Unfortunately, we often get called for odor removal AFTER people have tried to remove or cover up the odor during a remodel.  A lot of people buy smelly homes with pet or tobacco odor, and think that by painting over the smell and putting in new flooring, the odor will go away.

When this doesn’t work, they call us.  Let’s start with why you can’t just cover up the odor.  Tobacco odors are caused by tar residue throughout the home.  As cigarette or cigar smoke spreads to every inch of the home, it carries tobacco tar with it, and this tar gets deposited all over the walls, ceilings, flooring and into the air conditioning duct work.  By Pet urine will soak into sheet rock and through flooring into the concrete.  Pet urine and dander includes bacteria that continue to live and generate odors.  When you try to paint over tobacco tar, and put new flooring over concrete embedded with odor causing deposits, you are just covering up these sources with porous materials.  In other words, the odors will just seep right through the paint and new flooring causing your home to continue to stink.

Ideally, you would remove the flooring to expose the bare concrete.  Then clean all of the walls and flooring with a strong detergent.  Some people advise against bleach or ammonia based products.  There are enzyme based products that are designed to kill odor causing bacteria.  These are good options.

An ozone shock treatment would be the next step.  We would go in after flooring is removed and a good cleaning throughout, but before new paint and flooring.  This way, all of the odor causing sources are fully exposed to our ozone gas.  This gives us an uninhibited path to kill and neutralize the problem.

Before you paint with your favorite colors, a good sealing primer such as Kilz is a good idea to seal in any possible remaining residues.

What if I’ve already painted and installed new flooring?

No problem.  Ideally, we would treat a home before the new paint and flooring are installed.  However, we have successfully treated a number of homes AFTER remodel.  Because our treatment is in the form of a gas, we will reach every square inch of a  home to kill and neutralize odor causing sources.  The ozone gas will penetrate the new paint and flooring.  So don’t be discouraged, and give us a call today if you have a smelly problem.

The short answer is: Nothing noticeable.

Ozone is always present in the air we breathe. It occurs in nature as a result of lightning strikes and other chemical reactions between oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of sunlight. Emissions from industrial facilities and electric utilities, motor vehicle exhaust, gasoline vapors, and chemical solvents are some of the major sources of NOx and VOC.

Good Ozone

Called stratospheric ozone, good ozone occurs naturally in the upper atmosphere, where it forms a protective layer that shields us from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. ozone.

Bad Ozone

Tropospheric, or ground level ozone, is not emitted directly into the air, but is created by chemical reactions between oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC). This happens when pollutants emitted by cars, power plants, industrial boilers, refineries, chemical plants, and other sources chemically react in the presence of sunlight. Ozone at ground level is a harmful air pollutant, because of its effects on people and the environment, and it is the main ingredient in “smog.”

While our treatment does produce ground level ozone, it is no more a source of pollution than other common home maintenance activities such as using gas powered mowers and weed-eaters; driving your gas powered vehicle to the hardware store; or even using electric powered tools, as most of the electricity we consume results in the generation of pollutants.

Ground level ozone can be harmful as an irritant to people, pets, and plants. It also degrades other natural materials such as rubbers, woods, and leathers. However, given that ozone is always present in the air, it is impossible to attribute any harmful effects as a result of one of our treatments. So to avoid using our service for fear of harmful affects, would be like avoiding mowing your lawn with a powered lawn mower for the same reason.

Ozone is second only to fluorine as the most powerful oxidant in the world. It’s the most powerful natural air and water sanitizer available. It’s used by hospitals, law and fire departments, and in locker rooms around the world. So if you have bacterial, virus, or odor concerns, why wouldn’t you use it?

Source: www.epa.gov

Why didn’t we think of this?

We recently got a request to treat a home for germs. Some home buyers were buying a resale home, and wanted an ozone shock treatment to ensure the home didn’t have any germs left behind from the previous owners. They were moving into a home with their small children, and the previous owners had indoor pets.

We generally treat homes for odor removal, but our same technology is commonly used to treat hospital rooms and locker rooms to kill germs. It’s also great to kill allergens.

So if you are a germophobe having germophobia, give us a call, and we can treat that used home or car you are buying.

Disclaimer: We cannot guarantee the elimination of germs for liability reasons. For one, we are not a remediation company, nor do we wish to be categorized as one. Secondly, new germs could be introduced to any space a day after treatment, with no way to prove when a germ was introduced to a space. We are a cleaning service. So, do your own homework on our technology and decide for yourself its effectiveness as a germ and allergen killer. Then give us a call when you are ready to clean the air in that used home or car.

Is it even possible?

This may be our best success story yet!

