A Smelly Situation
I get asked a lot of questions. Yesterday Paul Y. called to see if I had any ideas about what to do for a client who apparently has a skunk living under his house. The odor inside the house is bad. He asked me because he remembered that we had some experience with a skunk. I told that story here.
We talked about some possibilities for getting the skunk to leave, but didn't really come up with anything we knew was absolutely right for someone with few financial resources. (Animal control does not control skunks) I promised to do some research on how to rid the house of the smell. The pest control company offered packs that could be placed in each room to rid it of the smell, but the money for that was a problem too.
Today we talked again, and I learned that he had hired a pest control company to remove the skunk. In the meantime I had found some information on how to rid various things of the skunk smell. I'm writing it here in case I ever need it.
Essential Oils was the first thing that came to mind. Just recently I've begun learning about essential oils, and I thought an EO might work. Very quickly I learned that the paper in those odor absorbing packs is Pine Oil and Eucalyptus Oil. Bingo. Saturating something absorbent like a cotton ball with those two oils and placing one in each room should perform the same magic as those packs. The oils (several drops in two cups of water) could also be dispensed through a diffuser or sprayed into the air as a fine mist from a spray bottle. I'm not knowledgeable about the mechanism in operation here but I understand the EO compounds bond to the smelly skunk compounds and render them inactive.
Later on I learned that skunk spray is an oily substance, so anything used to treat skin, a pet or fabrics that have absorbed skunk odors must contain some detergent or soap to dissolve the oils. On this site from the University of Nebraska I found a research-based recipe for neutralizing skunk odor.
1 quart 3% hydrogen peroxide (from an unopened container)
1/4 cup baking soda
1-2 T. liquid dishwashing soap (Dawn is often recommended)
Apply to people or pets and allow to remain for about 5 minutes and then rinse off. (Don't leave it on hair too long unless you're trying for a bleach job.) For clothing, mix into water in washing machine and run through the entire cycle. Expect an explosion if you ever leave the mixture in a closed container. Mix it fresh and use it promptly. Check out the Nebraska site above for the best information I found anywhere.
Siding and outdoor furniture can be sprayed with a 1:9 bleach and water mixture.
Also worth noting is that skunks are repelled by the smell of peppermint. The source I read suggested dropping oils around the foundation of the house. I wondered why you wouldn't just plant peppermint plants if you were worried about skunks.
I've heard anecdotally about successfully using ozone generators in intolerable situations inside a building. The Nebraska site casts doubt on the effectiveness of this approach. Unless you could rent a machine inexpensively, it's not likely to be worth the expense for Paul's client.
Do you have a proven remedy to share?
We talked about some possibilities for getting the skunk to leave, but didn't really come up with anything we knew was absolutely right for someone with few financial resources. (Animal control does not control skunks) I promised to do some research on how to rid the house of the smell. The pest control company offered packs that could be placed in each room to rid it of the smell, but the money for that was a problem too.
Today we talked again, and I learned that he had hired a pest control company to remove the skunk. In the meantime I had found some information on how to rid various things of the skunk smell. I'm writing it here in case I ever need it.
Essential Oils was the first thing that came to mind. Just recently I've begun learning about essential oils, and I thought an EO might work. Very quickly I learned that the paper in those odor absorbing packs is Pine Oil and Eucalyptus Oil. Bingo. Saturating something absorbent like a cotton ball with those two oils and placing one in each room should perform the same magic as those packs. The oils (several drops in two cups of water) could also be dispensed through a diffuser or sprayed into the air as a fine mist from a spray bottle. I'm not knowledgeable about the mechanism in operation here but I understand the EO compounds bond to the smelly skunk compounds and render them inactive.
Later on I learned that skunk spray is an oily substance, so anything used to treat skin, a pet or fabrics that have absorbed skunk odors must contain some detergent or soap to dissolve the oils. On this site from the University of Nebraska I found a research-based recipe for neutralizing skunk odor.
1 quart 3% hydrogen peroxide (from an unopened container)
1/4 cup baking soda
1-2 T. liquid dishwashing soap (Dawn is often recommended)
Apply to people or pets and allow to remain for about 5 minutes and then rinse off. (Don't leave it on hair too long unless you're trying for a bleach job.) For clothing, mix into water in washing machine and run through the entire cycle. Expect an explosion if you ever leave the mixture in a closed container. Mix it fresh and use it promptly. Check out the Nebraska site above for the best information I found anywhere.
Siding and outdoor furniture can be sprayed with a 1:9 bleach and water mixture.
Also worth noting is that skunks are repelled by the smell of peppermint. The source I read suggested dropping oils around the foundation of the house. I wondered why you wouldn't just plant peppermint plants if you were worried about skunks.
I've heard anecdotally about successfully using ozone generators in intolerable situations inside a building. The Nebraska site casts doubt on the effectiveness of this approach. Unless you could rent a machine inexpensively, it's not likely to be worth the expense for Paul's client.
Do you have a proven remedy to share?
posted by Mrs. I (Miriam Iwashige) at
7:24 PM
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