Get Rid of Nasty Smells in Your Home With These Tips

We have all been in a situation where there’s a horrible smell in our home but can’t quite seem to get rid of it. Where is it coming from? Why does it exist? More importantly, how on earth can you stop it from stinking up your home and making you uncomfortable?! If you’re currently suffering from bad smells in your home, use these tips to get rid of nasty smells in your home.

How to Get Rid Of Nasty Smells In Your Home

1. Don’t try to mask the smell with air fresheners

Your first instinct is to pick up a can of air freshener and spray it everywhere when there’s a bad smell in your home. In reality, this does nothing. If anything, it makes the smell worse as it now mingles with the air freshener.

When you do this, you’re not dealing with the problem at all. The smell still exists, you’re just attempting to cover it up. It’s literally like seeing a crack in the wall and putting some sticky tape over it! So, save yourself time and money by not spraying air freshener everywhere.

2. Identify the cause of the smell

The correct way to approach things is by identifying the cause of the smell. Here are a few of the most common causes of bad smells in your home:

Moldy food
Stinky trash
Pet poop
Dead animals
Clogged pipes

You have to start figuring out if any of these things are the source of the terrible smell in your home. It sounds like a hard task, but you can quickly rule out some of the potential issues. For instance, if you don’t have any pets, you know that they aren’t the cause of the smell!

Nevertheless, the best place to start is with the plumbing system in your home. Go to the bathroom and see if the smell gets stronger – particularly if you sniff near plug holes and drains. The same goes for your kitchen and any other areas of your home with pipes. If you don’t smell any strong scents coming from these areas, the chances are that you don’t have a plumbing problem. Of course, if the smell intensifies, it’s a pretty decent bet that clogged pipes or drains are the issues.

If you check the plumbing and don’t notice any problems, your next step is to hunt around your kitchen. First, check the garbage – if it reeks, you know that it’s causing the smell! This is so common, and you can easily solve it by taking the trash outside. However, if the trash isn’t the issue, start opening cupboards and looking for any signs that the smell intensifies. If it does get worse, check that area for moldy food.

For most of you, these two steps will identify the source of your smelly problem. Plumbing issues and smells coming from your kitchen are highly common.

If you still can’t find the source, there’s a high chance a small animal might have died in your home. Particularly if the smell has gotten worse over time, and you see flies buzzing around areas of your home. Mice, rats, and birds can get into your home via the attic, ending up trapped. So, if the smell gets really bad as you go to your attic, you know this is the problem. Generally, it’s quite easy to tell if a dead animal is the source of your smell as they have a very distinct odor.

3. Removing the source

After identifying the source, you have to remove it. This is the only way to get rid of the smell for good, and then you can freshen up your home. For any plumbing issues, always get a local plumber to handle them as you want to avoid making the problem even worse. Thankfully, most issues can be solved within a few hours, so your home will start smelling better. After any blockages are cleared, it helps to pour some bleach down plug holes, further freshening things up.

For smells in the kitchen, begin by removing any moldy food and throwing smelly trash out. Then, clean the area where the scent was found, using disinfectant to kill the smelly bacteria. This will go a long way to removing the scent from your home.

Obviously, if dead animals are causing the smell, you need to call a pest control provider to deal with it for you. They’ll help you find out where the smell is coming from before removing the animal for you. This should have an instant impact on how your home smells. If pet poop is the problem, remove it, clean the area, and teach your pet to not poop inside in the future.