Mothballs – DON’T USE IN CLOSED LIVING SPACES!

Published on by smellfresharizona Category: Odor Removal History

We at Smell Fresh Arizona cannot emphasize this enough.  Never, ever used mothballs in closed living spaces.  This includes never, ever using mothballs in attics or crawlspaces under homes.

We’ve had two recent cases where homeowners used mothballs for rodent control.  One owner in North Phoenix opened the mothball bags and spread the mothballs throughout the attic to keep mice out.  Yikes!  Imagine trying to recover all of those mothballs after they’ve fallen into all of the little nooks and crannys in an attic!  In Arizona heat!

Another owner outside of Payson put 8 bags strategically in the crawlspace under his 1,200 sq.ft. home to keep skunks out.  The odor emitting from so much mothballs was overwhelming inside the home.  It would give you a headache in a matter of minutes.

The chemicals in mothballs release a very strong chemical odor.  This is how they deter rodents, but this also deters people from entering these properties.  These chemicals are suspected, if not already proven, cancer causing carcinogens.  Mothballs dissolve with time, but this also allows its chemicals to seep into the materials underneath them.  The odors released by mothballs are way more powerful than most people anticipate, and needless to say, most people severely regret ever having used them.  The removal and cleanup efforts to rid a property of odors can be very difficult, time consuming, and expensive.

Smell Fresh Arizona was able to rid the home in Payson of skunk odor AND the mothball odors.  We were also able to rid the home of odors emanating from the attic in North Phoenix.  How?  Trade secret and hard work.  As much as we appreciate the business, we would never want anyone to experience the after effects of using mothballs in their home.  It seriously makes the home unlivable until those odors are removed.

 

A former hoarder’s house with 50+ cats, CURED by Smell Fresh Arizona, LLC

Published on by smellfresharizona Category: Uncategorized

We were contacted to treat a beautifully remodeled, hillside home in Fountain Hills recently.  We were unaware of the history of the home.  The current owner, who had recently bought the home to restore and sell it contacted us for pet urine odors in the home.

It turns out the home was previously owned by a hoarder and animal rescuer who had 50+ cats living in her home.  The cats were allowed to roam freely, and urinate and defecate freely throughout the home for years.

When authorities found out, they removed the owner and animals from the home. Here are some quotes from those authorities:

‘The stench from the cat urine and feces was so unbearable, we considered calling a hazmat team to clear the area.’

‘It was far worse than any homicide scene I’ve investigated.’

‘we were walking through literally two feet of feces.’

Eventually clean-up and restoration crews came through the home. The drywall was removed from the interior of the home, the concrete was chemically treated, and the home was shocked with ozone.  Despite these efforts, the home still smelled.
The new owner contacted Smell Fresh Arizona.  We advised the new owner that we could further and more thoroughly shock treat the property, but since the problem was so severe and covered up by new flooring and other building materials, a minor odor could still persist due to the underlying materials continuing to out-gas.
We were able to almost completely remove the cat urine odor, but there was still a faint lingering odor.  Since this was a million dollar home, removing flooring to re-expose the concrete would cost 10’s of thousands of dollars, and not really an option, we then suggested our Air Purification System to combat the odor consistently, constantly, all-day, everyday.
It worked!  After several restoration companies attempting to treat the home before us, and over a year in trying to deal with this odor issue with countless other remedies, the new owner was finally relieved by our Air Purification System.
Our system could match and counter the home’s out-gassing constantly 24/7/365.
The new owner was originally skeptical of our system since he and others had tried so many things before Smell Fresh Arizona to treat this home.  Needless to say, he was amazed by our results, and Smell Fresh Arizona has a new raving fan for life.  The gratitude he exuded can’t be put into words.
Visit an article about this house at this link, and see the pictures of how disgusting this house was, and see video.  The news reporter had to move away from the house because the smell at nearly 50 feet away was still unbearable.

 

Does it still smell or not?

Published on by smellfresharizona Category: Odor Removal History

On occasion, we get customers who “think” they still smell something after a treatment. Upon inspection, and even with the noses of others who don’t know the history of a home, we can’t smell anything. So does it smell or not?

In case you’re not familiar with our story, the founding member of Smell Fresh Arizona had an issue with a smelly vehicle. Every time he’d open the door, he’d smell something fowl. Unfortunately for him, he developed a hypersensitivity to smells from his vehicle. This is known as Disosmia, which can be caused by mental conditions. In his case, he became conditioned to look for a smell every time he opened the door to his vehicle.

We see this sometimes with our customers. Once they’ve made up their mind that a property stinks, they consciously or unconsciously start looking for smells as soon as they enter the property. With time, this can go away after accepting that something doesn’t stink any more, but a good way to be sure is to look for feedback from others who have not been preconditioned to something smelling. Be sure not to jade their thoughts. If you tell them something use to stink, or to start looking for a smell, their minds can start fabricating or amplifying subtle odors.

