How to get rid of that "dirty house" smell?
Question:We've recently rented a condo & apparently the previous tenants were heavy smokers & not very good house keepers. (This info was never disclosed to us.)
So, the place smells of stale cigarette smoke & that, stale, grease & dirt smell that some ppl's houses smell like, who aren't very clean.
So far all the carpets have been shampooed & a few rooms have been repainted. I plan on scrubbing the cigarette residue that's seeping out of the walls, off & so far have put an open box of baking soda in every room.
Any other suggestions?
Answers:
You have the right idea with the baking soda, but don't just leave it in the box. Sprinkle it on the carpet and leave it. Overnight if possible. If not, at least a couple of hours. Don't try using the perfumed carpet sprinkles, they just mask a lot of the odors but don't eliminate them. Generic baking soda is as good as the name brand--same stuff. As for the walls, TSP (Tri-sodium phosphate) is available at most hardware stores. It requires washing and then rinsing but I've seen it get cigarette discoloration and wallpaper paste off walls where regular cleaning solutions fail. Also, you don't have a strong chemical smell with TSP like you do other products. I have also had success with Lysol and very warm water. If it is extremely bad, you may have to clean them twice. It's a shame that people don't take better care of their house, but then think about what they're doing to their lungs!
there may be some kind of air filtration system that helps those kind of smells. There are also people who can do that professionally, but I cannot remember the name! I'm sorry!
Any curtains/things like linens left over you should wash them in vinegar and then rewash and dry. If they left you any furniture you should wash them with wood polish a couple times/then disinfect with the wipes. --other than that when we moved into my apartment with the smell we had the carpets steam cleaned and the furniture too... and now everything smells so nice. oh and we washed the walls. it just takes time. goodluck
My first thought is "FaBreeze". But there are companies that clean up after a fire and I would call them to come in and completely deodorize the entire house.l Also have the carpets cleaned and wash all the wall with Ammonia.
This sounds odd, but it works. Set out wide shallow containers with vinegar. Leave them out overnight. As soon as you dump and rinse the containers, the vinager smell is gone. It absorbs oders and I do this weekly to keep the cigerette smoke smell to a minimum. I would probably set out the vinager for several nights in a row if the smell is that bad. Leaving your windows open for as long as possible will also help quite a bit. Good Luck
One of the apartments I used to live in had the stale cigarette smell. I opened the windows and wiped down the whole place with a product called OdoBan. It is available at Sam's in a gallon concentrate. You dilute it and can spray the walls with it. You can also mop with it, etc. Or you can use diluted vinegar. Using the bowls of vinegar works well, too. Vinegar is one the best, most inexpensive deodorizers.
Pour ammonia into glass dishes and set one in every room.
Really clean the stove, oven, vents, etc. in the kitchen. It is a waste of time to scrub walls that have already been painted.
Scrub every other surface however; ammonia solutions work well, better than bleach for removing cigarette smell. I'm not sure what surfaces can and can't be cleaned with ammonia.
Check the bottle. Do NOT mix it with bleach! Wood cabinets, blinds, floors, curtains etc. should be cleaned. I'm sorry you have to go through this. My parents were heavy smokers, and I used ammonia to kill the smell when I moved some things to my apartment when I moved out.
I had that problem and I took and wiped the walls down with vinegar and water mixed.Spray wipe and rinse.Turn on a fan and the smell will leave when it dries completely.
They may need to paint the place...The smoke is probably embedded in the walls and carpet.
fresh air is best solution,washing walls will help a lot also.I also like to fill bathtub and sinks with hot water and fresh scent pinesol,and leave overnight.also open boxes of dryer sheets hidden about the house are nice,too..(gain is the strongest smelling.)I also like to simmer vanilla on the stove in a pan with water.
febreeze works wonders i was surprised when i used it
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