How to get prior owners smell out of house?
Question:We just bought a condo from the original owner. I first smelled a slight burning/fruity/perfumey smell when we inspected it, but it didnt completely turn me off. Since buying, we suspected maybe she smoked. Its hard to say- the smell is really weird and faint- like a country/perfume/smoke smell. Now, we think it was the fireplace or something that smelled smokey. But, the condo smells like the old owner. Even my husband took down some sheetrock from the Dining room to put in some electrical wires, and i smelled a peice of the inside of the sheetrock, and it had that perfumey smell. So, its even inside the walls... Its not horrendous, and we are getting a HEPA whole house air cleaner installed soon, as were not moved in yet- but every time i come over here i smell it. (her).
BTW- we painted the whole place, even closets, refinished the wood floors, and remodeled the kitchen. Its in the walls. It tends to go away once we open the windows and i have a carbon filter i run which helps too.
Answers:
There are always smells that cannot be neutralized at the source because the source cannot be accessed. For these types of odors, you need a product that can absorb the smell before it emanates throughout your home. A musty basement, stale smelling closet, or a hidden animal nest in an inaccessible wall may disperse smells that cannot be directly dealt with.
Few suggestions for your consideration:
You can remove almost any odor from your home by boiling cinnamon, orange peel(you can also add lemon peel) and cloves in about two cups of water. This will not only eliminate lingering odors, but freshen the air in your home as well. Leave it uncoverd, also boil again once it gets cold or whenever you get another chance to give a boil.
Placing a few drops of tea tree oil in any room of your house or even in your car will eliminate lingering odors and freshen the air. You can also use tea tree oil in your dish water or laundry to cut lingering odors that are difficult to remove.
Placing a cotton ball soaked in pure vanilla extract in a small saucer and placing it anywhere in your home or even your car will eliminate odors and freshen the air, giving it a sweetened scent.
Using these tips will help keep your home and car smelling clean and fresh no matter what the lingering odor might be, without the use of harsh cleaning products that can discolor or leave an odor of their own. By using items you already have in your home,
1) Arm & Hammer Baking Soda. In a sixteen-ounce trigger spray bottle, add two teaspoons of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda to two cups of water. Shake Well. Next, spray the air of any room or area to banish bad odors. To deodorize a closet or refrigerator, place an open box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda on a shelf.
2) Bounce. Inside of an air-conditioning vent or on top of a fan, tape a Bounce dryer sheet. It will blow fragrant air throughout the house. You can also place Bounce sheets under mattresses, sofa cushions and carpets to improve their smell. Don't forget to use them in your hamper and drawers. Be sure to take advantage of the different varieties of this products in order to vary the sweet fragrances floating through your home.
3) Downy. In a sixteen-ounce trigger spray bottle, add one tablespoon of Downy liquid fabric softener and water. Shake well. Then spray the air. You'll be surprised at how much better it smells afterwards.
4) Heinz White Vinegar. In order to remove stubborn smells lingering in the air from cooking, paint and cigarettes, place a small bowl of Heinz White Vinegar in the room. You can also put it in a spray bottle and spritz it around the room. This solution will act as an odor neutralizing foul smells.
5) Car Freshener Pine Trees. Those strongly scented Car Freshener Pine Trees can be used to improve the odor of other things besides your vehicle. If you hang them on a blind in front of a window or taped against an air conditioner, it will freshen up your home. You can also bring one to work to battle interoffice odors.
6) Kingsford Charcoal Briquets. If you place a clean, used coffee can filled with charcoal briquets in a closet or chest, it will absorb odors. (Warning: Make sure the briquets are unused and fresh also.)
7) Maxwell House Coffee. Using fresh grounds of Maxwell House Coffee, fill a bowl and place it in a room. It will deodorize and freshen that room.
don't care for Candles because of the black smoke, and agree with plug -in don't last long enough, you can go broke.
My favorite two are
Liquid Poupperi< sp bad!
simmer in a electric warmer
The Candles that are made for simmering in electric warmers
Both Reasonable Price and Both will Make your Home Smell Good!
Good Luck!
sounds like you need to air the place out for a week or so.
First, you may want to replace your flooring. Carpet and padding are amazingly effective at trapping odors and no amount of cleaning will remove those odors. Second, you could paint your walls and other surfaces with a product called "Kilz." This product is a combination of paint and an effective odor neutralizer and blocker. These two suggestions will often take care of whatever odor you could not get rid of via lots of cleaning. Good luck!
to get that smell out of carpets the best is barbasol shaving cream. weird but it can get out any smell .
son just bought a home that had smells..we put small dishes of vinegar out and about the home .took about 3 days and the smell was gone
Charcoal briquettes will absorb a lot of smells, try placing some around the condo until you move in.
We moved into a 150 year old farm house several years ago, I still keep a little paper bag of briquettes in each closet.
If you really think she smoked in the house here is what you do. I cleaned for the military when the families moved out of the housing. I had to go threw inspection before they would sign off on the houses I cleaned. First of all I would start with opening all the windows and then you will need to wipe all the walls down. You should wipe them down with hot bleach water. One cap full of bleach to one bucket full of hot water. You will also need to clean all the windows in the condo including the window sills. When all that is done I would make sure that even all the carpets are cleaned and you can rent a carpet cleaner. If there is any wood to wipe down I'd use Murphy's oil soap for that. After all that is done you can put small containers out with backing soda or vinegar in them. Backing soda and vinegar are natural odor elemators and they are cheaper than ferbreeze.
Since you have painted and done the floors. it just may need you to live there! After you move in, open the windows as much as possible and then fry a big batch of fried chicken (or bake chocolate chip cookies)! Your house will then smell like your house.
This along w/ the vinegar, charcoal, or tea tree oil others have suggested should work.
Enjoy you new place! Home sweet home!
I think it is impossible! I have lived in my home for 11 years now, and every once in a while I can still smell "something" from the previous owners. I have painted, cleaned, aired, candled, vinegar-ed, smudged, smoked, cooked and even have a dog. The faint smell comes up here and there.
Is the "her" the previous wife or girlfriend? That smell is next to impossible to remove.
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