1. Cleaning Residues Off Surfaces and Furnishings
These are the techniques used to remove cleaning product, air freshener, fragrance, and smoke residue from walls, floors, and furnishing.
Some chemical odors can be particularly difficult to remove, especially plug-in fragrance chemicals which contain oils. Cigarette smoke also contains greasy tar residue.
Any porous materials with a prolonged exposure are also particularly challenging to remediate.
This is a complete list of the strategies to use for each contaminant. I include my own experiment comparing sealants side-by-side to remediate Febreeze and cigarette smoke from drywall.
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i. Baking Soda or Vinegar
You can use baking soda or vinegar to wash down the walls. Baking soda provides some abrasion and helps remove odors. Vinegar is a degreaser and helps remove odors as well.
You can also sprinkle baking soda on horizontal surfaces, hard surfaces, carpet and upholstery, and leave them until they seem saturated with the odor, then clean up.
Vinegar and lemon or vinegar alone can also help neutralize smoke and nicotine. Alkaline cleaning products will not remove nicotine residue. Acidic cleaning products work best for cigarette smoke, and vinegar helps with the greasy residue (source).
You can also set out bowls of vinegar and bowls of baking soda to absorb malodors.
ii. Baking Soda & Hydrogen Peroxide
Baking soda mixed with hydrogen peroxide is a powerful cleaner (and bleaching agent!) Some people add a little bit of Seventh Generation dish soap to this mixture to wash down the walls. Dry them, and repeat.
This can be used to remove odors on the wall. It also works on urine odors and is the best formula for skunk smell (source).
You can mix one part 3% hydrogen peroxide with one part white distilled vinegar in a spray bottle to remove smoke odor in upholstery.
Hydrogen peroxide does bleach many materials, so test for compatibility.
iii. Vodka
Vodka can work to remove odors on walls and furnishings.
You can mist upholstery and fabric lightly with vodka to help remove smoke odors, musty odors, and bacterial odors.
You can use it on hard surfaces like furniture and walls to help remove smoke odors. Test for compatibility.
If you have personal care product and cleaning product residue on shower walls, this can help cut through grime to help remove that odor. It can remove sticky residue as well.
Like vinegar, vodka is a degreaser and can neutralize odors.
iv. TSP (Trisodium Phosphate)
TSP is a poweful cleaner and degreaser. It can also be used to get rid of fragrance residues.
It’s often used to help remove mold from fabrics as well.
It will damage some surfaces, so it’s only for certain applications and you must research how to use it safely.
Folks with chemical sensitivities generally do tolerate it. But you should be cautious with how you handle and dispose of it.
v. Orange Oil Soap
Orange oil is a natural degreaser, so it can help to remove oil-based chemicals like plug-in residue and cigarette smoke. You can use it on the floors and walls as well as most furniture.
Other citrus oils like lemon oil are also degreasers.
Of course, many people with chemical sensitivities do not do well with essential oils. If that is the case, don’t try this strategy.
I like this Cove brand of castile soap with orange oil. You can also mix a formula yourself by adding orange essential oil to a cleaner of your choice.
If you are very sensitive to cleaning products you may prefer to mix this yourself to choose the base soap.
Dish soaps are particularly good soap degreasers.
vi. Ammonia
If you cannot get smoke out of a surface any other way, you could wash the walls and ceiling with a mixture of 1/2 cup ammonia, 1/4 cup vinegar, and 1/2 cup baking soda in a gallon of hot water. Or just use ammonia and water 1:4.
This is of course not a non-toxic option and those who are chemically sensitive may not wish to risk this or may only use this strategy as a last resort before giving up on a building.
Do a sample outside first and see if and when the ammonia dissipates to your satisfaction.
2. Neutralize Odors with Enzyme Cleaners
Enzymes can break down chemicals and odors. They work best on organic odors but they can work on other chemicals.
Biokleen is a good cleaner to remove toxic cleaners, chemically sensitive folks have reported.
