Have you noticed a cigarette odor in your home and no matter how much air freshener and cleaning you do it never seems to go away? Odors from cigarette smoke often linger in your home, vehicle, or businesses. These residual odors are tough to eliminate due to their ability to embed into all surfaces of the surrounding area. In particular, cigarette smoke deeply embeds in every surface of your home, anything from cloth and fabrics to walls. If you don’t act fast and remove the odor you may have to end up replacing beloved items that are no longer salvageable.
In order to completely remove cigarette odor from the affected area, you will need to hire a professional air purification service in Northern Virginia. At BioShock, we assist people and businesses who want to remove odors from their homes, apartments, rental units, offices, vehicles, RVs, boats and more. Our green technology will permanently remove odors from the affected areas.
What Does Residual Cigarette Smoke Do?
Cigarette smoke is made of a complex mixture of over 7,000 chemicals including many toxic chemicals. The smoke sticks to every surface of the smoking area, such as walls, windows, and furniture. It leaves behind a yellowish-brown residue that you can see, smell, and feel. In order to completely eliminate cigarette smoke odor, you must thoroughly clean the smoke residue from every surface and every nook and cranny in the affected area.
How Does It Affect Your Health?
Residual cigarette smoke or thirdhand smoke consists of dangerous nicotine and other chemicals left on indoor surfaces by tobacco smoke. You are exposed to these chemicals by touching contaminated surfaces or breathing in the off-gassing from these surfaces. This residue is thought to react with common indoor pollutants to create a toxic mix including cancer-causing compounds, posing a potential health hazard to nonsmokers and children. Prolonged exposure to lingering cigarette smoke odor has the potential to cause allergies and cancer. Thirdhand smoke can’t be eliminated by airing out rooms, opening windows, using fans or air conditioners, or confining smoking to only certain areas of a home. In order to remove all residual smoke, you will need to get the entire area professionally cleaned.
How Can You Remove Cigarette Smoke Odor?
Since cigarette smoke residue is embedded in the surfaces of the entire affected area, removing it is often very difficult and time-consuming. Cleaning, airing out the area, and using air fresheners will not remove the odor completely. The only effective way to remove cigarette smoke residue and odor is through very thorough cleaning of all surfaces and air.
Ozone Generator
An Ozone generator rids the environment of the effects of smoke completely, rather than merely filtering out the visible particles. It will effectively destroy the smelly particles that penetrated hard-to-reach areas by introducing O3 particles into the area. These particles will attack any odor-causing molecules such as bacteria, viruses, or mold spores. Using an ozone generator will save you thousands of dollars by saving you from having to purchase new furniture, paint the walls, and replacing carpets. At BioShock, we only use ozone because it is 100% green, non-toxic, leaves no residue, and is safe to use at low concentration levels.
Steps To Eliminate Smoke Odor:
1. Remove All Washable Fabrics
Begin by removing all washable fabrics and cleaning them several times using baking soda and vinegar to remove the odor.
2. Clean All Surfaces
Professionals will then begin by cleaning all surfaces of the walls, furniture, and ceilings with deodorizing agents to eliminate the particles of cigarette smoke.
3. Air Purification
Once the professionals finish cleaning the visible surfaces, they will use specialized equipment, an ozone generator, to remove the rest of the odors. An Ozone generator will be able to remove odors from areas that are not easily cleaned such as the air and inside walls or joints. This is a safe and nontoxic approach that will leave your home odor free. This will take anywhere from 8-24 hours to complete and you will have to evacuate the area during the appointment.
4. Seal & Paint
The ozone will remove all odors from your home permanently, but if you want to prevent new odors you can seal the surfaces with a sealant. This will prevent any new odors that may occur from sticking around. If necessary, you can paint the surfaces of your walls and ceilings to remove any stains and make them appear new again.
BioShock: Effective Cigarette Odor Removal Services Northern Virginia
At BioShock we don’t just cover up odors we eliminate them at their source. Our services include treating odors caused by cigarettes, cooking, pets, mold, heavy fragrances, and body odor. We will evaluate the affected areas in your home and create a smoke odor removal plan that meets your needs and budget in Northern Virginia. Contact us at (703) 763-7702 for odor removal services.