Getting Rid of Smoke Smell
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Getting Rid of Smoke Smell
Dec 2006
For as long as we can remember, our now 13 month old child's
nursery has smelled like burnt matches when you open the door.
We always thought it was funny... but that it was just his
smell. The rest of the house does not smell. There is no
plumbing in his room or gas outlet. The only thing in there is
the diaper genie (which we don't think is the culprit). Has
anyone heard of anything like this?
Thanks
anon
Never heard of this, but a very good air purifier would work.
We have one that you have to buy through a distributor and was able to
find another on e-bay for our children who had a serious
mold problem and the mold problem is gone. It's an Ecoquest
Flair. It's great for the whole house.
km
I have noticed a similar smell in our bathroom while showering and was
able to trace it to a specific plastic bath toy in our toy hammock. But
for awhile I really thought I was smelling smoke. I imagine it's some
kind of off-gassing and probably not a good thing to have in your baby's
bedroom. Try to track down the source of the smell and get it out of
the room (or house, even!) anon
Please call an electrician to check your light fixture! We had a
similar problem with a strange, sort of smoky smell that we noticed in
our child's room a few times, but it seemed to fade. Then one day it
got noticably worse and we searched and searched for the problem to no
avail. Finally we realized that it had to be the overhead light
fixture. Sure enough, when the electrician removed the fixture the
insulation on the very old wires inside the ceiling had overheated and
started to crack/burn off, exposing the wires. We had all of our lights
checked and a couple were in similar shape. The electrician was able to
slip new insulation over the wires so it wasn't too expensive, since he
didn't have to replace the wires all the way back to the box. We're so
glad we figured it out - don't know if you have the same problem but
it's definitely worth a look Anon
Sept 2006
We recently bought a used car that smells heavily of cigarette
smoke. Any suggestions or testimonials about how or what will
take the oder out would be great. We prefer a product that
doesn't have a strong chemical oder (ie Fabreeze). Thanks
I once heard on Car Talk that one should use an open can of coffee to
deodorize a car.
(You might check their web site for other ideas:
http://www.cartalk.com/content/
columns/) I think you just leave the open can in there for awhile. This
obviously wouldn't work if you hate the smell of coffee.
-Kara
July 2005
We just bought a house where the previous occupants
smoked, apparently a lot. Has anyone had any success
getting rid of the smoke smell?
Any recommendations for companies that specialize in
carpet cleaning to remove smoke smell?
In fact, any recommendations for companies that specialize
in all aspects of removing the smoke smell?
I've read a lot of different ideas on the internet for getting rid
of the smell, but it would be great to hear from someone
who has actually gone through the experience, and what
worked.
louis
Hi. We dealt with the same issue when we bought our house, the smell
was awful, the owner had lived in the house for something like 50 years
and must have smoked like a carton a day, when we got the house we
washed down all the surfaces with water and bleach using a floor mop,
even the ceilings. Then we got the huge drums of Kilz oil based primer
and put two coats on every surface, ceiling, wall, trim, closets, doors,
kitchen cabinets, windows, I mean everything. Be sure to ventilate your
house well while you use this type of paint as it is really stinky.
The good thing about the oil based primer is that it will seal in any
lead paint that may be in the house as well as seal in the smell, it
also dries very fast so keep that in mind when painting with it, you'll
go through rollers pretty fast as they get gummed up. Then we painted
over with latex. No more smoke smell, just keep windows open and run a
fan after you finish to help the paint smell get out of the house. You
can find Kilz at Home Depot.
amber
SCRUB! scrub ALL of the walls and the ceilings, and every other surface
in the house really really well. Smoke (and tar, and nicotine, etc)
builds up on the walls. We had to do this after my mother (who was a
very heavy smoker) died in preperation to sell her house. Use any type
of cleaner (can't remember what we used) and just scrub the heck out of
every surface (also any floors that aren't carpet.) You may then want to
go ahead and repaint everything, just to get a clean top layer. (This is
a big pain, I know. You may want to hire a cleaning service to do it.)
