We found a house that is a very good deal. It reeks of curry, though. The owners are highly motivated to sell. I'm wondering if it would be a bad idea to buy a house where we don't know if we can completely remove a smell?
Do you have any experience with this?
blogger / pineapple / 12381 posts
Our house had a strong perfume smell when we bought it It took a while, but it doesn't smell like that anymore unless we've gone on vacation for a few days. It's like the house is seeping it out of her pores!
bananas / 9628 posts
When we were thinking of moving into DH's aunt's house I was really worried about cooking smells (it smelled like fish all. the. time.) I read a bunch of recommendations for 'room shocker' & ordered one. Didn't get to use it since we didn't end up there though. Also painting walls can seal in odors so they stop coming from the walls and worst case scenario there are services you can have come in to professionally deodorize if need be.
hostess / wonderful watermelon / 39513 posts
Are there drapes and carpet in this house? I heard painting walls, replacing carpet and window coverings can do wonders. Good luck!!!
coconut / 8430 posts
@mediagirl: I've heard that curry is really tough to remove because there is residue that sticks to the walls as well as any fabrics like carpet, drapes, etc. From friends, I've heard that you need to wash all the walls and then repaint. Not sure about what to do about carpet other than ripping it out and replacing.
You might want to call an odor removal company to find out how much it will be to deodorize the home and bake that cost into your offer! Good luck!
coconut / 8475 posts
Paint.
My parents bought a house that smelled like smoke (both people were cigarette and cigar smokers), and it smelled brand new after my mom painted. She painted the kitchen, all halls and their master bedroom...no bathrooms and no living/family rooms.
Also: if you have a shampooing vacuum, that'll do wonders.
And take down their drapes and wash them good!
And clean the cabinets (wipe down the insides) because that's likely where they kept all the curry spices.
I'd also switch own the vent above the stove (the fan).
honeydew / 7589 posts
Paint, rent a steam cleaner for the carpets, and change out all drapery. It'll be fine.
nectarine / 2217 posts
You will likely need to paint all the walls/trim/baseboard/cabinets/ceiling and replace flooring if it is really bad -- but if the low cost of the house offsets all those updating costs, it might be worth it! 
i'd keep searching the internet for more info. it would really be unfortunate if you purchased and then found you were not able to remove the odour 
grapefruit / 4800 posts
We had smokers in the house, the walls were yellowed because of the residue and while we did paint a lot we got rid of the smell before painting. We got rid of their carpets but they were nasty for a lot of reasons and that helped some but we washed the walls with vinegar and have an air purifier, air the house out regularly, put baking soda in different rooms and just put more vinegar everywhere and kept washing with it. I have a really sensitive nose to smoke and it took a lot less time than I thought it would to get rid of the smell.
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