Odor Removal (Geruchsneutralisation)

Why airing and cleaning are not enough

Odour molecules lodge in porous materials — in wallpaper, plasterboard, screed, wood, carpet underlay and textiles. Surface cleaning only removes what sits on top. As soon as it gets warm or humid, the smell comes back out.

Fragrances and sprays merely mask the smell and often make matters worse, because the two combine into something new. The only thing that works is destroying the odor molecules chemically.

Ozone and hydroxyl

In an ozone treatment a generator produces ozone, which oxidises the odor molecules and in doing so destroys them. Ozone is highly effective but harmful to health — the rooms must stay unoccupied during the treatment and for several hours afterwards, and must then be aired thoroughly.

Hydroxyl generators work more gently and can be used in occupied rooms. They need longer for it, often several days. Which method fits depends on whether the property is empty and how heavy the contamination is.

When the building fabric has to come out

Where liquids have penetrated the floor — after a death discovered late, after fecal contamination, after spillages — treating the air is not enough. In that case the floor covering, the sub-floor and sometimes the lower wall zones have to be removed and the surfaces sealed. Only then does an odor treatment make sense.

How long until the apartment can be handed back

Plan for several days, not hours. A treatment cycle runs eight to twenty-four hours, followed by airing, and heavy cases need two or three cycles. Where the building fabric has to be stripped back first, drying and sealing add further days before renovation can start. If a handover date (Wohnungsabgabe, the formal return of the apartment to the landlord) is already fixed, tell the property management early — an extension is usually easier to agree than a failed handover.