When we moved into this house at the beginning of the summer, it smelled. The previous tenants were smokers. Yuck. I hate the smell of smoke. The landlady did her best to get rid of it, but I could still smell it. As you might recall, I'm a super-smeller. Even Sugar Daddy could smell it still. He's not as skilled at smelling as I am so you know it had to be bad. To top it all off, a lot of our household items smelled like smoke as well. The movers were smokers and I'm sure being in the truck (and them smoking back there) got the smell on our furniture and clothes. Double yuck. Needless to say, I invested in some sweet-smelling devices. Here's my report.
1. Oust fan. I bought two of these. They are kind of expensive (around $7-8). They come with a battery and you can turn them on and off. They have a 5 minute on/15 minute off fan. You can really tell when the fan is on during the 5 minutes. You can also tell when it is off. The smell fades quickly. If I'm close to the fan while it is on, the smell can kind of be a sickening sweet. It does help, though, if there is a particularly smelly diaper and I need a quick whif of something that smells like it didn't just come out of someone's butt. We've tried the outdoor scent and the citrus. The outdoor scent is a little more "natural" smelling. But, the citrus is better at blocking really foul odors. They don't cover a lot of area, though. These would do really well in a bathroom, area where you might keep a pet, or a particularly stinky closet. B-
2. Airwick plug in air fresheners. I bought two of these as well. They are not so expensive ($3-5). These plug into outlets and you can vary the intensity from 1-5. They start to smell great right from the beginning. I must warn you, if you use the 5 setting at the very beginning it can be quite overwhelming. Once the oil starts to go down, the 5 setting isn't so pungent. These have been my favorite so far. They have some great scents to choose from. I have Wild Rose and the other one is Lavender. They can smell kind of perfumey so if you don't like that sort of thing, I wouldn't choose it. But, I like it. The bad thing: our outlets are old and "loose". The airwick fresheners are kind of heavy. I've had one fall out of the outlet. I just have to be careful where I put them. A-
3. Lysol air sanitizer. What a waste. It stinks. It doesn't work. D
4. Febreeze. You can't go wrong with Febreeze. It smells great. It works. Downsides? It takes a while for the things to dry. I tend to use a lot so a bottle doesn't last me very long. I'm not going through a bottle a week or anything. That would be just crazy! But, I do expect it to last a little longer than it does. A-
5. Time. Now that we've been in the house for 3 months, the smell has faded. Every once in a while I can smell it on some clothes that I haven't worn/cleaned since we've moved. But, that's few and far between. The house mainly smells like us now. That isn't always the best thing, but it sure beats smoke any day. I can only give time a C because it takes too long!
Thursday, September 22, 2005
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I totally understand hating the smell of smoke. When my husband and I were looking at houses, we looked at a beautiful house -- BUT -- the owners smoked. No thanks! Needless to say, we didn't buy the house. I, like you, am a super-smeller and I wouldn't be able to stand it. The smell of smoke makes me physically ill and I can't breathe.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Febreeze rocks. Chemistry in action. P&G always makes a good investment in the science of their products.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention that Febreeze also gets bonus points for their commercials. That kid that walks around with boxers on his head? Classic.
ReplyDeleteWow, maybe you could do a special for consumer reports or something?? Hope you're feeling better!
ReplyDeleteI am another super smeller. My husband calls it my bat senses. I am such a super smeller.
ReplyDeleteI love Febreeze.
A really good way to get the smell of smoke out of your house is to make a lot of curry and other Indian food. Nothing sticks in curtians and carpets like curry. Of course, you run the risk of having a smokey curry smell....hmm. I know, you should just burn popcorn. Our previous owners were East Indian. We have the same problem but w/ the curry smell. Almost as bad a smoke.
Yeah, curry smell. Yucky. I remember almost throwing up once just being on an elevator with a couple of people that smelled like curry. I actually did throw up once when my MTC roommate got sent broccoli from home and she was eating it in our room. Why? Why would somebody want broccoli sent to them?
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