Another enzyme cleaner, Earthworm Spray works well at breaking down organic smells.
Liquid-Ate is a brand I have used (better priced in Canada than the other brands). This brand has an unscented version. Most enzyme sprays have a light essential oil fragrance, and the more conventional brands have chemical fragrance.
I tried Nature’s Miracle old formula. The new formula has a lot of complaints in the reviews and I’m not a fan of those additives and fragrance that are added.
These cleaners are best known for breaking down and safely eliminating urine and other organic odors without the use of harsh chemicals or masking agents, but they can work on other chemical compounds too.
They do damage some materials since they interact with and break down sealants. I have seen this damage on sealed concrete floors and wood floors.
3. Neutralize Odors with Natural Mineral Products
There are two main products that use mineral technology to neutralize fragrance as well as smoke and other chemical odors.
EnviroKlenz
EnviroKlenz makes a mineral-based product to neutralize odors. They have different variations of the same formula that are slightly modified to suit different areas of the house/different materials.
Enviroklenz odor eliminators are all made with the same basic formula: magnesium hydroxide/magnesium oxide, zinc oxide, and titanium dioxide.
OdorOut
AFM Safecoat has a new product in 2020 called OdorOut. I tested this product in my experiment trying to remove Febreeze and smoke from drywall. More about that in the next section.
This performed surprisingly well. We don’t know the exact ingredients here though the vendor did say it’s a mineral-based product. Their website indicates it contains colloidal silica and “ions” (likely minerals). They describe a catalytic process which indicates it’s likely zeolite and possibly other minerals (possibly magnesium, zinc and/or titanium dioxide).
The product is fairly transparent in color (unlike EnviroKlenze which is white) and it’s definitely not an enzyme-based product. It has a light odor which is difficult to describe. Most people would tolerate this product.
4. Sealing in Odors on Surfaces
Water-based products (sealers and paints) do not seal in perfume, other fragrance, urine, or smoke very well. The odor mixes right into that waterbased coating.
My Experiment Comparing Sealants
I did an experiment on painted drywall. Four pieces of drywall contained Febreeze sprayed evenly on the front (while the back was sealed with foil).
And another four were doused with cigarette smoke. The boards were sealed on the back with foil and put into bags with equal amounts of cigarette smoke blown in.
Products Tested
I tested ECOS Purifying Primer, AFM Hardseal (which works well on offgassing chemicals), Zinnser Bullseye Shellac, and AFM OdorOut.
If you want to watch me go through the results on the board samples with Febreeze, here is a video.
Results of my Test
Water-based products did not help very much. I was not satisfied with ECOs Purifying Primer (which contains some zeolite) – on the Febreeze contaminated drywall – I would not even bother with this.
AFM HardSeal did help a little bit with the Febreeze odors. On Febreeze it was in second place (better than OdorOut). AFM did warn me that this would not work really well.
Shellac, a natural resin, is an alcohol-based sealant. It was by far the best seal on both chemicals from Febreeze and smoke odors. The downside of shellac is that this is a partial vapor barrier and should not be used on interior walls in all climates.
After using two coats of shellac, then you can go over with a water-based primer and paint, or even AFM HardSeal if you still need more sealing.
BullsEye is Zinnser’s waxed shellac – a great seal – but harder to paint over, Sealcoat Sanding Sealer is dewaxed and easier to paint over. BIN Shellac is their primer, which if you can tolerate that, is an easy one to paint over.
Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and Rustoleum Chalked Paint can go over waxed shellac.
OdorOut came in second place on smoke (better than HardSeal). I was definitely impressed since this product did not look like it could tackle this. It did surprisingly well. It had to be reapplied multiple times as the odor partially returned after 24 hours or so. EnviroKlenz appears to be similar but is not the exact same formula.
On the Febreeze boards, it was not as good as HardSeal but it did help, and was better than just regular primer.
