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The thing with scents in dishes and such - you don't want make it too obvious that you are trying to mask odors. When I was house hunting and noticed strong smelling air fresheners in every room - I knew that there was a problem.
Something very subtle like "fresh cotton" or "clean laundry", hidden (!!) will make the house just smell clean, without making you aware that is intended.
I think I am getting there - I have found some issues and I am resolving them.
I moved the air conditioner out of the bedroom and into the shed (that was a fun trip pulling the cart over the rocks in the driveway). I can already tell a difference in that room. Boy that thing kept the smoke inside it.
Another thing I noticed last night was the sides and the back of the couch giving off a smoke smell. Not sure what happened but I actually used A&H carpet cleaner powder on the couch, put it on let it sit and vacuumed it, but I guess it didn't work - so the next thing is cleaning the couch.
The last thing - I have been smoking outside on back deck -since the house has been painted- and when it rains or dew gets into the ashtray it seems to come into the house. That is what I was told by some non-smoking friends. So I have been washing down the deck with Lestoil (someone on this forum suggested - thank you soo much it has done wonders)
I still am taking suggestions, my thought is that the house may not sell for a while and the cleaner fresher I can make it, the better for me.
Again, thanks everyone for your suggestions - I have never bought so many cleaning/deodorizing things in my life. The charcoal is very hard to find - I still haven't found any. The website I was given from someone here was great but when I called them they don't have things big enough for house use, mostly for smaller spaces - of course I did purchase stuff from them though. (sorry so long - but as I feel I am making headway, I get excited)
You have to keep in mind smoke is tar, and it sticks to everything. Just some febreeze and carpet powder isn't going to do the trick and you're just wasting your time and money. You need to have all the furniture professionally cleaned as well as any carpet, repaint everything, scrub down everything by hand with cleaners (cabinets, counter tops, appliances, floors, everything. Then you'll be going in the right direction.
You have to keep in mind smoke is tar, and it sticks to everything. Just some febreeze and carpet powder isn't going to do the trick and you're just wasting your time and money. You need to have all the furniture professionally cleaned as well as any carpet, repaint everything, scrub down everything by hand with cleaners (cabinets, counter tops, appliances, floors, everything. Then you'll be going in the right direction.
The house was re-painted completely and the carpet and padding were replaced. I will be cleaning the furniture - I only have a couch and love seat so I am going to tackle that myself.
I have been cleaning by hand for a few months now and it just doesn't seem to help.
It might be easier just to get rid of the furniture-I don't think it can be cleaned well enough to get rid of the smell. I have a non smoking household and I bought a beautiful wing chair at a yardsale. It had a faint smell of smoke- I could never get rid of that smell- so as lovely as the chair was I just had to get it out of my house. If you need some furniture to stage the house- check out craigslist- just be sure it is from a non smoking house. if you need to keep the furniture- I'm wondering if new slipcovers would "seal" the smoke smell in?
Another simpler trick you might try is those air fresheners they sell at Walmart and Home Depot... as well as other home center type places. You have a multitude of scents to choose from and there is this unit that has three different times for the misting of the scents. I used this in my travel trailer and sold it to the first people who came inside. The scent was Lavender and something... I set it on the spray every 18 minutes.
I had a problem with rodents in the trialer over one winter. I scrubbed that thing to within an inch of its life, but there was this odor that wouldn't go away... until I used that.
My favorites are Lysol spray, in clean linen. I love that stuff. Also they have some new air sprays out you can check their website. I also like Pinesol original scent and Febreze.
when we had skunk smell in the house they told us to burn vanilla candles.
Last edited by ToriaT; 09-12-2010 at 04:57 PM..
Reason: add info
I just ordered an ionizer. No one seems to have them in stock so I have to wait about 2 weeks for delivery though. I also have a plumber coming because I now noticed a odor coming from the bathroom sink and I have tried everything I could possibly buy to eliminate it and nothing seems to work. Hoping he has some mircle cure or it is something really simple. Please keep your fingers crossed for me. I am accepting that the house won't sell during the winter but hoping that by early next spring the house will be in great shape that it will sell quickly and I can get out of here and start the next chapter of my life and be there for my family!!!
lots of good suggestions here. hope painting done with oil based primer or shellac to seal in odors. i might just add that the odor coming from sink drain could be from non-use (if that's the case). we had an odor coming from a rarely used (maybe 6 yrs) tub. asked plumber about it; that's what they essentially said. odor coming from stack. we use that bath now about once a month -- no more odors coming from drain.
i'd also get rid of window a/c. doubt if it'll be a deal breaker. also get rid of furniture as suggested.
Margaret I had a similar issue once with a floor drain and simply pour a coffee pot of water down it twice a week or so.
I'll add another big source of odor- popcorn ceilings. They seem to absorb everything. Paper can also be bad & sometimes you might even have odors in the vents and registers.
My dad was a former smoker and even 30 years after quitting her could smell a smoker and even from about 25 feet. It was an odd how much it smell stuck with him.
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