Let's Talk About Something Gross

Let's just lay it out on the table and talk about it. For one reason or another, the space you occupy is occasionally going to stink; it's just one of those unpleasant facts of life. Go ahead and spray, or use your diffusers, but we all know what's going on. Don't be ashamed; stink isn't always an indicator of your house keeping or personal hygiene habits.

While some smells (like what you cooked for supper last night, or the trash you forgot to take out before leaving town for a week) fade away when you remove the source and open a window for a while, others just linger for what seems like an eternity.

Here's a good example: Antique furniture. I know people who refuse to own antiques because of the smell. I inherited my grandparent's furniture, which remained in their home for about forty five years, while they and my uncles all smoked around it every day (and if you watch Mad Men, you know that almost everyone smoked in those days). That fine mahogany wood soaked up smoke for years, giving it a distinct odor that contaminated every room in which it was placed, even decades later.

In our line of work, we've seen several scenarios: Smoke from kitchen fires stinking up everything in the house; odors from squirrels or raccoons raising their families (and dying) inside the walls of homes and businesses; odors in homes and offices whose former occupants were smokers, but whose newest occupants are not; and even odors from years of cooking rather exotic and spicy recipes over and over until the smell has saturated everything around it.

You might wonder if anything can be done about such odors. Well, I have good news: There's a good solution, based on science and designed to attack the stink at its very root. Technology is a wonderful thing, and there is a machine to solve nearly every problem in modern life; stink is no exception. Here's the low down on the equipment we use to blast that stink:

Ozone Chambers and Portable Ozone Generators

Ozone is a popular method of removing smells, especially smoke odors. Ozone is like fresh air on steroids. Instead of the two atoms of oxygen that the air we breathe contains, ozone has three. That third oxygen atom is the key. It attaches itself to the molecules of contaminants and neutralizes those molecules by changing their structure; eliminating or at least greatly reducing their odor, often to levels that are undetectable by the human nose.

Furniture with smoke odors caused by a house fire can be placed in an ozone chamber with highly concentrated levels of ozone, and within a matter of twenty-four hours the smoke odor is usually gone, depending on the level of saturation. The same holds true for that stinky antique furniture I mentioned earlier. Nothing you buy on the air freshener aisle at the supermarket could ever do that.

We've also used portable ozone generators for removing pet odors from rooms, or to freshen up a kitchen. The ozone levels in a portable aren't as concentrated as in a chamber, but it works well if (for instance) you had a small grease fire in your restaurant, and you want to run the machine overnight so that the air is fresh for your customers the next day.

The important thing to know about ozone generators is that while they are in operation, humans and pets must not inhabit the area because high levels of ozone for prolonged periods of time can be detrimental to their health. After the machine is switched off, however, ozone atoms dissipate to safe levels in a matter of minutes.

Ozone chamber

Hydroxyl Machines

More and more, hydroxyl machines are being used for odor control in the restoration industry. Hydroxyl machines are generally promoted as a safer alternative to ozone, and are often preferred based on the idea that buildings where a hydroxyl machines are being used can remain occupied by humans and animals, whereas they would have to be evacuated if ozone technology were being used.

Studies done on the safety of hydroxyl technology have been conflicting in the past, but the arguments for its safety are based on the fact that hydroxyl radicals (the reactive molecules that change the air and neutralize odor molecules) only have a half life of less than two seconds. The newest research indicates that atmospheric hydroxyl radicals are much too reactive to survive being ingested by the body. That's scientific jargon for this: A hydroxyl radical molecule is like your youth and money; gone in the blink of an eye.

Another advantage of hydroxyl is that the molecules are smaller than ozone and are thought to penetrate a little deeper into materials, making them a bit more effective at removing odors than a portable ozone generator. Also, hydroxyls operate well in warm, highly humid environments. When you consider that ozone generators require cool, dry environments, you have to give hydroxyl another point; especially when you take into account that a lot of fire job sites are still wet when remediation work begins.

Hydroxyl machine

Are there situations where the odor saturation is so much that even an ozone chamber can't remove it completely? Sure, but those situations are usually ones where there was a fire and the materials were just too close to the source of smoke for too long. In most instances, however, odor doesn't stand a chance against our technology.

So, just remember that you don't have to put up with stink. Life is short, and it should smell as good as possible as often as possible. Call us and put an end to that stink.