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How to Clean Mouse Urine from Wood in 7 Easy Steps

mouse up close

Mice create so much havoc around the home that it’s hard to appreciate the full extent of their damage. While dealing with chewed-through food boxes and feces, we forget that mice in the home are also peeing wherever they please. It’s not as apparent as a collection of mouse droppings, but mouse urine is no less bothersome, often creating an acrid stink and severe health risks across the house.

It’s crucial to find and disinfect mouse urine stains around the house. Since it often appears in the deepest corners of wood floors, kitchen drawers, and cabinets, these spots aren’t easy to root out. If pungent mouse pee is affecting the health and comfort of your house, we’ll show you the best way to clean it from wood.

divider 5 Top 7 Easy Steps to Clean Mouse Urine from Wood

1. Remove Rodents and Seal the Area

mouse inside the cupboard
Image Credit: Landshark1, Shutterstock

If you want to prevent the issue from coming back, it’s essential to remove any remaining household mice before cleaning urine stains. Seal up any entry points to the area where you’re finding or smelling mouse droppings.

Here are a few ways you can prevent mice from entering your home:
  • Caulk any cracks or gaps around the outside of your home that are larger than ¼ inch wide
  • Remove leaves, vegetation, and anything that could provide shelter from around your home
  • Take out the trash daily and seal all trash cans
  • Clean the kitchen of any crumbs or spills every day
  • Seal any food in the pantry, including pet food
  • Don’t leave pet food in bowls overnight

After buttoning up your home, getting rid of any lingering rodents is critical. Set traps or call an exterminator. After about a week without any mouse activity, you can start cleaning their urine.


2. Locate the Urine

Dried mouse urine has a sharp ammonia-like aroma, but it’s not always noticeable in small amounts. You can start looking for urine where you’ve found droppings and other signs of activity. Stains will usually show up as lines of dark asymmetrical spots with some streaking.

To make life easy and ensure you find all of the urine, you can use a UV blacklight. It’s the same tool to help you pinpoint pet accidents around the house. Darken the room and shine a UV flashlight, concentrating on any wall edges, nooks, or crannies where you suspect rodents might hide. The light will interact with proteins in the urine, making it glow a yellow-green color.


3. Air Out the Space

woman standing by window and opening curtains
Image Credit: Monkey Business Images, Shutterstock

After locating all the mouse urine, you can air out the home. Creating healthy cross-ventilation will prepare the area for disinfectants and help you get a start on clearing the urine smell.

Open your windows and doors and run fans for at least 30 minutes before cleaning. Keep the windows open while you clean to help remove any chemical fumes.


4. Vacuum Before Spraying

cropped man using cordless vacuum to clean wooden floor
Image Credit: Olya Detry, Shutterstock

Before applying a liquid cleaner, you’ll need to remove dirt and debris for maximum effectiveness. Use your vacuum hose with a crevice attachment to remove leftover crumbs, droppings, dust, or wood shavings in cabinets and drawers. With hardwood floors, you’ll only need to sweep before cleaning the urine stains.


5. Disinfect the Wood

cropped man cleaning wood surface with blue cloth and disinfectant
Image Credit: Polina Zimmerman, Pexels

Unlike the average pet accident, mouse urine can carry various germs that pose a risk to the household. Although it’s not a complete solution for removing the urine stain, a wood disinfectant can kill bacteria and viruses.

Bleach and other harsh cleaners can often strip wood’s color or degrade it. Use a gentler solution like Pine-Sol to eradicate germs in the wood without harming the finish. Although they’re milder than abrasive chemicals, these disinfectants can still be irritating, so make sure you wear gloves and protective clothing while using them.


6. Apply an Enzyme Cleaner

cropped woman cleaning wood surface with blue cloth and spray cleaner
Image Credit: Kmpzzz, Shutterstock

After disinfecting, you can clean the urine stain. As with pet accidents, an enzyme cleaner is the surest solution to get rid of the problem in its entirety. It’s especially crucial to remove every trace of mouse urine,  as even the smallest amount can start smelling again and attract more mice.

Spray a wood-safe enzyme cleaner on the mouse urine, saturating it well and letting it sit to break down the proteins and acids in the stain.

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7. Try Homemade Solutions

baking soda and vinegar
Image Credit: focal point, Shutterstock

Enzyme cleaners are generally the most effective solution for all kinds of urine stains, but you can try an array of DIY homemade solutions for convenience. Baking soda and vinegar are great starting points. Spray the mouse urine with distilled white vinegar and let it sit for a few minutes before sprinkling baking soda on top.

You’ll see a fizzy reaction that will help loosen and lift dirt, and the baking soda will dry up any remaining moisture from the vinegar. After several hours, you can vacuum the baking soda up. If you don’t have any vinegar, you can try a blend of hydrogen peroxide and dish liquid to tackle pee stains.

Mix ¼ cup or more of 3% hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle with a few drops of dish liquid. Spray the stain and work the cleaner in with a clean cloth. Let it sit for a few minutes before dabbing it dry.

As an extra preventative step, you can use peppermint essential oil to refresh the air around the old stain. The smell of peppermint irritates mice, so you may succeed at keeping them at bay while also sprucing up the scent around the house.

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Final Thoughts

There are so many irritating aspects of having a mouse in the house that it’s easy to forget how much they urinate around the home. It may stay hidden, but mouse urine can have considerable consequences, spreading foul odors and dangerous contaminants across frequently used surfaces. It can take time to find all the markings of elusive household mice, but with these seven steps, you’ll make it as easy as possible to get rid of the issue once and for all.


Featured Image Credit: MainelyPhotos, Shutterstock

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