I moved into an apartment. This apartment smells of curry. I was told the previous tenant cooked with it regularly. I would like to know how I can get rid of this smell.
I was told by a real estate agent that it's actually the smell from frying food and essential oils lingering in the kitchen and it's not possible to remove it. Perhaps if you think of it in terms of grease molecules instead of curry, you will find a new approach to solving the problem.
When I have bad smells from cooking that linger (like onion & garlic or deer meat or liver) I take a sauce pan, put a quart of water in it, add a cup of apple cider vinegae, a couple of tablespoon full of cinnamon and 6 whole cloves of 1/2 teaspoon full of ground cloves. Put on stove and simmer for several hours, watch that pan does not go dry. The vinegar & cinnamon are natural deodorants.
Utilizing a spray bottle with a one to one ratio of water and a live microbial agent, available at True Value or most hardware stores spray the entire residence celling, walls, cabinets, draws, glass, hoods, as well as penetrating the carpet. Be careful to test for color fastness and be careful of electrical outlets, ect. Open the windows and let air dry.
You may need to repeat this process several times and continue with a maintenance spray once a week to keep the microbes active. This will break down the grease that traps the odors. It is less drastic then stripping the residence to the floor boards.
I had rented my condo and the tenants cooked with curry. After 13 months the cabinets were saturated with cooking grease and I could not rent the unit as the smell would drive prospective tenants away. I finally used turpentine to break down the grease from all surfaces in the kitchen, appliances, hardwood floors, everything. Then we had the place painted with Kilz and then final paint. This helped considerably, but the smell was still there and the unit unrentable. The final step was to have a company come in. They applied some type of microbial solution to all the walls and floor and appliances. Then ran an ozone generator for 5 days.
A professional grade ozone machine is the only proven way to get rid of the smell of curry. The machine creates ozone (O3), which is an instable molecule that quickly breaks down into oxygen (O2). The breaking down process is actually a chemical reaction that naturally neutralizes odors.
The same thing happens during a lightning storm under the right circumstances--this is the fresh smell that you may have experienced outside after a bad storm. It is not safe to be in a room while a real ozone machine is running, but the ozone quickly breaks down and you can enter again.
But if your problem is from current neighbors who cook with curry, the smell WILL come back every time they cook. Please note that apartments, houses, condos etc. are not built to be air-tight, so some smells will transfer. This is not the fault of any landlord or property owner, and the only solution is to live in a building that does not allow anyone to cook with curry (which is impossible) or to move to a single-family house. If you can't move into a house, learn to live with the smell.
You don't have to pay all that money to clean your apartment. What you need to do is find the place in the kitchen where the grease from the frying is collected. If it was over a long period of time it may just look like the colour of the cabinets but I can promise it's grease build up. It is very hard to see, usually there are little shiny yellow spots of grease on and around the stove area. The smelly compounds are contained in the grease. You need to clean the stove, fans and cupboards around the stove with a degreaser. Don't forget the ceiling.
Since it is old grease you will probably need to scrub very hard. If the surfaces can take it you could use a cleaner like Comet, otherwise you will have to scrub very hard. I can't advise you to use the scratchy Comet cleaner because I don't know what your cabinets are like - that has to be your judgment. We make curry at least once a week and after the grease is removed so is the smell.
The cleaners that came into the apartment did not do a very good job if the grease is remaining. And if the smell is still there so is the grease. If the smell can't be removed after cleaning the grease then it has permeated other surfaces in the home and will have to be removed by other means (i.e.: some of the more expensive options listed above).
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I have just recently moved into a 2nd and 3rd floor apartment. My neighbors below cook with curry every day (twice a day) and the curry scent is so powerful in my apartment, it makes my roommate and I sick. The aroma is so strong in my sleeping room that my eyes burn from the odor. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to rid our apartment of the smell?
HI! Try one of the plug in air purifiers. Febreeze makes one that removes odors. It's small and inexpensive and doesn't "cover" up anything, it removes it from the air.
Simmer a small pot 50/50 mix of vinegar & water. If you could get them to do that as they cook you would never smell the odor. Works for fish and other high odor foods also.
The solution is to buy yourself a HIGH QUALITY Ozone Type of Air Purifier, (or ask your landlord to have your neighbors buy one for you!). If you run one of these on a low speed when you are home & on the highest setting when you are away, the smell will eventually disappear (& stay away) from your home, your clothes, your draperies & furnishings.
You are probably also smelling like curry when you or your partner goes into the workplace. This in no laughing matter, as I once lived with someone who made a lot of fried food & when I was at work one time I overheard a colleague of mine saying "have you noticed how she smells like stale fried food" (VERY embarrassing!) Well, I'm a vegetarian & have been for nearly 30 years, so I knew it was from my roommate's fried food... I had made the mistake of leaving my sweater & work-coat hanging on the back of a kitchen chair, so the smells absorbed into the fabrics... Ever since then, I've realized that we smell like our houses, so I'll sometimes spray myself with Febreeze right before I leave my house to meet with a client or go to work.
