How to Deodorize Carpets

Carpets are a wonderful addition to the comfort and appearance of your home but they attract dirt and odors like magnets.

You can clean up the surface appearance of the carpet with a quick superficial sweeping with a broom, or a carpet sweeper or dragging out the heavy-duty vacuum with the 30 foot cord and shoving it around on the carpets for an hour. You’ll wind up with a carpet that looks cared for – maybe even looks almost new, but still does not smell too good.

Carpet Odor Control Tips

Nobody wants to replace carpet that looks perfectly good, has no worn spots or holes, isn’t faded. But what in the world do you do if you can’t remove the odors that you smell every time you walk into the room?

If the carpeting has been overly dampened, or is in a high humidity environment, or was poorly dried after shampooing, mildew or mold is probably your problem with smell.

If this is the case, you can use a special deodorizing solution available in the grocery store or try using plain water mixed with 20% plain white vinegar. Shampoo the carpets again, dry them thoroughly. (open windows, doors, and use a fan if necessary to remove any water remaining and your carpets will smell fresh and clean when dried.

Deodorizing Smoke Odors from Carpets

First of all, if someone is smoking inside the house, encourage them to smoke outside – You cannot keep your carpet deodorized and odor control won’t help if the source continues the infiltration.

• Buy a large box of Arm and Hammer Baking Soda.
• Empty it into a large shaker jar, like the kind you use for shaking out ground Parmesan cheese.
• Using a liberal hand, walk around your carpet shaking the baking soda onto the carpet.
• With a corn straw broom, brush the baking soda into the nap of the carpeting making sure it gets into the fibers.
• Leave on overnight.
• In the morning, give the carpet a deep vacuuming, going over it several times to pick up as much of the baking soda as possible.

Deodorizing Carpets Due to Cat, Dog and Puppy Urine

Oh, oh! You open the front door to your home one evening and the smell hits you square in the face.

Those animals you love, the dogs, the cats, kittens, puppies, are little poop and pee machines! Even though you’ve picked up the waste – when you saw it – the memory lingers on. And wet urine stains often sink right in without being discovered at all, unless they leave a stain and/or begin to stink! You may try the above simple fix with baking soda for deodorizing the carpet, but – rest assured – that is not going to do the job.

Here are serious odor control tips to help you.

• Sprinkle the carpet generously with baking soda, and brush in. Allow to set for a few hours, overnight if possible.
• Then vacuum thoroughly and get ready to give the carpet a good shampooing with a steam cleaner.
• You will not be able to vacuum out all of the baking soda and that’s okay.
• The residue will mix with the water in the cleaning solution and help sweeten and remove the odor.
• Either use the cleaning solution that is recommended for your particular brand of steam carpet cleaner, or buy one that is compatible off the shelf; look for one that specifically states it has odor removing properties.
• Note that you should not use any detergent/soap when steam cleaning. The soap residue is impossible to remove and will end up attracting more dirt.
• Follow manufacturer’s recommended instructions for steam cleaning your carpet and allow to dry thoroughly before vacuuming.

You’ll be pleased at the freshness of your home once the job is done and you are finished deodorizing your carpet!

Odor Control Tips for Deodorizing Carpet Smells

A quick but temporary fix for neutralizing odors left by smoke or urine, is to fill shallow bowls half full of white vinegar and place them around the room. Best to sit them under chairs or sofas so that they can’t be accidentally kicked over or tasted by an inquisitive pet or child. Allow to sit overnight, then remove and pour out the next day.

You may think that the vinegar smell might be as bad as the original odor, but be assured it doesn’t last long and it does work at absorbing obnoxious smells and deodorizing carpets!

How to Keep Your Home Odor Free

There are plenty of things that you can do to make sure that the odors that you had are gone for good. Here are some tips to think about.

• Keep your home adequately ventilated.
• Control the humidity. The biggest odor causing problem in homes is that of mildew and mold.
• Keep the home clean. Get the garbage out of the house quickly; keep the floors clean and spills cleaned up.
• You can invest in deodorizers and air fresheners if you like. But, it is by far more important to get the smells in your home out before they worsen instead of masking them.