Wash the Walls first
In this experiment, I did not wash or scrub down the walls like I recommend in the first section. This would have helped. You may also want to apply some ozone or steam it first (and make sure it’s dry) before continuing on to seal it.
5. Steam Clean
Steam cleaning can be effective on smoky walls, floors, and upholstery.
The heat “melts the hardened tar and oils encapsulating the smoke molecules, making it easy to wipe them away with a microfiber cloth or sponge”, says Bob Vila.
Many home improvement centers rent these machines.
Bob Vila advises misting the surface lightly with the vapor from the steam cleaner. Don’t linger in one area and saturate it which can damage some fabrics such as silk and even destroy drywall.
6. Using Ozone to Break Down Fragrance & Smoke
There are a few things I would still use ozone for. Ozone can be used successfully on fragrance odors, not in shock treatment doses, but in lower doses. Lower doses are less risky.
The biggest risk with ozone (apart from the fact that people, pets and plants can be harmed by exposure to ozone) is that it oxidizes materials and can leave behind a persistent odor that can be even worse than the original one.
If your house has new home offgassing from building materials – I would not use it in that setting. I would personally not use ozone to remove fragrance in a house with high offgassing. There are too many possible chemical reactions that could go wrong and make things worse.
For fragrance and smoke, start with low doses for short amounts of time and stop if you are just starting to produce byproducts. Read my full post on ozone for precautions and airing out.
This doesn’t always works, especially on porous engineered wood or drywall where the fragrance or smoke is deeply embedded.
But it certainly can work on light fragrance and smoke and is something I would try after washing the walls and before sealing them. Or even before washing the walls if you like. Just be sure to start with low doses so you can check for interactions with building materials.
You don’t need a super powerful ozone machine for low doses and short times, a simple one like this will do. But you do have to take the same precautions as you would with higher doses.
You can use ozone on objects and some furniture as long as you know what it negatively reacts with (and know what it can degrade), or, are willing to experiment.
Ozone is a DEADLY gas, be sure to fully read the precautions and use at your own risk. I recommend a much longer air out process than ozone machine vendors recommend.
Do not proceed without reading my ozone post for the risks to human life, pets, and even neighbors, and doing your own due diligence. My disclaimer is here.
7. Remove Materials if Neccesary
When you have major contamination of fragrance chemicals or smoke and or you are extremely sensitive you may have to remove some materials.
Porous materials can become very saturated with smoke, fragrance, plug-in residue, aerosol residue, and other air freshener chemicals.
Drywall Removal
Drywall is very porous, and areas where the walls have been directly sprayed with aerosols, or right above where the plug-in was, might not be saveable.
Buildings where someone smoked inside for long periods of time will have very saturated materials as well.
Pressed Wood Removal
Pressed wood products are also very porous. If fragrance chemicals were stored under kitchen or bathroom cabinets or sprayed on them, those materials might not be able to be saved.
Though those are also areas where shellac will work well.
Carpet Removal
Carpet is another porous material that might not be able to be cleaned. You can try extraction, and you can try sprinkling down baking soda or zeolite and vacuuming it up later, but you might not be able to save it.
Removing thirdhand smoke from carpet may be impossible.
When removing carpet take the same level of precaution you would take in remediation, since many chemicals (flame retardant, pesticides, mold spores) will become volatile during the removal of carpet.
8. Should you use an Air Purifier?
An air purifier will not stop the offgassing of fragrance, cleaning product reside, or smoke from the substrate, but it can help deal with the VOCs that are being emitted and are now circulating,
This is usually the step to try after trying to remove the source of the problem by cleaning, sealing etc. However, there is no harm in bringing this in to help right away. It just might not do as much as people hoped.
This usually isn’t enough to help someone that is severely reacting and unable to remove the chemical odor from the materials in the home.
But for some people, it does make all the difference. If you are less sensitive or the problem odor is not severe, this is a much easier solution than the others.
I have a list of top air purifiers to mitigate VOCs. These are the ones with lots of sorbent material in them. They are also units that are well tolerated by folks with MCS.
