Have you ever walked into a beautiful, well-maintained home only to be put off by a pungent odor? That was my experience a few weeks ago. As a result, I started a discussion on LinkedIn to get some ideas from other stagers as to how they get rid of them. Knowing that we all run into this problem from time to time, I wanted to share what I learned with you. Here are the results:
- Nancy Lee - Replace all air filters and clean all sink traps. Saturate and resaturate the room with an enzyme spray (meant for pet odors). Set up a hepa air purifier and run it once the spray has dried (and on and on). Insure that carpet padding is replaced when the carpet is replaced, as the odors can seep down deep. And finally, change the air filters!
- Andy Capelluto - Recommends a non-toxic product called Biocide Systems (www.biocidesystems.com). She's had very good results with it.
- Heather Stewart - For general purpose household odors, she uses Fresh'n Home (www.freshnodorfree.com). Her second recommendation was for a home spray she makes from distilled water, lavender, eucalyptus and lemongrass essential oils. It seems to not mask odors, but to absorb them. (Interesting!)
- Mary Habres - Pure Ayre. (I think most of us are familiar with this.) It's organic and guaranteed to get rid of tough odors. It also is supposed to prevent them from returning. You can purchase it on Amazon.com.
- GraceAnn Simoni - A carpet cleaner once suggested to her that the carpet be pulled up and just the padding be replaced! Then the carpet was cleaned. Quite a money saver! Also, she has used KILZ on the subfloor after replacing both carpet and padding to take care of "puppy" odors and prevent the stains from resurfacing.
- Louise Henry - Charcoal!!!! Buy a 10 lb. bag, open it, and leave it inside the front door to get rid of odors. (Can't wait to try this one!)
- Michele Rose - Have the air ducts cleaned. This freshens the whole house.
- Veronica Vera Sarkissian - If the home has been closed up and there are mildew odors, use Damp-Rid. She has put some of the white crystals inside vases and plastic containers and scattered them around the house.
- Linda Schleihauf - Open the windows and give the home a good airing out. Try a Lampe Berger (???) and use an unscented fragrance to purify the air. Check the floor vents and clean the microwave.
- Darla DeMorrow - Fresh Air by EcoQuest (www.ecoquest.com). This is sold as a single unit, which is about the size of a small sound system. After the home has been treated, it will have that "fresh air" smell, like after a rain storm. She used it on one of her problem homes inhabited by two chain smokers. They repainted, replaced carpet and padding and removed all belongings. Still the house smelled of smoke. Two weeks after using Fresh Air, the home was completely fresh and had a "For Sale" sign in the front yard. (This sounds fantastic!)
Okay, that's it. Please let me know if you've tried any of these methods or have others to share.
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