Odour from Asian Cuisine

[Philmc1]

I've just had tenants move out. Professional couple, not very good housekeepers and always kept the house shut up and curtains drawn.
Overtime the cooking odour has built up and even after washing the curtains, they still reek.
Have opened all the windows and doors for a week and it's still lingering, I believe in the curtains, carpets and other porous surfaces. Walls have all been washed - now I understand better the sign some motels have about this type of food.
I'll give the new tenants 12 containers of Glade carpet deodoriser.

Would welcome any other suggestions.

Cheers

Phil

[Stevegoodey]

Doesn't a handy towel coated in caramel essence absorb odours?

Maybe just an old wives tale.

Maybe you should use the whole roll?

Good luck

Steve

[Gatekeeper]

Doesn't a handy towel coated in caramel essence absorb odours?

Maybe just an old wives tale.

Maybe you should use the whole roll?

Good luck

Steve

I think that should be pure VANILLA essense, and I know it does work well in fridges. You put it in the water and wipe it down to get rid of that fridge smell. Maybe wipe it over the paintwork would work.
Have you cleaned the ceilings?

Cheers

[drelly]

See if you can get hold of an ozone machine. That would help...

Or just rent to more asians?

[Philmc1]

Thanks everyone.
Off to try the vanilla essence but keep the ideas coming as there aren't too many asians down this way ( Wairarapa )

Cheers

Phil

[artemis]

Try Febreze

Should work for carpets. Also the old standbys of baking soda and white vinegar (separately) are supposed to be very good at removing smells.

Suggest get a big container of baking soda (1 kg or more - it's cheap) sprinkle liberally over the carpets and floor in every room and see how the odour is after a couple of days.

[Gypsygirl]

There are a couple of things you could try.
Cut onions absorb odour. Take off the skins and cut in half.
There is a product called nil odour - it comes in tiny bottles about the size of a vanilla essence bottle. Sprinkle that on the carpets and curtains.
Also we have an air treatment system that removes really gross smells such as smelly nappy odours. They are expensive to buy, but you may be able to rent one. Let me know if you are interested and I'll see if I can find one to rent near you.

[Philmc1]

Thanks everyone

Have painted kitchen ceiling with enamel, done the carpet thing and am wiping the walls with vanilla essence. Will see how all that goes. Along with opening all the windows ( they love to keep the windows shut and the curtains drawn ) to a lovely southerly blowing through, there is a definite improvement and you've given me a lot of alternatives.

Thanks

Phil

[David-Suzuki]

Neutradol spray, open windows, and time, repeat formula.
My partner also likes to burn essential oils such as rosemary, orange, mint, eucalyptus

[Glenn]

I have found that the smell gets into to some strange places.
Best to clean down the paint work and even the wall paper if it will take it.
"move it" or "30 seconds" is great. They now make an indoor 30 seconds but have not used it myself. The outdoor stuff works good on ceilings but it is bad news on carpets and some paints due to the chlorine.
Good idea to pull the stove out from the wall and clean the walls behind.
Range hoods are great places to hold fatty smelly stuff.
You would be surprised how much a thin film of "stuff" on the windows can smell.
And as for those carpets. Just remember that not all carpet shampooers are equal. Sometimes you simply have to do them twice.
After working there for a while you might start to not notice it.

Glenn

[whitt]

Had a similar problem with cooking odours.
Professional carpet cleaned, wiped walls and aired house.seemed to do the trick although depending on length of tenancy it may be neccassary to wash curtains and get into hard to reach places.

[RonHoyFong]

Hi Phil, Hi Forumites!

I share my sympathy with you on this and offer a valuable money making tip

I have actually purchased bargain price IP's off other investors who couldn't rent the places out for weeks because of it.

Fortunately for me I buy them to do reno’s anyway.

TIP - Watch for these opportunities that create the price reducing problems, they are only cosmetic.

Solutions to the cooking odour.
1. Follow Drelly's solution above. or
2. Follow everyone else’s solution to the above. or
3. Follow both of the solution above.
4. Do some other type of cooking (preferably non-Asian) in the middle of the lounge floor, then the kitchen smell won't be so noticeable, but be careful not to burn too bigger hole in the carpet, otherwise people might get to notice it as well. However no worries you can still cover it with a culturally non-sensitive grass matt imported from Asia, which won't be so bad. (You can buy them cheap for only $35.00 and they come in a whole range of colours and patterns, can only surely add value to the rental return, and rewarding you with a higher cap rate.
5. If it isn't too bad, air the place out for at least 6 week and leave all the doors, windows, wide open during the whole time.
6. Fumigate the place.
7. Burn the place down.
8. Pay street kids to trash the place but make sure you have a comprehensive insurance policy.
9. Hire a commercial cleaner.
10. Renovate the place using the Ron Hoy Fong method, (should be able to do it for under $45 per sq meter, excludes new carpet, plus the cost of Ron's DVD to show you the step by step method)
11. If all else fails, and you have had enough of "Land Lording" and want to cash up your IP’s give me a ring or email me on [email protected]. I am interested in helping you personally. ALL REAL DEALS are considered.

SERIOUS NOTE -
I have found the most effective way to solve this is to douche the who place with Janola. Water it down with an equal amount of water. Place it into a garden spray and spray everything possible.

Remove the curtains and send it off to the Dry Cleaners.

Turn the power off so that you don't get a shock when you spray anything electrical. Spray absolutely everything possible (assuming the place is empty), spray inside cupboards, ceilings, lampshades, inside stove, wallpaper, paintwork, lino, flooring, doors, benches, everything. Test a piece of your carpet inside a cupboard first incase it changes colours. If it a good quality carpet, it should be OK.

Allow the place to air dry, use a fan if you have too. The place will pong with Janola for a couple of days.

Then get the carpet cleaned with a perfumed shampooed as soon as, so that the smell doesn't leach back into others areas.

By the end of the week plus a good wipe down and mopping off the lino, most of the problem should have dissipated.

Re-hang curtains and use the plug in electrical air fresheners. Total cost for everything is about $250.00 plus loss of a weeks rent.

Re-spray with deodorizers before the prospective tenants come to view.

At the end of the day it still come down to elbow grease and money.


Cheers Ron
Email: [email protected]

RON’S DVD TIP – SOMEONE’S TRASH, CAN BE SOMEONE ELSE’S TREASURE

[pl]

Hi Ron,

When you mention shampooing the carpet, do you do that yourself? or do you mean a commercial cleaner?

[Glenn]

Not wanting to sound racist or anything but I once got a complaint from one of my Vietnamese tenants when they moved into a property.
They complained about the cooking smells from the last tenant.
This last tenant had been there for a couple of years and left the house spotless.
They just did not like the smell of European cooking. So yes we all have our own prejudices.

We just get used to the smells around us and tune them out.
So the trick is to get your prospective tenants into the house then they will get used to the smell and not notice it.
One clever trick of mine (after doing a bit of all the above) is to use a special little machine that has a gas canister of perfume in it. It is operated by a timer that you program up and it squirts a little jet of smell out every 30 minutes or so. The other sneaky thing I do for these problem smelly houses is I go there some time before the interview and open up the doors and windows to get some fresh air through.
Smells seem to be worse in empty houses that have been locked up in hot weather.

Glenn

[RonHoyFong]

Hi Ron,

When you mention shampooing the carpet, do you do that yourself? or do you mean a commercial cleaner?

Easier to use a recognised commercial cleaner. They have the machinery to do a deep lather and probably give a longer life to the carpet. They can use smellies and insecticide at the same time to kill fleas etc.

Cheers Ron
Email: [email protected]