Carpet stair runners pet odor
Do’s and don’ts of keeping your hall and stairs smelling great!
Psychologist agree that smell, is the sense closest linked with memory. We’ve all fallen in love with a perfume, or remember a nasty cooking smell we don’t get along with. Whether good or bad, smell evokes strong emotions
No one wants to come home to be greeted with an unpleasant smell, and inflicting that smell on visitors is rude and embarrassing . Smell matters. In the following article I’m going to share a few does and don’ts, which are not all obvious, but if followed, should end up creating good “smemories” of your home, and positive emotional reactions from visitors.
I’ll start with the don’ts, and end with the does. Why? Because we all know, if you do the wrong things with smell, even the rights things won’t correct them. Just like you can’t cancel body odor with aftershave! Or so I was told after squash the other day!
Don’ts
Don’t number 1. Buy a new synthetic carpet that’s “easy to clean!”
If you’ve ever wondered what that great new carpet smell is, it’s caused by chemicals called volatile organic compounds, or VOC”s for short. Why are they bad? They hide the answer in the name. Volatile means they evaporate at room temperature. When they evaporate we breathe them in, and they can cause allergies, asthma, breathing complaints and even cancer. As most of us keep our rooms at “:room temperature”, and share them with the people we love, this is not a good thing .
Don’t number 2. Masking carpet odor with synthetic air fresheners.
Apart from the matter of masking, not covering up a foul smell, but aggravating it, there are other good reasons not to use them. Less than ten percent of air fresheners divulge all their ingredients. They are undisclosed because of regulatory laws protecting fragrance formulations. So you don’t get to know everything that’s in that sweet smelling can, but one thing you can be sure of, is there are more of those nasty VOC’s. So If you want to be safe, leave regular air fresheners on the supermarket shelf.
Don’t number 3. Leaving wet stuff around
As a company who cares about your stairs, we spend a lot of time in hallways. We’ve noticed that they are a magnet for wet stuff. Damp coats, muddy boots, or rugs where people redeposit outside dirt and smells, to quote just a few. Moisture is the number one cause of household odors. If you can find a home outside for these things, at least until they’re dry, you’ll vastly improve the greeting-smell of your hall. If you think you already have some surface damp in your hall, consider opening windows or using a fan to dry the area out. You’ll be amazed how much healthier and fresher the area becomes in just a couple of days.
Do’s
Do number 1. Be proactive with carpet odor.
Have a quick hall audit for sources of smell, such as a soiled waste-paper basket, or old newspapers collecting dust. Although this sounds obvious, it is easy to stop noticing smells from things we encounter day in day out, they call this sensory adaption or nose blindness. So it’s important to be proactive and look for things that might smell now or in the future.
Do number 2. Open windows regularly
Again, this may sound obvious, but the quickest way to naturally remove unwanted smells is by opening a window .Opening two windows opposite each other to create a through-draft, is even more effective. Just a few minutes a day exchanging stale indoor air for fresh outdoor air, is quick, free, easy and will do wonders for the “feel” of your hall.
Do number 3. Bring a plant in to help with carpet odor
Eco friendly vase
Providing you have some sort of natural light, a plant can be an impressive addition to a hall. It will actively clean the air and may also introduce its own natural scent. If due to light restrictions, you can’t have a live plant, a few flowers in a vase are a not just a flexible accent color, but also add a pleasant smell.
Do number 4. Buy an eco friendly air freshener or make one
Once you’ve removed all negative smells, there’s no reason not to add an air freshener from a company you can trust. I researched this one who look great. They sell handmade homecare products which are plastic-free, Eco-friendly and naturally scented, from their ethical business in Totness Devon.
https://planetdetox.co.uk/product/carpet-freshener/ . If you prefer to make your own air freshener, I can recommend orange peel.
Conclusion
So if you don’t want your hall and stairs to smell like me after a squash match, take this advice, and you’ll be laughing all the way to the apple orchard!