How to Get Rid of a Smell in a Flat for Good

A smell is particles in the air, and they come from somewhere. That is why air freshener never works for longer than an hour: it adds its own smell to the existing one instead of removing anything. The job is always the same — find the source, remove it, ventilate. In that order.

What you need

• Baking soda — for textiles and the fridge
• White vinegar 9 % — 1 part to 2 parts water
• Activated charcoal or coffee grounds — as an absorber
• An enzyme cleaner — for organic sources

• A vacuum with an upholstery head
• Microfibre cloths
• A spray bottle
• A plunger or a drain auger

Time: 90 minutes plus airing.

Step by step

1. Ventilate properly first. Cross-ventilation for fifteen minutes: if the smell comes back within an hour, the source is inside the flat.
2. Check the traps. A sink or shower that is rarely used dries out and lets the drain smell straight in. Run the water for a minute.
3. Go through the textiles. Curtains, sofa, carpet, bedding — fabric holds smells longer than any hard surface.
4. Open the fridge and the bin. Under the seal and under the bin liner are the two most-missed sources in any kitchen.
5. Treat the source, not the room. Soda on fabric for an hour, then vacuum. Enzyme cleaner on anything organic.
6. Test the extract. Hold a sheet of paper to the grille: if it does not stick, there is no draw and smells stay in the flat.

Method 2 — by source

Tobacco settles on every surface including the ceiling and walls, and only washing them removes it — textiles alone are not enough. Damp means mould, and the smell goes when the mould and the moisture do. Cooking smells live in the kitchen textiles and the extractor filter. An animal smell is in the upholstery filling and the litter area. Each has its own answer, and the general-purpose ones do not work on any of them.

Method 3 — absorbers

Soda in an open dish, activated charcoal, coffee grounds: all of them take smells out of the air rather than covering them, and all of them are a supplement rather than a solution. They are useful in a fridge, a wardrobe or a shoe cupboard, where the volume is small and the source is diffuse. In a room they cannot outpace a live source and give the impression that something is being done.

What to avoid

• Air freshener over the source. Two smells instead of one, and the source keeps working.
• Sealing the room. Without ventilation the concentration only rises.
• Chlorine on organic smells. It masks them for a day and leaves its own, harsher smell.
• Scented candles as a solution. Pleasant, but they change nothing about the cause.

The smell nobody finds

Three places account for most of the cases where the source seems invisible. Behind and under the fridge, where spills dry out unseen. The drip tray of a washing machine and its detergent drawer, where a black film grows. And the fridge door seal, in the folds of the rubber. All three are checked in ten minutes and are the usual answer to a smell in a kitchen that “has already been cleaned”.

If the source is genuinely not in the flat, it is worth checking the extract duct and the neighbours: a blocked shared duct pulls air the wrong way, and then no amount of cleaning helps.

When to call a cleaner

Cleaning removes smells along with their source: a flat clean from UAH 1,550 covers the fridge, the bin area, the traps and the textiles. Upholstery is a separate matter — a sofa at UAH 1,299, a mattress from UAH 600, a carpet at UAH 130 per square metre — because a smell in the filling comes out only under extraction. Ozone treatment and work on ventilation we do not do, and where the source is the duct we say so instead of cleaning twice. Price it in the order form.

Frequently asked questions

How do I remove a smell from a flat quickly?

Find and remove the source, then ventilate. Anything else only masks it.

What absorbs smells best?

Baking soda and activated charcoal, in a small volume such as a fridge or a wardrobe. In a room they cannot outpace a live source.

Why does the smell come back after cleaning?

The source is still there — most often the trap, the upholstery filling or a blocked extract duct.