Sonrise1
Member
Has anyone had success removing the smell of mothballs from a residence? Another CC'er cleaned the carpet, "bombed it" (whatever that is!)but the smell remains. I know it could be in the walls, etc.
Removing mothball smell in apartment
- Thread starter Sonrise1
- Start date
Goomer
Member
Are you saying that the other cleaner did something ("bombed it") that left a mothball LIKE smell??...or are you referring to actual mothballs???
GeneMiller
Member
fresh air will remove mothball smell after you remove the moth balls. place a fan in the window and create a cross draft
gene
gene
Sonrise1
Member
Lady who lived in apartment used mothballs a lot, so much so that, even after it was cleaned and 'bombed' by another cleaner, it still reeks of mothballs. They won't rent it out until they remove the smell.
dealtimeman
Everyday is Saturday.
How about a good amount of ozone?
Goomer
Member
Moth balls evaporate from a solid directly to a gas... so assuming all the mothballs were removed, you should only be dealing with the residual gas.. which I would think a few days of fresh air would fix.. if not, then it's probably someone did not find and remove all the mothballs.
Who knows where those things could have been placed, or have wound up.
I would go CSI on that place and make sure there are none hiding anywhere.
Who knows where those things could have been placed, or have wound up.
I would go CSI on that place and make sure there are none hiding anywhere.
The Great Oz
Member
The odor of mothballs made with paradichlorobenzene (now rare) will dissipate completely with air turnover. The odor of mothballs that made with naphtha will be harder to remove, but I'd second the use of ozone. The critical part of the process is to locate any solids (ball, fragment of ball, or crystal) and remove them. They could be behind cabinet dawers, on closet shelves, under baseboards...
PS: If the smell is from a naphtha based pest control application, you might never get it out of the carpet. We stopped referring a pest control company that we'd recommended for years when they went to a naphtha based product. We can't get the odor of their product out of rugs in a plant wash environment.
PS: If the smell is from a naphtha based pest control application, you might never get it out of the carpet. We stopped referring a pest control company that we'd recommended for years when they went to a naphtha based product. We can't get the odor of their product out of rugs in a plant wash environment.
