In all our decades of experience with Ottawa Odour removal, we’ve seen it all. Over the years, it’s become apparent that there are definite patterns in Ottawa regarding household odours. Read on to learn about the top 4 causes of household odour in Ottawa, and their solutions.

1) Pet Odour

In Ottawa, approximately one of every two households owns a pet. Whether it be a dog, cat, lizard, or gerbil; every animal we bring into our homes contributes to household odour. Sometimes, these smells are easy to handle, and sometimes they require professional help. It’s no wonder, then, that we so consistently are called in to help Ottawa families with pet odour.

‘Pet Odours’ are a wide category of household smells. Depending on the animal causing the smell, there are a variety of different methods of going about getting rid of pet-specific odours.

That said, there are a few general rules that are applicable to all pets:

Keep Your Pet Clean

Mammals, reptiles, and birds. It doesn’t matter the kingdom or species. If it’s a pet and it smells, cleaning it is always a good first step to taking care of the problem. It’s important, however, not to over-clean your animals. Cat’s and Dogs produce much of their odour as a result of the oil their skin produces to keep their coat healthy. Every time you shampoo a cat or a dog, you deplete that oil and cause the skin to compensate by kicking oil production into overdrive. Consistently cleaning a cat or a dog can actually lead to them producing more odour as a result of their skin constantly trying to replace lost oils.

Keep Pet Spaces Clean

Cats have litterboxes, lizards have tanks, dogs have beds. Anywhere your pet regularly spends it’s time is a place that is going to, eventually, start to smell. Staying aware of these places and incorporating them into your regular cleaning schedule is a great way to keep pet odours out of your home. If you’ve got a cat, don’t forget to check out our article on removing cat odours from your home!

Be Aware of Your Pets Diet

Sometimes, all it takes is a switch in the brand of food you feed your pet to stop pet odours from re-occurring. Especially for cats and dogs, the food your pet eats helps it produce the oil in it’s skin that keeps its coat healthy. Low quality food leads to low quality oil, so not only will your pet not be looking it’s best, but it won’t be smelling very good either.

2) Cigarette Smoke

This household odour is one that we encounter on a regular basis, and unfortunately is one of the most intensive odours to eliminate.

If you asked a team of chemists to design a compound specifically meant to smell terrible in the home and be nearly impossible to remove, chances are they would skip the work entirely and tell you to simply smoke cigarettes inside.

This is because there is simply nothing that Cigarette Smell will not find it’s way into, and once it’s in, it’s hold is nearly impossible to break. Most people associate cigarette smells with household fabrics. They are especially prominent in furniture, carpet, drapes and more because fabric is an extremely porus material that ‘soaks up’ cigarette smoke. Most aren’t aware of the fact that cigarette smoke will sink into any material that is even remotely porus. This includes your drywall, ventilation filters, hardwood, cabinets, wood furniture, even some types of metal! Cigarette smell is so good at getting into everything that it would be easier to list the things it doesn’t get into than the things it does!

So once you’re dealing with unwanted cigarette smell, what do you do to get rid of it?

The best way to eradicate cigarette smell is to ‘fight fire with fire’ by performing a fogging treatment of your home. We say ‘fight fire with fire’ because a fogging treatment uses the same method of transmission as cigarette smoke, a gas that settles into every surface it touches. Instead of transmitting cigarette-smelling particles, our fogging treatment carries powerful cleansers that root out the source of cigarette smell on every surface of your home. Because it travels throughout your home just like cigarette smoke would, it provides homeowners the best possible way to access every nook, cranny, and hard-to-reach place that cigarette smell is bound to find.

If you’re interested in removing cigarette smell from your home, get in touch with Enviropure to hear more about our fogging treatments.

3) Urine

Technically this one falls under the “Pet Odours” category, but we encounter it so often that we figured it’s best to give it it’s own section. Plus, we’ve had our fair share of calls to homes dealing with the smelly consequences of curious toddlers, so we figure it’s a good idea to inform our readers on how to remove the smell of urine.

Urine soaks into porus surfaces, and emits a smell long after drying. Dealing with urine odour has two main parts; finding the offending area, and dealing with it.

Finding Urine Stains

When it comes to dealing with Urine stains, it pays to act fast. Wet stains are significantly easier to find, especially if you have dark carpets. All it takes is looking around for a spot of wetness, and presto, you’ve found it. Unfortunately, it’s rarely this easy. Pets and young kids have a way of not informing us when they’ve done their business all over the floors, so often stains have the opportunity to dry before we’ve even become aware they exist. Wet or dry, they still produce unwanted smell, so now you have to get creative about finding the stain.

If you have light carpets, doing so consists of looking around for spots of discoloration. If you have dark carpets, it’s the same story, you simply have to look a lot harder.

If its a dog that’s caused the smell, look around your walls and furniture. Dogs most often want to urinate onto objects or walls, so keep your eye on the bottom of chair legs, the base of your table, couches, etc.

If it’s a cat, keep in mind that they have an instinctual drive to relieve themselves in places that are, generally, hidden from view. Our feline friends come from a long evolutionary history of solitary hunters, so they feel exposed to threats when relieving themselves in plain view. This leads them to finding nooks and cranny’s to hide while they relieve themselves. Also, cat’s aren’t afraid to do their business at elevation, so don’t hesitate to check your bookshelves, cabinets, etc.

Dealing With Urine Spots

While the places they do their business tend to differ, the approach for removing urine stains for cats, dogs, and any other animal are all the same. All you need is some white vinegar, baking soda, and water. Simply combine the baking soda and water to create a paste. Pour the paste liberally over the stain, and allow it to sink in. If the stain is wet, it’s a good idea to leave your paste alone and not work it in. If the stain is dry, it’s always a good idea to do what you can to scrub it as deep as possible.

After it’s settled, its a simple matter of adding vinegar and letting the reaction to it’s job. The foaming action of the baking soda and vinegar will grab any microscopic smell-producing particulate in your carpet and push it to the surface. All it takes is rinsing everything away with water and dabbing the spot dry!

Still Dealing With Urine Smell?

If you are still dealing with the smell of urine after completing your treatment, chances are you haven’t found all the spots your pet (or child!) has made their unfortunate deposits. In these cases, you’ll definitely want to get in touch with Enviropure. We have professional equipment that is guaranteed to find and remove absolutely every offending urine odour from your home.

Ottawa Odour Removal With Enviropure

No matter the smell, if you want it gone for good, guaranteed, call Enviropure. Pet odours and urine, cigarette smell and more, any odour that you aren’t able to remove yourself is a job for us. Don’t wait until the smell becomes too much to tolerate. Save yourself the hassle and headache, and get in touch with Enviropure today.

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