Ever walk into a house either solo or with your real estate client and feel as though you or she were going to gag due to mold, sweat, pet, cigarette, etc. odors?
It may well be up to you as the agent to erase those offending odors. Here are some tips that may likely help:
- Cigarette smoke permeates everything…walls, carpets, moldings, carpets, light bulbs…everything. Remove any and all porous surfaces that absorb that nasty cigarette odor. Wash everything until the yellow stains caused by the smoke come off the walls, everything. Repaint the room once the stains are removed as paint acts as an odor neutralizer.
- Mold odor is tough but can be mitigated by activated charcoal. Put some activated charcoal in a few out-of-the-way places in containers that are out-of-reach to children and pets. It absorbs moisture and helps remove mold/mildew smalls. You can buy activated charcoal in pet stores.
- Rotting garbage left by displaced owners/renters leaves its own foul smell. Boil sliced oranges/lemons/limes and herbs together in a microwave. Drain the citrus fruit, pour the drained water into the dishwasher and run the dishwasher. Dump the boiled citrus fruit down the garbage disposal and run the disposal for an instant scent upgrade. Then, sprinkle some baking soda into the garbage disposal.
- Dirty kid’s room, sweat clothes and laundry room odors can all be removed with an ozone machine. Ozone interacts and changes the structure of other molecule structures and eliminates odor. An alternative to using an ozone machine is using ¼ cup of distilled vinegar with a gallon of water in a bottle to spray and walls, air vents, carpets/rugs and windows. Change carpet pads. Try painting the room. If the bed’s mattress is involved, sprinkle baking soda directly onto the mattress, let it stay for 15 minutes and then vacuum the top of the mattress to remove all the baking soda.
- Odors from Pets can be erased by spraying one part distilled white vinegar and 6 parts water from a bottle. Use a carpet brush or toothbrush to scrub out the odor/stain. Blot the wetted area with a white towel. If that doesn’t do the trick, sprinkle baking soda onto the area, leave for 12-14 hours and then vacuum. If the damage is severe, you might have to replace the carpet.
- Stuffy closed up houses or rooms need more than fresh air. Add houseplants to help clean the air. Add orange, lavender or grapefruit essential oils to a spray bottle and do a once over on fabrics, upholstery, throws, etc. and into the air itself.
