Fire and smoke damage can do a toll on your home, but its effects can linger through the pesky smell of smoke. Once smoke seeps into fabrics, it can be difficult to remove the smell all together from your clothes, furniture, carpets, and even walls. We’ve put together a few tips to help remove this frustrating smell from your home.
Ventilate, ventilate, ventilate!
When odors are contained in an enclosed area, it can amplify the smell. Items that have been mildly affected by smoke may rid of the smell just by airing them out. Open all of the windows in your home and if possible, move the items outside or in a well-ventilated area. If the smell is minimal, fresh air over time should dissipate the odor.
Absorb the odor with baking soda
If you’ve ever noticed that spraying perfume or air freshener doesn’t completely remove an odor, that’s because the scent is typically just masking the underlying problem! Baking soda actually absorbs odors rather than just covering them up. Depending on what you’re trying to remove the odor from, baking soda can be used in a few ways. To remove the smell from a room, fill bowls with baking soda, and place them in the room for 24 hours. To remove the smoke odor from fabrics like couches or carpets, sprinkle the powder on the item, let sit for at least two hours, and vacuum.
…or with white vinegar
While vinegar itself has a strong odor and it may seem like a contradiction, vinegar (like baking soda) is a natural odor-absorber. Similarly to the baking soda, you can fill bowls with vinegar to leave around the room, or even boil it on the stove to fill the room with its vapors. This is also a great option for removing odors from clothes—just wash your clothes as usual but instead of detergent, try a cup of white vinegar. If your clothes smell like vinegar afterward, don’t worry…that will fade naturally.
Call in the professionals
In some situations, the smell may be too much to remove on your own. In this case, it’s time to call in the experts. At Paradise Cleaning, we offer odor removal services and our technicians are certified by the Institution of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification. So, if the smell just isn’t leaving, give us a call today and we’ll get your home back to feeling (and smelling) like paradise.
