We bought a used minivan this winter and it was great. But now that it's getting warmer we can smell a bad odor, kind of like wet dog. What can we do to remove the stench? Thanks so much!
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Remove mildew smell and other unwanted odors from any room or even a vehicle by placing an open bag of charcoal in the middle of the area. In three days the odor should be gone! This has even worked for a car that had fish and worms left in for over a week. Man did it smell!
By Daisy
Answers:
Thank you, I will try this! I had a water leak from the last rainstorm here in Los Angeles. My window seal leaked water from the drainage pipes right in to my room! Needless to say, my room is beginning to smell! (12/09/2004)
By Cindy Kelly
A bowl of ammonia left in the room will also help absorb foul odors. (12/10/2004)
By Natasha
Another good idea is to put some fresh coffee grounds in the room/vehicle. Truck drivers use this in their trailers when they have hauled a smelly load like onions. If possible pour grounds on surface, leave overnight and sweep up or vacuum the next morning. Or you can put some in a bowl, tray, or cake pan. The grounds do not need to touch the surface to remove the odors. If the smell is bad you may need to repeat the process. This is also good for removing smoke odors; a friend of mine is a heavy smoker and keeps an open container of coffee grounds on her table and in her car you can hardly tell she smokes! (01/02/2005)
By Dawn
I love the charcoal idea! But there's also several others that work just as good:
VINEGAR: One thing that sounds weird, but works well is to place several small bowls of white vinegar in the area where the odors are (cars, cupboards, dressers, closets, etc) for a day or two. I know it sounds strange, but the vinegar will remove the odors & the vinegar smell will go away too!
CAT LITTER: The other thing that works well, especially in damp or moldy area like trunks etc. is to fill a leg from pantyhose with the cheapest kitty-litter you can buy & tie the end off. Place or hang this in the damp, moist or smelly area for a few days or just keep it in your car's trunk (or your closet) & replace it every few months to absorb excess moisture in humid climates & you'll have a great smelling room or vehicle!
A product that "Mr Fix-it" on WGN radio talks about and says he has used with great results for any odor is FRESH WAVE odor neutralizing agent. I know you can buy it at most ACE stores, and probably other hardware stores. Google it and read about it.
Vinegar works well. Instead of placing a bowl, just spray full strength on everything. The smell of vinegar will go away with the stinky, leaving a fresh clean smell.
An old used car salesman's trick is to put a whole pineapple under the front seat for a day or two. It will remove the odor and leave the car smelling fresh.
But if the smell is coming from the vents, you will need to have the filters replaced. Often as warmer weather rolls around the air conditioning can stink. It's mold in the ventilation air filter.
Last year I took my dogs to our local dog park, only to have a skunk spray one of them. I had no choice but to put all my dogs in the car and drive home.
The trick to getting rid of that horrible smell was BON-CC-41. I ended up buying a fogger from them, because skunks like my dogs and this has happened many times. The fog goes everywhere in the car. It is like smoke, it goes into all the crevices. It worked awesome!
I also use it around my house. If it can get rid of skunk odor, it can get rid of anything!
Here is the link to the product: www.adbio.com/
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