How to Remove Smoke Odor From a House

Smoke odor is stubborn because it embeds itself in porous materials throughout a home, from drywall and carpet to ductwork and insulation. Spraying air freshener does nothing lasting. Removing smoke odor for good means cleaning the residue that causes it and treating the air and surfaces systematically.

Start by Removing Residue

Odor comes from smoke residue, so the first job is removing as much of it as possible. Clean hard surfaces, walls and ceilings, and HEPA vacuum soft materials and surfaces to capture fine soot particles. The more residue you remove, the less there is to keep producing odor.

Filter the Air

Run a HEPA air scrubber to pull airborne smoke particles out of the air continuously. Air scrubbers with carbon filtration also help capture odor causing gases. Running air filtration throughout the process keeps re-depositing particles from undoing your cleaning.

Treat What You Cannot Clean

Some materials cannot be wiped clean. For these, odor treatments work at the molecular level:

• Thermal fogging recreates the way smoke penetrated, carrying a deodorizer into the same spaces
• Hydroxyl and ozone treatments neutralize odor molecules, with ozone used only in unoccupied spaces
• Sealing badly affected surfaces locks in any remaining odor before repainting

Do Not Forget the HVAC

Smoke travels through the duct system and coats it, so the HVAC can keep spreading odor after everything else is clean. Cleaning ductwork and replacing filters is often necessary to fully remove smoke smell from a house.

Verify Before You Stop

Smoke odor often hides until humidity or heat brings it back. Work through cleaning, filtration and treatment, then let the home sit and confirm the odor is truly gone before considering the job complete. Stubborn cases are best handled by restoration professionals. Equip the work with our air scrubbers and HEPA vacuums.