We had a recent smelly house that we successfully treated, but the owner insisted the smell came back. We went back and didn’t smell anything, and the Real Estate Agent didn’t smell anything either. We offered to retreat the property at no charge, but the Agent’s wisdom prevailed. She suggested we give it another week as an active listing, and see if we got any smelly feedback from buyers who walked the home. After a week on the market, there were no complaints about the home smelling. Whereas prior to our treatment, every buyer who walked through the home complained about it smelling. So the foul odor was gone, and it just took a few other noses to help convince the owner that maybe the smell wasn’t there anymore.

Allergy relief!

Published on by smellfresharizona Category: Odor Removal History

Smell Fresh Arizona has been in business primarily to address odor issues in homes, businesses and autos.  It was a welcome surprise to us when we received a call from a distressed parent asking for our help.  Her family moved into a rental home that had been previously been occupied by a family that had indoor dogs.  She and her son were allergic to pet dander.

The home was cleaned very well, will no visible signs of pet hair anywhere in the home, but boy could they feel it!  Her poor son was breaking out in hives, rashes, and had difficulty breathing in the home.  Imagine having just moved out of one home and into another, unpacked, and tied into a lease… in a house that made you and your family sick!

It is well understood in the scientific community that our technology kills bacteria, mold, mildew, dust mites, and neutralizes pet dander and other allergens.  So we did not hesitate to help this family, and assured this mother that we could rid her home of existing allergens.

Helping families rid their homes of odors always gives us great satisfaction, but to know we did a little more for this family that was tied into a lease in a home that made them sick was especially rewarding.  Please share are services with others you may know who are allergy sufferers moving into another home.  We can sterilize their home before move in, and make it allergen free.

Smell Fresh Arizona saves the day, without earning someone’s business!

Published on by smellfresharizona Category: Odor Removal History

As you can imagine, we get lots of calls for various odor issues.  This business was started by a frustrated consumer who was at his wits end and felt he exhausted all available resources to remove an odor.

No one wants to pay money to treat for odor removal if the source is not dealt with or removed.  Most of business is to treat a property after a smoker or pet owner has moved out.  So the odor source is gone.  We can go in and treat a property to “kill” the residual odor sources left behind.  The smoker or pets are gone, and now the odors are permanently gone. But what about other odors?

We’ve recently noticed a trend of service calls to treat raised properties.  That is to say there is a crawl space under the property.  This is common with older homes built before the 50’s, manufactured/mobile homes, hillside homes, and other properties.  This increase in service calls came with the rainy season.  What we noticed with many of these properties, is that the current or previous owners blocked all or some of the airways under the home.

So Smell Fresh Arizona, LLC. does not just blindly treat properties.  We try to identify the odor sources first to make sure there is not a constant odor source in the property that would return an odor after our treatment.  If we identify that the odor source will persist after our treatment, we let the property owner know so they can make an informed decision about how to proceed.  In the case of these raised homes, we helped the homeowners identify an issue with not having adequate ventilation under their home.  This ventilation is important to help keep gases from accumulating under the home and to help dry out moisture.  Moisture build up can encourage mold growth, which creates a musty odor.  These homeowners were able to correct the ventilation issues with their homes instead of spending money unnecessarily on an odor removal treatment with the cause would remain.

There are other instances where the property owner knows the source would remain, and it’s just a known issue they intend to live with.  A good example of this would be restaurants.  Some restaurants build up odors from cooking foods, and of course the odors will come back as long as the restaurant stays in business.  For these clients, we set up a recurring treatment plan to keep odors at bay, and help these businesses maintain a customer friendly environment.

So while we don’t earn everyone’s business, it’s our goal to earn everyone’s trust.

How does ozone work?

Published on by smellfresharizona Category: Shared information

A GOOD READ from http://www.austinozone.com/blog/

HOW DOES OZONE WORK?

Ozone tends to react with other substances by attaching the third oxygen atom to the other substance, thereby oxidizing it.  Many of us have heard weather reports where the ozone levels were referred to in conjunction with pollution levels. Ozone is present in smog because certain processes that create pollution also produce ozone. Ozone recombines with those same pollutants and neutralizes them by breaking them down into water, carbon dioxide, sulphur, nitrogen and oxygen.

Generated low levels of ozone used for water purification prove very successful, as it is possibly the most powerful antibiotic, sanitizer and deodorant known to man. It doesn’t merely mask harmful substances or smells – it seeks them out and eliminates them.   The highest natural levels of ozone are found at the seashore and in forest/mountain locations, places where you automatically feel refreshed. The invigorating air after a thunderstorm is as a result of ozone, so is the smell of naturally dried laundry on a clothesline.