Get all carpets and drapes, etc, professionally cleaned. Also - if you
have central heating there may be a coating of smoke,etc in the
vents/air ducts/etc, so you may want to get those cleaned too??
Good luck
Been There, Cleaned That
Dec 2002
I bought a house a few months ago and used a fireplace a few
times with no residual effect. When I used my fireplace last time
a lot of smoke came into the house. Since that time my house
smells like a fireplace itself. Is there any way to get rid off
smell? Does anyone know why this happened? Is it a problem with
the chimney? Can the wind or the rain outside reverse the way the
smoke goes? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Julia
We had some trouble with our chimney when we first moved into our
house. We had several chimney companies come over and give us
estimates and explanations of the various problems and possible
solutions. I can't remember how the ratio of fire box to chimney
diameter works or even if that may be the cause of smoke entry for
you, but in our case lengthening the chimney solved the problem
for us and was fairly cheap.
The smoke smell was a bit of work to get out but not difficult. We
washed the walls, woodwork, ceiling and miniblinds with a solution
of Simple green and water. (Simple green is fabulous for greasy
smokey fire damaged stuff.) The curtains had to be laundered. The
smoke had stayed high in the room so the upholstery, carpets and
floor were fine. (Now I know why youare supposed to crawl out of a
building in a fire). Follow your nose to see what soft surfaces
need to be cleaned. If there is residual smoke/soot on hard
surfaces, they'll be grey/dirty and greasy looking esp easy to
spot on light colors.
Good luck, e-mail if you want more particulars.
Natalie
If you haven't tried already, the walls may need deodorizing :
1 Tbs baking soda + 1 tsp lemon juice to 2 cups hot tap water in
a spray bottle. Keep on as long as the paint/wall paper doesn't
get ruined (test in a hidden area).
You can also deodorize with 1/4 cup baking soda (Arm & Hammer is
o.k. - I get them in a large 10+ lb box)in hot tap water in a 2-
gallon bucket and sponge on lightly. This much will clog a
nozzle in a bottle.
I assume you've steam-cleaned & shampooed the carpet and
upholstery. If not, or you can't afford it, you could sprinkle
baking soda all over the carpets and leave overnight. Next,
shampoo carpets and upholstry with: a 1/4 cup of a vegetable-oil-
based liquid soap (i.e from Trader Joe's or any natural grocery
store), and 5 gallons of water. Adjust depending on the volume
taken by the shampooing machine you rent. If you decide to add
some essence in the water (usually oil-based), beware not to add
more than a 1/4 tsp. to 5 gallons of water, since oil will bind
with the soap, making the soap less effective in solubilizing
other oily substances in the carpet and removing it. Depending
on the hardness of your water, if you get too much foam,
decrease the amount of liquid soap or add a bit more of the
essence based in oil. Next load of hot water, add less soap. If
you want the convenience of a prepared bottle, you can purchase
from Grany's at 818-577-1825 orAFM at 1-909-781-6860. Both in CA
For air deodorizing, try bowls of baking soda in several areas
of the room or bowls of vinegar, or bags or zeolite, a natural
mineral found near volcanoes. Get it from Dasun Company 1-800-
433-8929.
Parents for a Safer Environment is a grass roots organization
working with other non-profit organizations and government
agencies to educate schools and parents about safer alternatives
to unnecessary environmental hazards in schools and in our local
neighborhoods. Please look in future ''Announcements'' on how you
could get your pre-school involved in our May, 2003 workshop-
conference.
Susan
Nov 1999
My sister and brother-in-law have moved into an apartment in a duplex
building. To their extreme dismay, they discovered after moving in
that the downstairs tenants are heavy smokers who have lived there for 20
years. Can anyone recommend a product that will control the stale tobacco
smell that permeates my sister's apartment, both the living areas and the
closets? They are also looking into installing air purifiers for the
apartment as well as for the inside staircase that they share with the
downstairs tenants. Any recommendations? Thanks!
I moved into a townhouse that was previously occupied by smokers and the
drapes were soaked with the smell of tobacco. I sprayed Febreeze on
them one time and the odor was completely gone.
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