to humans. At least, that is my goal.

At the moment, I am letting some enzyme cleaners soak in and crossing my fingers. If I can hang onto this stuff for a while longer, that is preferred.

My subfloor is plywood, btw.

Thanks again for all the suggestions. I'm sure I will refer to every one as I work through this whole process.

What about interim carpet squares? They come in fun colors -- could make a fun pattern, not look at plywood, and still be able to do hardwood when the time comes.

What a shame that happened! Those of us with animals do fight those problems. I'd hardwood, and before I put anything down I'd paint Kilz over the subflooring -- enough coats to seal in the stink forever.

Having dealt with this before, I second the need to seal the subfloor with Kilz. Only one version of Kilz is rated to seal in urine and that's the oil-based original formula. In our case, we also had to replace the baseboard and seal a portion of drywall.

Personally, I would tear up the carpet, seal the subfloor, and if you can't do all the flooring now, I would simply cover that room with cheap carpet squares or peel and stick tiles so you have SOMETHING but don't waste the money on new carpet if that's not what you really want. But tearing up that carpet is a must.

I'd also go down to Petsmart and invest in a $10 blacklight so you can see where else the urine might be (ie, sprayed on furniture or drapes) and also see where exactly on the subfloor you need to seal.