9. Using Other Sorbent Materials
Not as powerful as air purifiers that move air through sorbent materials, the same materials can be set out around the house to passively absorb odors.
Activated charcoal, zeolite, baking soda, coffee grounds, and bowls of vinegar all work to absorb odors.
A product that many chemically sensitive people have said works well is the Deoderoc mineral blocks. This might be zeolite, it’s not clear.
10. Don’t forget the Central HVAC
When you are moving into a house that had pervasive smoke, mold or other contaminants, you should replace the furnace filter and have the ducts cleaned.
Related Posts:
- How to remediate VOCs in new homes (including how to seal in formaldehyde)
- The best air purifiers for high offgassing
Corinne Segura is a Building Biologist Practitioner with 6 years of experience helping others create healthy homes.
Did you find this post helpful? If so you can buy me a coffee to support the research behind this blog. Thank you!
Rebecca Webber says
My husband and I moved into an apartment about 6 weeks ago and I feel like I find a new smell every day. Fortunately it is a 5 year old space so the smells of the once new doors, molding, appliances, etc have off-gassed well. It’s also mold free which is dramatically improving my health, Yay! Unfortunately the last tenant used some pretty strong scented cleaning and personal care products so that’s my challenge. This article has helped me out a ton. Today’s challenge is getting the hairspray/perfume smell off the bathroom door. You are always a literal life saver Corinne. I hope you are doing really well!
Rebecca
MAGGIE says
Hi, I just bought a used linen sofa, loveseat and chaise. They all have a strong smell of perfume. How can I get rid of the smell? I can’t use water based cleaners.
Rachel says
Hello! Thank you for your site, I’ve found it very helpful.
I moved into a townhome recently and am reacting to the plug-in air fresheners the prior owners used to use. I was told I should have the paint stripped and then repainted w/ a zero VOC paint, but I cannot do this myself and don’t want to hire someone. I was thinking of instead painting over with shellac, but i see you wrote ‘the downside of shellac is that this is a partial vapor barrier and should not be used on interior walls in all climates.’ Apologies, but I don’t understand what this means? What type of climate would it not be safe in?
Also, is there any type of mask you would recommend for something like washing the walls? I do not want to breath in all the stuff I’m stirring up if I wash the walls before painting them.
Corinne says
It depends if you are washing the walls with TSP or a true paint stripper. Shellac can cause problems if you use AC inside, it depends on your wall construction and the temp and humidity outside. You can use a dew point calculator as a rough guide.
Nancy says
I bought some artificial trees from Kirklands. Now that I’m home, they smell strongly of scents – probably from candles in the store. I put Zorb-X enzyme on one and set both out on the porch to compare how they smell in a couple of days.
Any more ideas? Going to have to return if I can get these smells out.
Corinne says
Heat and air it if it’s plastic. Order online, less likely to be scented.
Rebecca J. says
Hi Corinne!
Thanks for this helpful article. We are doing some major remediation for “febreeze” type smells in our new home in the concrete and wood. Would we be able to hire you as a consultant on how to best remove the toxic smell?
Please let us know!
richard needham says
Hi Corinne
We bought our daughter a used beautiful coach built pram.
. We collected it from a super clean house. The lady was obviously a massive user of air freshener products as it’s all we could smell when she opened the door. It was not until we got home that we noticed it smelled very strongly of vanilla. Sickeningly so! We think she has used some vanilla fragranced deodorising product on it.
It seems to have actually absorbed into the pvc interior upholstery. We have tried unfragranced soap and water, vinegar. Bicarbonate of Soda, witch hazel and surgical spirit without success. It seems the fragrance is ingrained. I can’t believe that nothing seems to get rid of it. I mean it’s plastic, pvc. Have you any ideas please? Is isopropyl Alcohol worth a try?
Nancy says
Help!!
