Odors in the house are at best unpleasant and embarrassing and at worst even dangerous. If your house smells bad, you should take care of it right away so it doesn’t get worse. Most solutions to get rid of odors just cover up the smell without getting rid of the cause. The first step in getting rid of an odor for good is to find out where it’s coming from.
Most common scents for the home can be put into only a few basic groups. The kitchen, bathrooms, and pets all have scents. Most of the time, a little nose work will help you figure out what’s making the smell, and then a lot of hot soapy water will get rid of it.
By keeping a regular cleaning schedule, you can avoid a lot of smells. Get rid of the trash before the old food starts to smell. Clean everything once a week. Keep your fridge, microwave, and oven clean. Keep the litter box clean and make sure the cat litter is always fresh. A little bit of planning can go a long way.
Some smells may take a little more elbow grease to get rid of. Ammonia is a powerful cleaner, but it needs to be used carefully. When working with ammonia, you should always wear safety glasses and gloves. It can be used to clean walls and cabinets, but make sure to clean up any spills before someone steps in them.
Smoking is another big source of smells in the house. The best thing to do is go outside and breathe some fresh air. Tar and nicotine can build up on the walls, so you should clean them well. Since smells can get into furniture, you should also wash your carpets and furniture. The best place to smoke here is outside.
The best way to get rid of smells that have spread across the floor is to use a carpet cleaner. Baking soda, on the other hand, can be used to clean stains like pet urine. If the stain is new, soak up as much liquid as you can. Apply a mixture of water and vinegar that is 50/50, let it soak for a few minutes, and then wipe it dry. Sprinkle some baking powder over the accident site after it has dried. Work the powder into the thick carpet’s fibers. After a few hours, vacuum it up.
There could be a lot of smells that you don’t like in your fridge. The best way to clean it is to take everything out and wash it, but there are a few things you can do to keep it from getting that bad again. The first step is to make sure the temperature is set correctly so that food doesn’t go bad. Second, eat or throw away leftovers within a few days. Third, clean up any accidents right away.
Sink drains often give off smells. You can buy tools or just use a piece of wire with a hook on one end to get the hair out of a drain. Even scrubbing the drain as far as you cannot get rid of all smells. The p-trap collects all the different things that build up over time. To take out a p-trap, loosen the bolts on each side (but first put a bucket under it!). After you’ve cleaned everything, just put the nuts back on and you’re good to go.
Getting rid of all of these smells might be standard maintenance for keeping a house clean and healthy. Other smells, on the other hand, indicate a more serious problem that needs to be fixed. If you smell a dead rodent, raccoon, or squirrel, you need to find it fast.
Sometimes it can be hard to figure out exactly where a smell is coming from, but you should be able to get pretty close. First, find out which room smells the worst. From there, try to figure out where the smell is coming from in a general way. Check the vents, fans, and any other openings that you can find. If you can’t get to the source of the smell (for example, it’s behind a wall or under the floorboards), hire a professional. You might want to wait it out, but even for mice, this is unpleasant, and for bigger animals, it could make your house unlivable for a short time.
If the animal is left alone, it could get maggots, bugs, and other pests. It can also be a source of germs that can spread all over your house. Ignoring the problem won’t make it go away. One of the most common reasons for dead rodents in your home’s walls is using rat poison to get rid of an infestation. Because of this, many experts say that poison shouldn’t be used in a private home.
Birds and bats can also get into a house through the walls, making it smell bad. In this case, calling a professional exterminator as soon as possible is even more important. There may be more than one bird or bat in your chimney or attic. To get rid of a bug infestation and keep it from coming back, you should hire a professional.
Even though bats and birds can’t damage a building by chewing on it, they are still very destructive. Their droppings get into insulation, sheetrock, and particleboard and weaken them over time. Eventually, this will cause your house to fall down.
Their droppings also have germs that can make it hard to breathe if they aren’t cleaned up right away. They also bring in bugs, which can be annoying and could spread diseases. If you smell something that might mean bats or birds are living in your walls, you should call a professional right away.
Dr. Ducts has a lot of ways to help you get rid of smells and odors that you don’t want in your home.