How to remove the smell of paint after painting something in the apartment?

The question of how to get rid of the smell of paint in the apartment arises immediately after finishing work or redecorating. After all, living where “aromas” of paints and varnishes are carried is both unpleasant and unhealthy. To cope with this problem, you can apply tried and tested folk methods or use modern technology. Both technical devices and traditional methods are of two types - those that help get rid of harmful substances in the air of the apartment, and those that simply mask the smells of these substances.

Ventilation

The most common method of getting rid of odors left after painting is airing. Circulation is necessary for faster drying of the paint layer, so you need to organize it immediately after work. The easiest method is to open windows opposite each other to create a draft. You can open one window and turn on the fan.

If oil or enamel paint was used, subject to active ventilation, it should be at least 3 days before you can sleep or stay for a long time. Water-dispersion, including acrylic, paints dry much earlier and much more actively, which means they give away “aromas” faster, which disappear in just a day.

Traditional air purification

If you need not only to mask the heavy odor after painting, but to make the air in the room clean, you can use the following tools:

• Activated carbon;
• candles (ordinary, not aromatic);
• several large pieces of fabric, such as sheets;
• coffee.

Activated granular carbon must be decomposed into several containers and placed indoors. Conventional, non-activated, charcoal will not cope with the task of air purification, it has too large pores. They will be filled with moisture, and microcracks of granular activated carbon trap harmful substances in a gaseous state.

Tip

Coal can also be activated at home, however, its effectiveness will still be several times lower than that produced industrially.

Candles literally burn out harmful substances - volatile compounds that evaporate during the drying of coatings. Of course, it is best to use natural wax candles, but paraffin waxes are also suitable. You just need to light a few pieces in the room for two to three hours. At the same time, we must not forget that, along with harmful substances, oxygen also burns, so after this procedure, ventilation is mandatory.

Ground coffee also absorbs unpleasant odors. If the task is to remove the amber paint, then such a natural air freshener will be very useful. It is only necessary to spread the ground, and preferably freshly ground, coffee in small containers and arrange in different places. After a day, coffee needs to be changed to fresh, and the old should be discarded, since it is impossible to brew and drink it.

After repairs in the room, you can hang wet pieces of fabric - they will become filters for harmful compounds in a gaseous state. They need to be removed and rinsed periodically, and then hanged again. This is a fairly effective way, which is useful if you need to quickly clean the air, and airing for some reason is impossible.

Air Wash Scheme

Technical devices

Now the industry offers various types of air purifiers, but not all of them can remove odor after staining.The most effective will be photocatalytic and filtering cleaners, as well as air washing. Filtering devices pass air through carbon or HEPA filters, which trap toxins (devices from BORK, IQAir, etc.).

The action of photocatalytic is based on photocatalysis: toxic substances, including volatile compounds, are oxidized and decomposed. However, the latter have a significant drawback. For efficient operation, the area of ​​the device filters should be a total of several m². That is, they do not provide cleaning of the area declared by the manufacturer. An example of such equipment is the Fresh Air Box.

Air washers are devices with a kind of water filter. Toxic particles settle on wet discs and are washed off from them into a container of water. Another type of these devices removes the smell of paint by hydrofiltration of air: polluted air passes through the dispersed zone, where it is cleaned. There are many manufacturers of this equipment, among them Air-O-Swiss, Venta, BORK.

Odor absorbers

Act odor absorbers based on the adsorption of "aromatic" substances. Such products are available in the form of aerosols that need to be sprayed indoors, or as a gel in a glass or plastic container that needs to be installed in places with an unpleasant odor. These devices have proven themselves well, they really cope with various heavy odors, including the smell of paint.

Their main disadvantage is that the devices are designed to absorb gaseous substances in a small area. In addition, manufacturers do not indicate which site they are designed for. But if we take as a basis that a container with 50-70 ml of gel is designed for a car interior, then for a room up to 20 m² with a large painted area, at least 10 such containers will be required. Another danger - fragrances are sometimes sold under the guise of absorbers, which is not the same thing.

Aromatization

If a residual faint odor remains in the room after repair and ventilation, it can be removed with the help of aromatic substances. Scented candles or roasted coffee will do. A good way is to spread out the fresh zest of orange or lemon and periodically replace it with fresh.

Another interesting way to mask the amber from paints and varnishes is to make an orange pomander. True, this will have to be taken care of in advance, at least two weeks before painting.

This scented ball is made as follows:

• an orange is pricked with a sharp object;
• rubbed with spices - ground cinnamon and anise;
• whole buds of cloves are pushed into the punched holes;
• the ball is placed in a dark place for two weeks;
• tied with a ribbon.

Such a fragrant ball gives a spicy citrus fragrance for 5-6 months. The specified set of spices is not final, everyone can add or remove some ingredient in accordance with their preferences.

The above tips will help get rid of the smell and clean the air in the apartment of toxins that appear when the paint dries. In addition, these methods can be used to constantly maintain a fresh atmosphere in the room.