My downstairs neighbor used arm and hammer pet fresh carpet cleaner and he really overdid it. The smell has been coming up into my apartment through the ceiling I guess for weeks. He has vacuumed a couple times but no help at all. It I think is so strong it has gotten into his furniture as he threw out a chair the other day and it smelled so strong like the carpet cleaner. What can I do??? Smell gives me sinus headaches.
Corinne says
The first thing I would try to do is have your neighbour create negative pressure and then consider positive pressure in your suite, depending on your building type and current weather. This post covers that https://www.mychemicalfreehouse.net/2019/05/mitigating-sealing-remediating.html
Ann-Marie Droukas says
does anyone know the best way to Ofgass new oven & need carpets cleaned of pet urine w chem dry they use PURT…. says it will have a chemical type odor until it dries 24 to 36 hours
I have an MCS carbon filter etc. aller air Air purifier
any other suggestions because I need to use my oven…
I deal with chronic migraine highly sensitive to perfumes chemical smells in general. thanks!
Corinne says
The only way to offgas an oven is turn it on and air out the place while it’s on. It just needs some time in use. If there was a chemical cleaner used in it you will want to clean that out first.
William Hodge says
Another way to off gas an electric oven is to do it outside. I made a 240 volt 40 amp extension cord out of 10 gauge wire and a plug and outlet. I rolled the stove out on to the porch with a two wheel hand truck. If you haven’t high amperage appliances before, an electrician can make an extension cord for you.
Hudda says
Please help us we don’t know what to do. We are in the place with the people who bought a house with pencil shavings only ours is candles/ plug in oil fragrances! We have ozoned it off and on for over a week! It is doing nothing to get rid of the fragrant odor! The post above had already used Bin/ and killz on the walls! This would be our next step but will it do any good. It didn’t for them. I really don’t want to take out the dry wall to get rid of the odor. I’m extremely MCS! I have been since 82 when coming down with Chronic Fatigue. My husband wants to know if there is a best temperature to set the thermostat at while ozoning the house!
Corinne says
If ozone is not making a difference I would not continue. Ozone will work in a wide range of temps. After washing the walls I would seal with shellac or remove the walls.
Cristi says
Do you know if the wood sealants you recommended for VOCs & smoke work for sealing in mycotoxins also? We had our house remediated for mold a couple years ago but our “mold professionals” were clueless about mycotoxins & so we are still finding and dealing with hotspots.
We recently found the bottoms of our kitchen cabinet & bathroom cabinet drawers are unfinished junkboard, as I call it, (particleboard, mdf etc.) and not something we can replace right now. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks for putting up such a helpful & informative site.
Corinne says
Mycotoxins are particles so I would attempt a physical clean up of them. If you’re severely reactive to cross contamination generally we would not advice sealing any mold in. But shellac can help with sealing it some particles as well as mVOCs.
Cristi says
Thank you!
Shayne says
I have a rotting alcoholic musty smell in my house from spraying perfume for over a year in there and now I can’t get the smell out it’s making me sick and wanna gag it’s the sort of smell a narcissist would use as perfume it’s fucking off !!!!!!! How do I get the stink out please ??????
Corinne says
That sounds odd? Is the smell from the perfume alone? Regular perfume or essential oils? Strange that it smells musty. I would go through the options in this post.
Deborah Smart says
I bought a car that had fragrance added after I test drove it. I’ve been unable to get the smell out so far, and haven’t been in the car since the end of January 2020 when I drove it home. I’ve heard that freshly ground coffee works. Does it need to be freshly ground or can coffee bought already ground work? and do the grounds left after brewing work? Thanks in advance if you’re able to answer this question.
Corinne says
I’m not sure if they need to be fresh, you could try it. It’s not as good as the other methods for removing odor. I’m adding a new option deoderoc now after some chemically sensitive folks recommended them.