USES OF OZONE

Perhaps you are a smoker or live with someone who smokes or maybe work with people who do. That is a worrying scenario as cigarette smoke has over 3,600 chemicals. Ozone will break those chemicals down into their basic molecular components, neutralizing them. It is capable of destroying tar, soot and oil in the lungs, benzene, vinyl chloride and other hydrocarbons. Having performed this task the ozone itself reverts to just plain oxygen!

Dr. Clark regularly warns about the dangers of airborne gasses such as formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, and chemical pollutants given off by carpets, wallpaper, and furniture.  Take for example formaldehyde. When formaldehyde is infiltrated by ozone it breaks down into carbon dioxide, water and oxygen. Well worth bearing in mind if you have pollutants in your house or workplace like these that you are not in a position to remove.

Carbon monoxide is a lethal gas and cannot be detected easily. It bonds with human blood 600 times faster than oxygen. Ozone changes carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide, a harmless gas. Solvents from fresh paint are instantly neutralized by ozone as are cooking smells, animal odors, cigarette smoke, garbage smells and mildew, etc. Perfume can be intolerable for people suffering chemical insensitivities. An ozonator may be the answer.

In some countries people wear tiny ozone generators around their neck just for this reason – to neutralize pollutants, perhaps on a journey through heavily polluted areas. Bacteria, molds, fungi and even mildew are destroyed when they react with ozone as the outer membranes or ‘shells’ of these micro-organisms contain receptors that absorb ozone to their own demise. They are anaerobic, meaning that they can thrive only where oxygen levels are depleted. Ozone increases oxygen levels.

Viruses can also be destroyed by ozone on contact.  In the case of polio only 0.012ppm removes all viral cells in seconds.   As you know there isn’t an effective antibiotic that will touch a virus. Ozone is a particularly safe therapy to use provided that certain restrictions are respected.  The Food and Drug Administration declares 0.05ppm as the safe level for 24 hour a day inhalation in the USA. However, natural outdoor levels vary between 0.03 and 0.05ppm and go several times higher than this at times and in certain ideal locations can reach 0.65ppm, so nature then breaks the FDA’s rulings! Even at these higher rates no harm has been caused, in fact the opposite is the case.

In cleaning water, ozone is more efficient even than chlorine, in fact an ozone level of 0.04ppm in just 4 minutes has been shown to kill bacteria, mold and fungus. Giardia and Cryptosporidium cysts are susceptible to ozone but are unaffected by normal levels of chlorine in water. Ozone is 25 times more effective than hypochlorous acid, 2,500 times more effective than hypochlorite, and 5,000 times more than chloramine. (Results measured by the time needed to kill 99.99% of all micro-organisms). Chlorine reacts with organic materials to form chloroform, carbon tetrachloride etc generally known as trihalomethanes. These have been implicated as carcinogens in the development of kidney, bladder and colon cancer. However, ozone when used repeatedly and in conjunction with charcoal, reacts with organic materials to break them down into simpler compounds that are not dangerous.

Ozone swimming pool cleaners are very popular and one of the reasons is that when water is ozonated, algae is oxidized and floats to the top, metabolic by products of algae are oxidized also, removing odor and taste. So cleaning the pool is not such a frequent or time-consuming job, chemicals are not required and the water is smelling good and clean (…just makes you want to jump in).

In cleaning the air, ozone reacts with odors oxidizing them into harmless compounds or carbon dioxide. We would have sufficient ozone but all the chemical gasses released into the atmosphere by cars and factories are using it up. Surely oxygen generators would be sufficient? Well, ozone is approximately 3,500 times more potent an oxidant than oxygen. High mountain areas produce high levels of ozone. This is why people with respiratory problems, TB etc. were sent to such areas.

As with anything i.e. oxygen, water etc. too much can be harmful, (although ozone is an incredibly safe gas and consistently spoken of as the safest therapy, non toxic and with no evidence of free radical damage) yet no one has ever died from using ozone and it has been in use for many years. Only chronic high overdose may give problems and then there would be warning symptoms such as coughing for more than 30 minutes continuously. At such times Vitamin C (5,000mg) – an antagonist of ozone – can reverse the effect.

NOTE:  SMELL FRESH ARIZONA, LLC. does not endorse the deliberate inhalation of ozone gas.  We only provide our service in the absence of people, pets, and plants, and provide a ventilation period of our treated spaces before they are reoccupied.  We did find the explanation of ozone’s chemical reactions and neutralizing effects on harmful chemicals a worthwhile read for our customers and followers.  Thank you!