* The Vinegar & Water solution will also help. Vinegar can work wonders! But an ozone machine will REALLY do the trick. The professionals brought an industrial Ozone machine to our home the day after we had a home fire & that ozone machine worked miracles! ALL of the smoke-smell was gone from the WHOLE house in only 2 days time! AMAZING You need to use care though as the stronger "Industrial Ozone Generators" shouldn't be used with people in the home, but the smaller "Ozone Air Cleaners" are safe to use. We ran the huge industrial machine when we were NOT at home or (since it was a very large home) when we were on a different floor with all the doors shut. Just Google "Ozone Generators" or "Ozone Air Purifiers"...
One more thing, maybe you should think about moving to another apartment in the same complex, or better yet, it would be best if THEY moved to an apartment where they'd bother no one. Maybe the top apartment would be best for them? Maybe in the summer, when they can open their windows, it'll get better for you? Who knows, maybe the landlord can make 'opening their windows when they cook' a stipulation of their lease? (because they are disturbing others) I bet they are unaware that they're causing other peoples grief. They probably don't even have a clue, so tread lightly at first. Maybe ask them to PLEASE open a window when cooking because it burns your eyes (& if you have kids tell them the curry also burns "your kids eyes" too.)
I don't know if all stoves are required to have a vent fan, but every place I've ever rented or owned has had one. I suggest asking the neighbors if they are using the vent fan. If not, ask them to please do so. If they are already using that fan, maybe the landlord could install a more effective one. If there is no fan, find out if the landlord would be willing to install one. Good luck. I absolutely love the smell and taste of curry, but I would not like smelling it day after day or smelling it when I don't get to partake of the food. It's a strong smell that sticks with one's clothes. If your family is smelling like curry when you go to work or any of the places you go, you might want to mention to the landlord that it is affecting your work situation (if it is).
I run a bed and breakfast and the rooms have full kitchens, bathrooms, and full housekeeping suites. I recently agreed to taking guests who had sold their house and are waiting to take possession of their new home just down the road. They have a huge dog which I was hesitant to agree to, but it was a steady booking for five weeks.
It was a horrible mistake as the dog hair is everywhere and the house is now flea infested and I am allergic to fleas. I know how to handle that, lots of money spent on the cats and still can't get that problem under control (until the dog is gone in another week).
However, they were cooking with curry, lots of it. And the house reeks now and especially the spare bedroom which is connected to their furnace/AC system. I have no idea as to the smell in their unit as I only go in once a week to thoroughly clean. However the one bedroom has an absolutely horrendous smell and I have a fan in the window full time and still the smell will not go away.
I have wedding gowns and bridesmaid gowns stored in that room as it was the safest place to store them, not anymore. How do I get rid of the smell? It has only been there for two weeks, but it is driving me nuts and I am worried about what will happen when the new guests arrive two days after this group leaves.
By Judy A. from Paris, Ontario
Wash everything down, including the walls, with 50/50 percent of distilled vinegar and water and also leave out a few bowls of vinegar. Vinegar absorbs scents. I also use curry and a lot of assorted other spices and the only thing that smells like those spices is the drawer I keep them in.
How do you get rid of the curry smell in an apartment?
Thank you.
By Marla N from Waterloo, IA
A lot of people over look the fact that grease is stick and curry mixes into the grease.
naturally odors will cling to the grease.
so here is my method that worked after moving into an apartment that was 200% covered in curry smell.
go down to your local smoking shop... buy a pack of cigars and a few packs of cigarettes, you dont have to smoke them just light them up and let them burn down in a ash tray, also pick up a few pack of incense and let those burn regularly in your apartment.
doing this over a week as often as you can and as much as you can will coat the grease in another layer of smell only this time it will be cigarettes cigars and incense.
you will see after about 2 weeks the smell will be gone.
it is much better to catch a faint smoke odor compared to the eye burning curry odors which can cause health issues.
I know this works from experience, there really is no need to spend thousands for experts and to spend days and weeks cleaning.
use the grease to your advantage, if the curry odor is sticking to the grease build up well so will the smoke and it will overlap it covering any trace of curry.
no need to go crazy.
this is 100% the best and easiest method, just use the curry odor to your advantage and.
LEAVE all your windows closed while doing this until you cant take the smoke any longer. then air out and repeat the process...
hope it helps you out, if it worked after a 3 year curry cooker in my apartment it will work for yours as well, guaranteed!
This is one of the best comment I have read.
My problem is I am highly sensitive to odors and while I am not allergic to smoking my body reacted badly to curry and makes me wheeze like hell, is your method 100 % foolproof?
As in I will not detect an hint of curry whatsoever?
How do I get rid of curry smells?
By Ruby
Move out
I fight back... cook bacon daily
