I recently sold an absolutely gorgeous house. Buyers fell in love with the house even though it smelled strongly of cigarette smoke. Once buyers took possession of the property, they scrubbed and cleaned from top to bottom, but the odor remained.
Their son suggested using an ozone machine to eliminate the smell. They quickly called an ozone machine rental place and brought them in. Absolutely no one was allowed into the house while the machine was running.
Curious and fearful that it might be harmful, I researched ozone treatments. I was relieved to find out ozone is not fatal and won't make you sick. It's just an eye irritant. I read on to see how the treatment worked and thought I'd share.
One reason that ozone is so effective is because it is a gas and can effectively “clean” any place that air can go, including air, walls, ceilings, ductwork, carpet fibers, gaps between floorboards, cracks in walls, and more. Ozone is able to penetrate into these areas and destroy odors that it finds there.
Ozone destroys the molecules, bacteria, and spores that cause unpleasant smells. Being a highly reactive molecule, ozone is quick to chemically react with particles that it comes into contact with. The extra oxygen atom in the ozone attaches itself to other molecules, thereby chemically changing their structure to create non-offensive molecules – eliminating the smell.
How Ozone Breaks Down Odor
Wow! What a difference! It is as if the entire interior of the house had been "bleached." Now, when you walk in, there isn't even the faintest smell of smoke and no repainting was necessary!
Jana Haren, Realtor, MSSC
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