AY says
I had my car detailed for the first time months ago and whatever they used has such a strong chemical fragrance and like you I cannot get rid of it. I’ve tried putting bowls of baking soda in the car, already used coffee grounds, spraying down with alcohol. I’ll continue using vinegar to wipe down the plastic. And maybe buy a can of cheap coffee. Not sure what will work or if I have to live with it. It helps that I’m wearing masks in the car on short trips to do errands. So annoying! I wish I had never had my car detailed. A dirty car is so much better than this smell.
Sarah says
ME TOO!!! Okay, I washed all interior plastic and glass with Murphy’s Oil Soap. I have spread out newspapers to help absorb more of the smell. I will start spreading out coffee grounds next, plus keeping windows open a crack.
I will let you know how it goes…
Please let me know if you try anything that works!
Ali says
Check if they inserted a fragrance square INTO the air conditioning vents. I had to remove the cover and then use a shop vac, sealing all weak points with towels etc to make a strong suction power and then and suck out the fragrance tab. It solved the issue. The fragrance tabs are being thrown in as freebies as if we ALL love fragrance. NOT
Elna Cain says
Thank you for this post. Our house we bought smells like pencil shavings and some sweet smell that I suspect is air freshener. We have used shellac (BIN) and Killz on all the walls and ripped carpet out. We even did ozone generator and all of that is NOT working one bit. My husband was at the new house all day and he came home the entire car smelled of it and his clothes too.. Will this smell ever go away? It’s very very strong. We have subfloor and BIN all over the house and the smell still is there. We can open the windows but it’s going to snow and be cold so we can’t do that. Please help my husband is soo distraught, depressed and can’t enjoy our new house.
Corinne says
Hopefully you can pinpoint the source so you can narrow in on what should be done. That’s unusual that that didn’t help at all. On the other hand those very sensitive to fragrance usually do not successfully remediate a scented place, at least not perfectly.
Elna Cain says
Thanks for your comment! I have no one to talk to. Others say it’s mold or to use vinegar and coffee grounds, but all the harsh and shock treatment we are doing is not helping.
There is no source as it’s the entire house. I think the air freshener is embedded…people are saying to remove drywall but there is a shortage here and it’s winter…and we didn’t buy this house to renovate it.
I will put coffee grounds everywhere and do as much as I can but this smell is overpowering. You can smell this pencil shaving/fragrant smell right up at the front door before you knock. Pictures show plug in fragrances and some incense when it was being sold.. I just can’t imagine the previous had that for years and years and now it’s part of the house.
Corinne says
It’s not possible to know without being there but the way you are describing it does not sound like only air freshener fragrance.
Marcus says
Parfum/Fragrance is making life impossible. Every day I come home with 20 overlapping perfume headaches, burn my clothes and try to get that Satan’s arse-slime off my hair and skin by spending an hour in the shower. I am tormented by thoughts of torturing perfume manufacturers in ever more hideous ways to make up for what are some of the greatest crimes against nature, decency and beauty, probably the greatest crimes ever committed. Let us unite and tear the faces of these fucking rotting dog’s bumcunt parfum manufacturers, slice open their bellies and drown their families in their intestines. Fuck them, they are ruining my life.
Larry says
Boycott 7th Generation, and the dangerous chemicals Methylisothiazolinone and Benzisothiazolinone, which are colorless, odorless neurotoxic insecticides that they say are only ‘preservatives.’ Those chemicals poison people, just ask any of the thousands who’ve been harmed by them. 7th Gen paid out a class action lawsuit yet still includes the toxins: https://verdantlaw.com/seventh-generation-settles-natural-claims-class-action-4-5m/
Laura says
Yes always read the labels. I was shocked when I saw all the bs inside 7th generation brand.
Loe Masson says
I’m an avid label reader; I learned about Methylisothiazolinone and Benzisothiazolinone years ago and was surprised to find it in so many products for children as well as adults. I try to warn anyone who will listen about them but some people are more interested in convenience. My MCS with fibromyalgia is no joke but the doctors claim it doesn’t exist so I stay out of their offices. I read everything I can find and always researching for relief. Pleased to come across this site via a FB post.