Eliminate Winter Smells to Keep Your Home Holiday-Fresh All Season

 

The windows are closed, the heater is fired up – and there’s a weird odor in your Louisville home that you just can’t seem to eliminate. It’s difficult to air out your home during the winter. Even worse, your heating system and fireplace can cause all sorts of unpleasant odors, too. To keep your home smelling fresh and clean until spring, here are a few tips to pinpoint strange smells and stop them in their tracks.

Lingering food odors

Culprit: Fried food, burnt food, spicy food, fish

Solution: Your cooking might smell delightful on the day it's served, but lingering food odors aren't welcome. Without the benefit of open windows, the next best thing for ridding your kitchen of odors is boiling a few tablespoons of vinegar in water. This should work on even the worst leftover culinary stenches. (If you want to avoid the problem altogether, just order takeout next time!)

 

Smoky smell

Culprit: Drafty chimney

Solution: The inviting smell of a roaring fire in a fireplace is sure to make your home cozy during the winter. But the dirty soot smell you get when the fire’s out is downright rotten. The cause is likely a combination of a drafty chimney, and an imbalance of air pressure in your home. To avoid this smell, stop the draft by making sure your damper has a tight seal, and try to adjust the air pressure by adding more return air registers to your home. Not only will you get rid of the odor, you might also save on your energy bill.

 

Skunky, rotten smell

Culprit: Dead animal

Solution: Just like you, rodents and pests enjoy a warm escape from the winter chill. If you smell a pungent rotting scent, a stowaway might have died in your house. Avoid this situation in the first place by making sure all areas accessible to rodents are sealed. Use humane pest control methods or traps (rather than poison). If you already have the smell and can’t get to the source, use an air cleaner with an absorbent filter, or mask the smell with air freshener.

 

Musty, moldy smell

Culprit: Moisture

Solution: As long as your house doesn’t have any serious leaks, a moldy smell can usually be chalked up to excess moisture caused by too much humidity in the air. This excess dampness can be caused by moisture-creating appliances like clothes dryers, as well as long showers in unventilated bathrooms. Another contributor to the problem is inadequate insulation of cold surfaces, such as cold water pipes. To solve the problem without opening windows, use a dehumifidier. If it doesn’t work, call a professional for help – mold can cause serious health problems.

 

Sewage odor

Culprit: Bathroom

Solution: Bathroom odors can magnify in the winter, especially if the bathroom is unventilated. If the smell seems to be coming from the toilet, a cup of full-strength vinegar in the tank can work wonders. Just wait five minutes, scrub, and flush. For extra bleaching power, pour hydrogen peroxide in the bowl.

 

Dusty burning smell

Culprit: Heating system

Solution: When you turned your heat on for the season, you may have noticed a burning smell. That’s because dirt and dust had accumulated in your furnace, HVAC, or ducts that then became red hot. To avoid the stench next year, turn your heat on briefly while it’s warm enough to open the windows for ventilation.

Winter in Louisville is wonderful; isn't it time you enjoyed life year 'round in a fabulous new property, or in one of Louisville's many wonderful historic homes? Call Jessica Gaines of Louisville Gaines Real Estate at 502-432-1918. Listen up, Louisville! Jessica is ready to serve all of your real estate needs now, and throughout the new year.