Any home or business owner will want their space to be comfortable. But it’s incredibly tough to be comfortable when you’re met with a heavy, lingering, unpleasant smell upon entry. Whether there was a recent nearby forest fire or your space has been host to heavy cigarette smokers, smoke smells can hang on everything and can be terribly difficult to get rid of—and very frustrating! So what can you do about smoke smell remediation?

Why do you need smoke smell remediation?

Smoke is a tough smell to get rid of because the scent molecules that work their way into the fibers of your space are especially effective at making themselves at home in fabrics, such as carpets and furniture, and woods. When you think of trying to clean up a bad smell, you often jump to chemical cleaners, which have their own sets of drawbacks. Chemical cleaners generally only work to mask the smoke smell with their own scents and odors, which might just make the smoke smell “weird” rather than “gone”. If these won’t get rid of the stubborn smells, what method could a homeowner use for smoke smell remediation that would actually work?

Heat treatment

Heat treatment has proven to be very effective at removing unpleasant guests, such as termites and other insects. It’s been shown to be effective at killing and removing scent-causing bacteria that’s present even after a corpse has been removed from a building. Using a heat treatment seems like common sense for handling a biological problem, like pests and bacteria, but the same theories that allow heat treatment to work on those bio threats will be the same theories that aid in smoke smell remediation for your building!

Heat treatments are a great chemical-free way to remove a host of unpleasant odors in your space, including smoke smell remediation. Convection heaters (propane or electric) are a great way to raise the temperature in the room to let the heat work its magic and remove the smells for you. While it may take several days of 120-degree temperatures in your space to complete, in many situations, it is preferable by far to chemical cleaners. Harsh cleaners are much more likely to damage delicate fabrics, either through staining or through leftover chemical scents. It’s much safer for fabrics and carpets.

Another benefit of heat treatment is than heat in the air is much better at getting deep into fabrics, as well as any nooks, crannies, or cracks that might exist in your space that hide scent-causing bacteria. A crack in a baseboard might hide mold particles that are missed in a standard chemical treatment, but a heat treatment will permeate around and behind the baseboard to address the problem and neutralize it, allowing you to get back to your normal life without a messy, gross smell stinking up your day. And the same premise is true for smoke smell remediation.

An added benefit of utilizing heat treatment for smoke smell remediation is that it will tend to create a healthier environment for you and your other occupants to breathe in. Heat treatments will remove allergens and other particles, helping to reduce and neutralize not just smoke odors, but also carcinogens, pollen, and mold, making your space much more breathable, especially for children, the elderly, and anyone else who may have trouble breathing.

Heat treatments are not DIY treatments

Consult an expert to see if heat treatments are right for you and your space. They’ll have the best idea of how to use a heat treatment to create a solution for your space, and they will work with you closely until the job is done. Smoke smell remediation doesn’t need to be a chemical process when you can just apply very warm air to do the same job without applying harsh chemicals to your environment unnecessarily. Most HVAC contractors, or other contractors working with reclamation or air quality, will be the best people to talk to about your options. Look into your options and consider heat treatments for more than just pest and mold remediation; it can help make your space a better and healthier environment so that you can all truly breathe a heck of a lot easier.