According to the U.S. Fire Administration, half of all residential fires in the United States start in the kitchen. Thankfully most of these don’t result in fatal injuries. However, if you’ve had a small kitchen fire, you’ll be left wondering just how to remove the smoke odor from your home. It seems to linger forever. The longer you leave it, the harder it’s going to be to remove.
Here are five easy ways to get rid of the smell of smoke from your home.
1. Wave a wet towel around the room
You’ll look like a windmill, but a wet towel will suck in smoke particles. Spend ten minutes twice a day for a week doing this and most of the smoke odor should have disappeared. You’ll also have muscles like Popeye.
2. Use vinegar
Fill a few bowls with vinegar and dot them around the house. There’s a chemical reaction with the air that takes place, and the smoke odor is absorbed by the vinegar. The downside is that your room will smell like that wonderful British tradition of fish and chips smothered with salt and vinegar.
(You can also use vinegar to clean your hard surfaces – the acid cuts through the tar and smoke resin.)
3. Use baking soda on carpets
Most of the smoke odor in your home will be trapped in the carpets. To remove the smoke smell, sprinkle baking soda over the entire carpet. Leave for an hour or so and then vacuum. The baking soda should absorb most of the odor, though you might need to repeat every day for a few days to get rid of the smell completely.
4. Use an ozone machine
An ozone machine might help. Casinos, rental landlords, and owners of smoking bars say they work well to remove cigarette odors. But they could run you to a couple of hundred dollars or more, and there are question marks over the effect they have on health – especially for those with allergies.
5. Deep clean everything
Smoke odors get into every surface and every fabric. To remove smoke odor from your home completely, you’ll need to do a deep clean:
- Use a mixture of one cup of vinegar, half a cup of ammonia, and a quarter cup of baking soda in a gallon of warm water to clean your walls and ceilings.
- Wash your curtains and furniture coverings.
- Buy new shades and throw the old ones out.
- Deep shampoo all your carpets.
Of course, before you exhaust all the options and yourself, you might want to give Porter’s Cleaning a call. We’ll be happy to give you a quote for professional cleaning. Contact us today – we’re available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and will be happy to help.