Hello AT,
We live on the top two floors of a three-unit building. We have a new downstairs neighbor who is painting her apartment before moving in and the paint fumes are invading our unit. In general, we can deal with this, as it's a short-term situation--HOWEVER, we are hosting a party tomorrow night (Thursday) and do not want our place to reek of paint, if possible...
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We have candles burning, windows cracked open--any other suggestions to rid our place of fumes, at least for the night?
Thanks, S&T
Dear S&T,
We assume you're talking about Latex fumes (oil-based paint would be deadly), and until the off-gassing is done, the best thing you can do is mask the fumes.
What masks best?
Cooking.
We don't know if you ARE cooking for your guests, but there is nothing like the strong odors of cooking (onions, meat, garlic, pasta sauce, even toast!) to do the job. There almost seems like something absorptive about cooking odors.
Outside of that, stick with good candles and avoid cheap ones. Our favorite is the Votivo candle and the FIG is dreamy.
Anyone else?
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Comments (13)
A friend of mine swears by cutting up onions and putting them in water -- then you just have a strong smell of onions everywhere, but it does seem to help with the paint smell.
When we use our ventelation system at work to exhaust some nasty fumes we often drip some vanilla onto the filter... believe it or not the vanilla really goes a long way in overpowering the fumes without making the air too Willy-Wonka.
If you have a HVAC you can do this no sweat...just splash some vanilla on the filter... then when you're done with it toss it out (you probally need a new one anyway)
If you have radiators...um... I got nothing...
My mom's trick:
Place bowls with water with half an onion around the house. Change water every 8-12hours. Always work.
Um, are y'all saying you'd rather be at a party that smells like ONIONS than fresh paint?
I hope your party doesn't suck so bad that guests worry about this kind of thing.
If they do, I guess you are made for each other.
-Bobby
Put a pot (recommend using an older one as this can leave a stain) of water on a low flame -- add cinnamon sticks and mulling spices and let it simmer away -- will cover the smell in a festive way. Williams-sonoma sells everything you need.
Ouch. But anywho...
I'd suggest flinging the windows wide open (not just a crack), and run any and all fans you can to keep air moving.
You may also try many boxes of baking soda around the place, pre-party. Or use baking soda as the sand-replacement in luminarias.
Side note - when I painted my apartment I was very surprised to discover there were no paint fumes. It was Benjamin Moore latex satin, and didn't really smell like anything at all. I was expecting that paint smell, but no.
So I thought maybe latex paint has evolved so that it doesn't smell like that anymore, but according to this posting, apparently not.
Anyway, nothing too useful to contribute here, except a suggestion to your neighbors that next time they paint, they CAN find paint that doesn't smell strongly!
Thanks for the responses--we have a Votivo burning (red current) and will definitely be cooking tomorrow, so hopefully the currently dizzying fumes won't be too noticeable by then.
Tape. Tape their door (I take it they haven't moved in). Tape your floor lines. Do it nicely and neatly with clear tape. That will reduce some seepage.
Open windows as much as possible. Really wide.
There are a number of companies that make a product to mask smoke odors - I used that to live through the odor of new floors, but it didn't lessen the irritation.
I have also heard/applied the baking soda method. To mask the smell of paint on radiator covers drying, I mixed water and baking soda, soaked sponges, and put the sponges with a bit of the water/bs mix onto plates, which I put on top of the radiators (inside the cover). That worked very well to take out the smell of the paint plus some of the smell of the rusty radiator. Maybe you can work that in to some less visible spots.
The paint smell is probably coming through gaps in the walls/floor, so if you can find those, you might be able to get rid of some smell.
I just painted a cabinet that I had to dry indoors. I put a big wide bowl full of freshly ground coffee on top (whole beans work too) and it seemed to help. I doubt it absorbs the odor but it definitely masked it.
Actually, one of the best ways to absorb fumes is a bowl of coffee grounds, or coffee bean, baking soda, and don't use the coffee after it has sat out! For sure keep the windows open!
bowls of white vinegar left in the room. Boom