Dealing With Odor in Your Home

1/29/2016

When you’ve planned for guests, a few final touches to cleaning your home are standard.  Unfortunately, even after you’ve finished, strong smells and terrible odors can linger for hours.  Some of them are caused by unpredictable behavior, while others are just pure bad luck.  So the next time you’re preparing, and the sink backs up, take a few pointers from us on how to deal with bad smells in the home.

Remove the Source

Find the source of the smell first.  All the cleanup in the world won’t work if you forgot to take out the garbage or the dog still smells like a sewer.  So bathe the dog and take out the trash.  Whatever it takes to remove the source of the odor, do it.

Cleaning out your filter and ventilation can help cut down on odors and musty smells as well.  A clean filter can trap particulates which carry odor.  A replacement may be all you need for cleaner, fresher air.

Air Out the Room

The best way to remove a bad smell in the air things out.  Sometimes this means upgrading the ventilation fans in your kitchen and bathrooms for faster ventilation, but usually, you can just open a window for half an hour or so.  Try to get a draft moving, either by placing a fan in the room or by opening two opposing windows.

Clean the upholstery in your home regularly.  Heavy fabrics absorb moisture and odors readily.  You can clean and remove the source of bad scents all day long, but your couch and curtains could be fighting against you.  A light cleaning and a spray from a deodorizer might be all you need to knock that bad scent right out of your home.

Fight Odor Head On!

In the war against bad smells, mankind has come up with a wealth of deodorizers and odor fighters that range from chemicals to fruits from trees.  Next time, before you turn to a scented candle or scented plug-in, try one of these:

1. Vinegar cleans everything – Try a vinegar-based deodorizer.  It smells strong at first but is an effective odor fighter. You can try simmering vinegar on the stove or simply dampen a towel and wave it around the room for a bit.
2. Use professional deodorizers – For heavy-duty odors, or the heavy scent of mildew from a basement, industrial-strength odor-fighting gels are the way to go.  These odor-fighters are designed to mitigate the smells from greenhouses and industrial warehouses.  A couple of hours in your basement and the bad smells will be gone.
3. Activated charcoal – As an odor neutralizer, activated charcoal is better than any other non-chemical deodorizer on the market.  Place a sachet of activated charcoal in the back of the fridge, the base of a trashcan, or in the back of your car to prevent bad smells and clean up foul odors.
4. Lemons and lemon peels – Why do you think so many scented sprays use citrus? Because in its natural form it’s a perfect odor fighter.  Lemon peel zest, with a few coffee grounds in a sachet, works as a good air freshener. To fight bad smells from your garbage disposal, mix a little vinegar with some lemon peels and run them down the drain.

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