Fires not only cause property damage, but they also leave a smell behind that can linger in the air long after the flames are extinguished. This smell can reach miles away from the source of fire and affect the air quality. If you are feeling nauseated due to the odor of burnt wood and ash, it’s high time you look for a solution. Apart from fire, cigarette and cooking smoke also stay in your home, eventually disrupting the quality of your breathable air. The smoke smell lingers on different surfaces in your home and doesn’t go away very quickly. This smell not only feels nasty but is also bad for the lungs. Cigarette’s smoke is especially difficult to deal with, as it has tar and resins in it, which cling to all surfaces of a room and are hard-to-remove.
Similarly, homes with central HVAC systems often face the problem of lingering cooking smell that just doesn’t go away with the installed vents. If you haven’t done a thorough smoke odor removal for a while, add it to your to-do list. Regular ventilation and vacuuming can help with diluting the odor, but unless you clean the surfaces that hold this these smells,, your home won’t feel fresh. Here are a few reasons why smoke odor removal is important for your home:
- Tar-free breathing air
Cigarette smoke has an ample amount of tar in it, which travels to your lungs and damages them. If someone has a weakened immune system, this recessed tar can stir different infections and make the person suffer unnecessarily. Similarly, the burnt wood’s smoke also has a foul smell that lingers on to everything in your home and invades your breathing air. If you want to breathe in the fresh air, you should do a comprehensive smoke odor removal in your home.
- No headache because of the smoke
Homes which receive smoke from wildfires are especially vulnerable to bad air quality. The residents may face nausea, headache, and cough due to the ashes present in the indoor air. And since indoor air stays there for quite a while, it’s important to make it free of smoke/odor.
- Avoid eye and breathing infections
Smoke can cause several mild eye and breathing infections if it lingers on different soft surface like beddings, cushions, etc. To make sure that your home doesn’t have any contaminants in the air, pay close attention to smoke odor removal.
- Cleaner home
No matter how much your scrub the floor or walls, if your home smells of days old curry and smoked cigarettes, it will feel unclean for sure. If you want to maintain hygienic conditions in your home, you need to thoroughly clean all surfaces that might hold smoke odors. If your vents cannot remove cooking smell, the whole place will feel oily and smoky even when you are done cooking.
How to carry out smoke odor removal?
Removing long-standing odor from a room isn’t as easy as dusting or mopping. In fact, odor removal is a detailed and time-consuming process. Here are a few basic steps of odor removal, which you can easily do:
- Wipe hard surface
Walls seem hard from the outside, but when the smoke hits their surface, they can absorb its microscopic particles. Many people ignore walls while removing odor and then wonder why it isn’t completely gone. Walls, ceiling, windows, fans, lights, frames, etc. all need to be wiped in the odor removal process. You can mix vinegar with warm water and apply the mixture on all hard surfaces of a room. This is a good cleaning solution and doesn’t harm paint, polish, etc. which means there is no need to remove the solution afterward. Open your windows and apply this solution on all surfaces that might have come in contact with the smoke.
- Wash fabrics
Vacuuming and dry cleaning don’t help soft fabrics during smoke odor removal. Throw pillows, cushions, upholstery, rugs, etc. all must be completely washed. To completely remove the odor, you must clean fabric items and dry them in the open air before setting your house back in order. If a specific item i.e., upholstered sofa, smells beyond repair, think about replacing it. Soft surfaces are the most challenging ones during odor removal, and you might end up replacing half of them as they won’t smell fresh once they are damaged by smoke.
- Circulate air
The final step is to open all doors and windows to circulate fresh air inside your home. Turning the fans and vents on will help with pushing smoke odor out and replacing the affected indoor air with good quality outdoor air. You can leave the windows and doors open as long as possible to dilute the indoor air. Once done, close the windows and spray the air freshener of your choice to enjoy the long-lasting freshness. If your HVAC vents have any blockage, clean them too as that will help the air circulate better. These vents and ducts can hold the odor in them, ultimately releasing it to the room. So, make sure to open/de-clog the vents too.
Summary
Burnt food, cigarettes, and fire can cause smoke damage to your home, eventually affecting the air quality around you. If you have faced any of these events recently, start working right away and do comprehensive odor removal. If you can attack the odor before it penetrates fabric items, you can save yourself money and the headache of having to replace them. However, if there has been extensive damage, these items must be replaced to attain the odor-free environment. Controlling odor is not only good for aesthetic purposes, but it also prevents several health problems. To ensure that your home always smells fresh and is free of any tar/ashes, you must start the odor removal process right away.
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