Offer a Smoke Odor Removal Service to Help Grow Your Cleaning Business

How a Smoke Removal Service Can Help You Gain Clients

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), indoor environments are subject to five times more pollution than the outdoors. One such pollutant is smoke odors.

Potential sources of a smoke smell inside a home or commercial building include wood-burning stoves, fires, gas-based furnaces, and water heaters. Lingering smoke smells may be unwelcoming to dwellers and guests, can damage structural elements, and may cause health complications.

Most people understand the need to remove harsh smoke odors from their homes or commercial properties. For this reason, adding smoke removal to your list of cleaning services may help you to expand your operations, reach more clients, and improve your revenue.

Cleaning Service Equipment for Removing Smoke Odors

Below, learn more about the supplies and tools you’ll need in order to offer smoke odor removal for your cleaning business clients.

Air Purifier

This device is excellent for removing smoke odors, dust, and dirt from clients’ properties. We recommend using an air purifier with a HEPA filter.

Ozone Machine

Ozone machines have become an increasingly popular product for cleaning companies due to their ability to reduce or eliminate smoke smell. Of course, even if your business uses this device, you should still perform a thorough and proper cleaning.

Steam Cleaner

Your cleaning company can use a steam cleaner on suitable surfaces, such as carpets, to eliminate intense smoke odors and particles.

Other Helpful Supplies for a Smoke Removal Service

Ammonia

Ammonia is an effective cleaning solution for almost any hard surface. That said, it is toxic, so use it only in rooms with adequate ventilation. Be sure to wear protective equipment like gloves and eyewear, and avoid using the abrasive chemical on sealed or finished surfaces, such as cabinets.

Activated charcoal

This natural product absorbs lingering smoke smells in a property. Place the detoxifying agent in bowls and leave them in different rooms.

Baking soda

If you desire an effective yet cheaper product for naturally absorbing smoke smells, use baking soda.

Febreze

This famous product is available in most local retailers. Febreze utilizes cyclodextrin, a chemical compound that can absorb smoke odors from various surfaces, including carpets.

Smartphone application

As a cleaning business that offers smoke removal services, your team will benefit from helpful apps for efficient working and communication.

White vinegar

White vinegar is an effective natural cleaning agent. Since it does not have a coloring agent, it won’t stain surfaces like walls, floors, or furniture.

Areas of Focus for a Smoke Odor Removal Service

As a professional cleaning business owner, it is your job to know the areas in a property that may hold smoke odors or residue. Regularly cleaning these spots can help reduce lasting smoke smells.

Air Ducts

Air ducts attract and encourage the settling of smoke smell and residue. They provide an essential pathway for air that contains smoke particles to pass through. As a result, rooms not directly exposed to smoke may still be affected.

Carpets and Rugs

Carpets and rugs are magnets for smoke particles and odors, trapping and tightly holding smoke smells into them.

Curtains and Windows

Fabrics for window treatments usually attract a lot of smoke odors. The smells stick on the fabric materials and may remain behind even after cleaning a client’s window decorations.

The remaining smell may not be that strong, but it will be noticeable when sitting near the curtains and windows. You may have to advise your client to replace the existing window treatments if professional cleaning is not enough to eliminate the smell.

Insulation

Insulated spaces between the walls and floors of a property often absorb smoke smells and keep them. Attic insulation may also trap smoke particles and odors.

Other Fabrics

As a cleaning professional, understand that other household items, such as bed sheets, blankets, and towels, may attract and hold on to smoke odors. Paper and fabric lampshades may also trap smoke smells, particularly since they’re often overlooked during cleaning.

Tips for Providing a Smoke Removal Service

Your job is to remove the smoke smell from a client’s property and not mask it. In turn, you must clean thoroughly and remove the source of the problem. Below, learn tips for performing a smoke odor removal service for residential or commercial properties.

1. Advise Removing Smoking Accessories

Removing smoking accessories, including cigarette butts, cigarette packets, and ashtrays, may help reduce the concentration level of the smoke smell in a property.

2. Allow for Proper Ventilation

Allowing outdoor air to get into and indoor air to get out of a property helps remove the smoke smell. Before cleaning, open the windows, especially if you use toxic cleaning solutions. You can also position fans near windows and make them face outside. This promotes the removal of the smoke particles and odors from a client’s property.

Advise your client to keep their windows open during the day, if possible, and to get their heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system professionally cleaned.

3. Clean Surfaces Covered With Fabric

Use residential or commercial cleaning chemicals and equipment to clean a client’s carpets, furniture, linens, and other fabric-covered areas.

4. Deep Clean Walls and Hardwood Floors

Deep cleaning wood floors in a client’s property is an excellent way to remove the smell of smoke. If a deep clean is ineffective, however, the property owner may need to sand and refinish the wood surfaces to remove the lingering smoke odor.

For walls, wash them with a water and vinegar solution, and repaint them if necessary.

Keep Clients’ Homes Smoke-Free

When offering a smoke odor removal service as a cleaning company, you must familiarize yourself and your employees with areas prone to lingering smoke smell, appropriate equipment and products to use, and cleaning tips to employ.

Providing this specialized service can help your business tap into new markets, stay busier during slow seasons, and even earn more revenue. To learn more tips for growing your cleaning service business, view other helpful Taskbird resources.