Enzyme-treat wooden floors before new furniture

Smart move treating the floor before the new sofa arrives — if there's any residual pet odour in the wood, the new furniture will sit right on top of it and your pet will head straight back to that spot. The only products that actually eliminate pet odours permanently are enzyme-based cleaners. Everything else — sprays, deodorisers, steam — masks the smell temporarily, but pets can still detect it and will return. Tell me a bit more so I can point you to the right thing: what animal is this, roughly how large an area are we talking, and was there regular urination directly on the floor or more of a general soaked-through-from-the-sofa situation?

Got it — a male Lab is going to deposit a serious volume of urine, and along a skirting board means it's likely wicked under the board and into any gaps in the wood too. How old is the flooring — is it solid hardwood, engineered wood, or laminate? That affects how deeply the urine has penetrated and how aggressively you can apply a wet solution.

Perfect — engineered wood is more forgiving than solid hardwood so you can apply a generous amount without worrying about serious warping, as long as you don't flood it. The gaps near the skirting are actually useful — that's where you want the enzyme cleaner to penetrate. My recommendation is Petzyme Pet Stain and Odour Remover. It's a concentrated enzyme formula, genuinely strong enough for set-in dog urine, and it comes in a large bottle so you can be thorough across the whole run of skirting without rationing it. Apply it generously, work it into the gaps with an old brush, and keep the area damp for at least 10 minutes so the enzymes have time to break down the uric acid crystals — that's what causes the smell to return. Don't let it dry too fast; cover with a damp cloth if needed.

Yes — once it's fully dry, do a smell check by getting close to the floor, ideally with the room warmed up slightly as heat brings out residual odour. If you catch anything, do a second pass before the furniture arrives. After that, you're done — no need to seal over it or apply anything else. The enzymes don't leave a residue that'll damage the floor. One thing worth doing: fit a draught excluder strip along the bottom of the skirting board in that area so there's no gap for your dog to target in future.

Perfect timing to do it properly. Be generous with the application, especially along the wall edge and into those gaps — that's where the uric acid will have concentrated. Good luck with the new sofa.