Advice on removing smoke odor

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

The background: while waiting for husband to get job and join me in Vegas, I'm living in a weekly furnished place that reeks of smoke. The place comes fully furnished with a couch. The apartment was painted prior to me moving in. I've cleaned doors, door frames, light switches, etc. I even got a couch cover. Despite treating the couch with baking powder and OdoBan, the couch still reeks with stale smoke odor - even when covered up.

The odor is powerful. I can smell it in my hair and on my clothes, but it's the only place I can sit in the apartment. Any further suggestions to what I can do to eliminate or at least reduce the stench? I can't replace the couch (it comes with the apartment) and I don't think the cushions will fit in the laundry room washing machines, so unfortunately I can't wash them.

Suggestions? Advice? .. not including torching the couch (though that crossed my mind)...

[Chan790]

1. What color?

Not a random ?. Either baking soda or charcoal will remove just about any stink on Earth. The right choice depends on material and color...because you don't want to stain the couch and get reamed by the landlord.

Short of that, Febreeze it into submission...smoke is hard, it might take 10-15 applications.

[MrsBrady]

2. i'd turn it upside down...

take off the cushions....etc...
douse it with baking soda...all over top, bottom, sides....
cover it with a plastic couch cover....

in a few days vac up the baking soda, get rid of the soda in the vac....
and then do it again.

can you have it cleaned? or can you ask the management/owners to switch it out?

[Systematic Chaos]

3. I hope to Christ this weekly place you're living in isn't called Harbor Island.

But wherever you are it's probably not that much better anyway.

Please be careful because whatever you're thinking might be the low standard for people around your hood probably needs to be multiplied by 387. And I say this having lived here in Vegas for far too long.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

8. Not Harbor Island

but Budget Suites... not much better

[Turbineguy]

4. A plate with vinegar

might work. It absorbs paint odor.

[Whoa_Nelly]

5. Activated charcoal-You can get it at pet stores

From this link: http://www.howtogetridofstuff.com/odor-removal/how-to-get-rid-of-smoke-smell/

Activated charcoal is one of the best odor neutralizers and deodorizers available on the market today. Activated charcoal, also called activated carbon, works through adsorption, where molecules of particles like pollutants accumulate on the surface of matter. Activated charcoal is a very effective deodorizer and odor neutralizer because of its very expansive surface area; just one gram of activated carbon contains 500 square meters, which is 80 square meters more than a full-sized professional basketball court.

The great thing about activated charcoal is that it adsorbs carbon particles very effectively. Smoke is made up of different carbon compounds, with trace amounts of other elements that bond with the smoke particles and accumulate on the surface area of activated charcoal. Activated carbon is used in many air and water purifiers.

Activated charcoal is relatively cheap. You can buy activated carbon from pet shops, industrial supply stores, or wholesale commercial stores. Here's how you can use activated carbon to deodorize and neutralize smoke odors:

Place a small amount of pure activated charcoal on moist saucers or ashtrays, and leave them inside a room overnight.
If you don't have activated carbon, you can use ordinary pulverized charcoal in place of activated charcoal. Make sure that you crush the charcoal into a fine powder before you place it in moistened saucers or ashtrays.
If there's a very rank smell of smoke in a room in your house (like your basement or the garage), buy some bags of ordinary charcoal. Lightly crush the lumps of coal and store the bags at the corners of the room to adsorb the odors of the furnace, the boiler, and vehicle exhaust.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

6. You could start smoking and fergetaboutit.

[HopeHoops]

7. Go to a tobacco store. They have products just for that purpose.

[MicaelS]

9. Try Febreze spray, I am not kidding

http://www.febreze.com/en-US/Product.aspx?id=152

I had a bad stain on my carpet that smelled terrible, no idea where it came from. Obviously I spilled something, (I have no pets and don't smoke), and it stunk up the whole house.

I tried Ozium spray and it only killed the odor for a while. A thorough saturation with Febreze on the spot, and odor was gone, and never came back.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

10. Done that to death...

I used 3 full cans on that damn couch and they triggered an asthma attack (Febreze is made from a corn byproduct which apparently is a trigger for me). Febreze just covered the odor for a little bit, but it came back.

I can't easily topple the couch as some have suggested. That damn thing is too heavy. I also asked to have it replaced, but unfortunately they can't guarantee if another couch will not smell as bad simply because these apartments are not segregated into smoking and non-smoking units. Vacancy is also near 100%.

[MicaelS]

11. Then I don't know what else to suggest, sorry. n/t

[RebelOne]

13. It works for me and I am a heavy smoker. n/t

[RobinA]

12. Open a Window n/t

*

[warrior1]

14. if it's the couch

can it be dragged outside and the mother nature take the stink out of it?

[vrvs]

15. Spam deleted by OKNancy (MIR Team)

[PassingFair]

16. Buy another couch?

We bought ours for 300. Paid it off over 5 months, no interest.

It's not the greatest couch in the world, but it doesn't stink.