Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Cat pee probably on HW floors

When i bought my old house, i was told there is H/W throughout under all the carpeting. The only evidence i've seen is a 4x4 area of HW near the breezeway door (rug must have been too high to install there or something) and then when i replaced my 2nd BR carpet i did see HW under there.

So i'm assuming i do have HW throughout. Now in my dining room about 3ft x 5ft section has been peed on multiple times by a cat (no longer here). I'm just guessing that the P has soaked thru everything and gotten on the floor. It's one reason i'm scared to lift up the carpet.

So if there is cat P all over the floor, (for the past 3 years or so) what's the likely condition of that floor and how do you fix it? I just dont want to lift up the carpet and be stuck with something that's gonna cost a ton to repair.

I have zero HW experience but am guessing there are threads here about refinishing

No one can hazard a guess as to the extent of urine damage to hardward flooring beneath carpet, unless they have x-ray vision. The only way to make an assessment is to remove the carpet and cushion and make a visual inspection.

Often sand and refinishing is all that is required. If urine has penetrated finish and stained floors, depending upon extent of staining, sanding may remove stains. If sanding is not successful, board replacement can be done by removing boards from inconspicuous area such as a closet, and then floor sanded and refinished. In worst case scenarios, boards are not only stained but urine has penetrated gaps between boards and saturated the wood subfloor beneath, where odor continues to be a problem. Then, flooring must be removed, subfloor sealed to seal in odors, and new flooring installed. Again, no can make an assessment without visual inspection.

Pull up the carpet and reply back with what you see.

If you know the carpet has been hit with cat pee I would assume they're going to be replaced anyway. So since you have to rip them out, look at the floors and see what you have. While the carpets are up call in a pro and get an estimate to refinish and what the cost would be to replace damged/stained areas.

I just had mine done. Ripped up the carpet and there were stains. The pro actually got down on his hands and knees and sniffed the stains. His comments were dog stains have a better chance of sanding out than cat. After the floors were sanded down we had some stains that wouldn't come out. Knowing that the worse stain was going under the couch we left it alone. Some other darker stains that would be visible in high traffic areas we had replaced ($15 per board is what I paid). Its amazing how when the room is filled back up again with rugs and furniture what you don't notice.

Another possibility is to stain your floors to help mask any stained area versus going natural.