A new homeowner bought a home in a retirement community, and got a great deal on the home because of the severe cigarette smoke odor left behind by the previous owner. It’s estimated that the previous owner lived, and smoked in the home for around 30 years!

Home remediation companies were recommending a complete gut of the home, removing all flooring, cabinets, and drywall, with bids of over $20,000!!!

Due to the extremely strong tobacco smell in the home, we ran our equipment for 3 straight days, and voila! The cigarette smell was gone! Skeptics come forward, because we have a new fan out there. We saved the new homeowner over $20,000 in remediation costs! Unfortunately for the previous owner, they didn’t know about our services, and had to discount the home tremendously when selling it.

We recently had a client who was skeptical about giving us a try. He asked about our process, and was about to say, “Never mind, I’ve already tried using an ozone generator to remove odor, and it didn’t work.”

We were immediately shocked, because we’ve NEVER not been successful in removing odor. So we thought that maybe this was a challenge even too great for us. The homeowner described smoking in the home, and cats and dogs living in the home. Certainly a challenge for any company who is going in and gutting the home.

With some inquiry, it turns out the homeowner rented a small, low output generator to try and treat the home. A unit so small, it was actually safe to occupy the home while the machine was running.

That was an “ah ha” moment for all. We explained to the homeowner that what he did was like putting a few ounces of chlorine in a green swimming pool, and expecting it to clear up. It’s like putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound. If you’ve got a green swimming pool, you’ve got to “shock it” to kill all the algae. You’ve got to go in with an over kill solution with gallons upon gallons of chlorine and/or concentrated shock treatment.

We explained to him that just one of my machines is at least 10 times more potent than the one he rented. We further explained that a typical treatment of a home like his would be done by at least 10 of our machines. So we are going to shock treat his home with over 100 times the ozone output of what he already tried. He was sold!

Hotels use ozone to treat smell rooms all the time. Ozone generators are standard issue for any major hotel, yet we’ve even been contacted by major hotel franchises to treat rooms. Why? Simply put, our equipment is more powerful.

Another unfortunate incident was that the company that rented this homeowner told him it was OK to occupy the home while the machine was running. Some people have heard that ozone is unsafe. Ozone can be unsafe at high concentration levels. We personally don’t encourage breathing in ozone, and insist on homes being unoccupied during treatment, and the home being properly ventilated after treatment. Ozone gas dissipates very quickly, so with proper ventilation, a home can be safely reoccupied with no ill health effects. It should be known that ozone is present to some level just about all the time in the air you breath. Weather and pollution being the common sources.

So if you hear that ozone doesn’t work, or is dangerous, keep in mind that when properly used, ozone can be a safe solution for odor removal.

Let’s face it, people do stuff in these rooms that can leave them stinky.  Over the years, we’ve heard from lots of stories from hotel facilities managers, apartment managers, and apartment maintenance men regarding bad smells.  People have hid stuff in their rooms that have gone days, weeks, or even months before being discovered by cleaning people.  Maybe some soiled underwear they don’t want to take home?  Food?

You name it, they’ve found it.  Lots of hotels and motels cater to traveling sports teams too.  That equipment doesn’t get washed everyday you know.  Most of these places have their own equipment and chemicals to address odors, but these are not always effective.  A typical ozone generator used by a hotel will have an output of under 1 gram/hour.  Our machines can generate up to 10 grams/hour.  Furthermore, they will only treat a room or unit with one machine.  So a complete living space is being serviced by only about 1 gram/hour.

Introducing ozone to a space isn’t an automatic to treat and kill odor causing bacteria.  A key element is concentration.  How much ozone is generated in the full space?  Think about fumigating for bugs.  If you only set off one bug bomb in the living room, can you expect it to fumigate an entire home?  Wouldn’t it be more prudent to put one bomb in each room?  To properly fumigate a home, you want to ensure as high a concentration as possible to make sure the job is thorough.  Well, we feel the same way.  We sometimes attack an odor with as much as 100x the concentration of a typical hotel generator.  Our goal is to be as thorough as possible with our treatments to ensure our customers’ problems are addressed right, the first time.

We got a call to deodorize someone’s car after they spilt milk in their car.  Odor in an automobile is terrible, and embarrassing every time you give someone a ride.  In our Arizona heat, spilt milk in a car can rot quickly.  The bacteria in milk festers and generates a powerful smell.  The smell of rotting milk is unbearable.  The car owner tried cleaning the spilt milk as best she could.  She vacuumed it and used lots of Fabreze, but it did not help.  We haven’t heard of anyone having success with Fabreze to remove odors in cars.  The milk seeped into the carpet on the car flooring, so only a very high powered shampooer could work in a case like this, or using our technology.  We were able to provide a shock treatment in the vehicle to remove the rotting milk smell from the car.  Another happy customer!