Odor Removal - A Smelly Situation
DISCLAIMER - This process does NOT guarantee 100% odor removal. No matter how thoroughly we clean the vehicles interior, odors will always be able to seep into areas which are inaccessible to us and therefore impossible to be cleaned. With our process, the goal is to clean thoroughly enough to minimize the smell to a tolerable level until the smell can fully dissipate naturally.
So your car has a nasty smell, it could be caused from an accident, pet hair, cigarette smoke, or even just an overwhelming “new car” smell. The questions is, how do you get rid of it! Unfortunately, theres is no singular solution for any type of odor, but there is a pretty good process.
“I cleaned it up, but it still smells!?”
First, let’s get an idea of what causes odors to linger in a vehicle. For example, let’s pretend that, after slamming on the breaks to make an emergency stop, a gallon of milk went flying from the passenger seat to the floor and burst open. Now you have a full gallon of milk pooling on your floor and soaking into your floor mat, carpet, and the front of the passenger seat. Obviously, odor is going to emulate from the milk itself, but it will also roam throughout the car in the form of tiny molecules or bacteria. These molecules are drafted by the air circulation until they latch on to the first thing they come in contact with, especially fabrics such as cloth seats, carpeting, and the headliner. The longer the milk remains sitting in the car, the more time the odor molecules have to spread throughout the vehicle. Which brings us to the key in eliminating odors: remove or neutralize all order molecules throughout the entire vehicle, as soon as possible.
The Process
Clean
Obviously we first need to get rid of the source of the smell (the spilled milk), but we also need to clean and attempt to neutralize the lingering odor molecules using traditional cleaning methods. Many people think shampooing is the best method here (and it may be used to remove the spilled milk), but there is another method that is easier and more effective for the majority of the car: STEAM. With temperatures above 200˚, steam easily kills odor-causing bacteria among surfaces. Steam cleaning also has the advantage over shampooing because it can be used on more than just fabric materials (like plastics, leather, vinyl, etc.). Lastly, steam cleaning leaves significantly less moisture than shampooing which greatly reduces the chances of causing a mildew or musty smell.
Deodorize
Typically when we steam clean a vehicles interior, we use a basic cleaner to help break down dirt and grime. When tackling odors, we use a special deodorizing cleaner to specifically help neutralize the odor molecules. After all the cleaning is complete, we will lightly mist the source of the smell with the same deodorizing cleaner and let it sit on the surface to attack the odor directly. NOTE: The source may have a slight vinegar scent as this is the main ingredient in the deodorizing cleaner.
Fogger Treatment (optional)
This treatment works by circulating an odor neutralizer through your vehicles air conditioning system. As we mention in the Disclaimer above, there are some areas we will be unable to reach with our cleaning process (the cabin air filter, air circulation ducts, around certain seat and seat fasteners, etc.) and by fogging the car, the neutralizer is able to get into the nooks and crannies too small for our tools. We first close the windows and doors, turn the vehicle air conditioning system and recirculation system on, and initiate the fogger. After letting the fog run through the system for 15 minutes, we shut the car off, open the windows and doors, and let it air out for another 15 minutes. The reason this step is optional is because it depends on how long the source of the odor was in the vehicle and if it had enough time to infiltrate the air circulation ducts. NOTE: This will leave a new smell (usually something pleasant like “Fresh Linen”) to help cover any existing odor until the bad odor dissipates naturally.
TIME, and moisture absorbing packets
This is the only step that we ask help from you, the customer. While the methods mentioned above will get a great majority of the odor molecules neutralized and out of the vehicle, there is a good chance the bad odor will still be lingering (especial foul smells like spoiled milk, vomit, etc.). The reality of the situation is that these lingering odor molecules, causing the continuous smell, will eventually dissipate or die-off naturally over time. This could take a week, 2 weeks, or even a few months, which is why the goal of the 3 prior steps is to remove the source of the odor and reduce the smell to a tolerable level for the time being.
Bonus step: Ozone Generator
We call this a bonus step because it is not a service we offer in-house. Instead, we can direct you to use it at home if you just cant wait for Step 4 to play out. You can go out and rent/buy an Ozone Generator, run it in your car, and hope it takes the remaining odor and crushes it! It’s used exactly like the Fogger Treatment but instead of 15 minutes, its 2 hours. Trying to keep the explanation simple, the machine generates trioxygen (O3) and since this is an unstable bond, that third oxygen molecule attaches itself to pollutants (like cigarette smoke, bacteria, mold spores, etc.) and destroy it, leaving only dioxygen (O2 - A.K.A the stuff we breath).
Summary
In short, removing an odor is not as simple as cleaning up the spilled milk. Rather, it’s a process that uses redundancy and various techniques in an attempt to purify all the air and surfaces throughout the entire vehicle. We clean, deodorize, and neutralize your vehicles interior then we wait for the process to run its course. The best advice we can give, is to be patient and understand that we will try our best to get it resolved and get you back out on the road!