Smell Fresh Arizona, a Real Estate Agent’s best friend

Published on by smellfresharizona Category: Odor Removal History

Strangely enough, we still come across homes that have been listed for sale or rent that have odors in them.  We can only imagine that’s because they are unaware of our services, and feel they’ve exhausted all efforts to get rid of the smell.

You know what they say about first impressions?  Most buyers or renters turn right around and move on to the next home after they smell tobacco or pet odors… and they are not coming back!  …at any price!

We often get called after a home has sat on the market for a while, unable to be sold or rented.  Sadly for Agents, this can unfairly reflect poorly on the Agent.  Agents always look like a hero when a home sells quickly for top dollar, but that’s hard to do with a house that stinks.

We recently treated a home for tobacco odor after it sat on the market for over 120 days.  It was a beautifully remodeled home, but it stunk!  Imagine going through the troubles of spending thousands of dollars and lots of hard work to replace flooring, remodel bathrooms and kitchens, and repaint the entire home… only to find that the home still smells.  It doesn’t matter how good the home looks if it stinks.  After 120 days on the market, imagine how many buyers passed through that home.  Imagine how many first impressions were ruined by a stinky house.

If you are an Agent reading this, don’t let a stinky home go on the market before one of our treatments.  Let your sellers know this is a must to get top dollar for their home, and to get their home sold as quickly as possible.

Oh ya, about that home that sat on the market for over 120 days… it received an offer under a week after we wrapped up our treatment.

Kitchen fires

Published on by smellfresharizona Category: Odor Removal History

Yes, we treat homes for kitchen fires!

Ever forget something on the stove?  Ever leave a pot of soup or stew on the stove and leave for the day, only to come back to find the pot out of water, and your house full of smoke.

That smoke or fire smell is strong and permeates everything and everywhere throughout the house.  Good luck trying to get the smell of smoke out of your home.  There are a hundred and one suggestions on how to get the smell out:  boiling onions, boiling cinnamon,  cleaning with vinegar, setting out coffee beans, setting out charcoal filters, wiping down all your walls and furniture, etc…

Because the smell transferred from smoke that filled your home, and stuck to everything in your home, it’s almost impossible and overwhelming to try and clean everything.  Even if you do, you’ll likely find that your home still smells of smoke.

Ever here of the expression, “fight fire with fire”?  When to remedy the smell of smoke, try ozone.  The smell of smoke spread throughout your home with the smoke in the form of a gas.  Because it was in a gas state, it spread through the air in your entire home.  Ozone in a gaseous state will do the same thing.  It will find all of the same spaces that the smoke found, and oxygenate the smoke deposits thereby neutralizing them.

You might think to try and save a few bucks by buying a small machine safe for home use, but there are two major problems with this idea.  First, these machines don’t have enough output or strength to attack the problem.  It could take months, or even years before you get the smell out using one of these machines.  Secondly, despite the fact that some of these vendors claim their machines are safe to run in occupied spaces, ozone is not safe to breathe.  Ozone generators should never be ran in occupied spaces.

Even a relatively “high output” machine that you can rent isn’t enough.  These machines usually output about 3 grams/hour of ozone.  Smell Fresh Arizona, LLC can attack an odor problem in a home with out 100 grams/hour of ozone.  Shock and awe!  We can attack a problem with 33x the potency of a rental machine.  This means a faster and more thorough job for you, so you can start enjoying your home again without the awful house fire smoke smell in it.

 

We serve restaurants and bars!

Published on by smellfresharizona Category: Uncategorized

Have you ever gone to eat at a stinky restaurant?  Any real connoisseur of food should know that your sense of smell is associated with your sense of taste.  Now imagine going to eat at a restaurant that smells like curry, and you decide to order anything but curry.  What’s your food going to taste like?  You guessed it!  Curry!

A member of our staff recently visited a restaurant with a friend for lunch.  The place reeked of who knows what, but it was bad.  A combination of food, must, tobacco, and maybe a dead fish someone hid in a planter.  Needless to say, they were out of there in a hurry.  Could that establish be losing money over the smell of their building?  The sad thing is that sometimes business owners are losing money over things they are not even thinking to address.  These business owners might be thinking it’s the lighting, the ambiance, the location, the competition, the management, the staff, their pricing, etc… but no, they are losing money because their place stinks!

Some odors just come back because they are reintroduced to the environment.  A seafood restaurant is going to eventually smell fishy again if neglected.  That said, we do offer our services to businesses in need of regularly scheduled treatments or our continuous air purification system.

If you happen to encounter a smelly business establishment, chances are it still smells because they don’t know it smells bad enough for them to lose business.  Do them a favor and give them a friendly nudge our way.  A bar doesn’t have to smell like a musty cigar box, and a seafood restaurant doesn’t have to smell fishy.