It's embarrassing to hear that you have bad breath. So what if your house has bad breath?
A recent Harris survey found that more than nine in 10 people have at one time or another had to wrinkle their noses in someone's house. Granted, offensive is in the nose of the be-sniffer -- the most commonly cited stinker is cigar or cigarette smoke.
This info comes to us by way of the folks at Lennox Industries which, by-the-by, manufacture home ventilation systems. But they're also of the "teach a man to wrap a fish" school of thought, passing along five odor-eating strategies to try before considering an air-changer system.
• The scent of rotten eggs results when a bathroom is rarely used, the result of water standing in rarely used drains, or when a toilet dries up, letting a sewer odor seep into the house. Avoid this by regularly running water through drains to flush the pipes and give little-used toilets a flush twice a week.
• Deal with pet odors by sprinkling a carpet or chair with baking soda, then vacuuming the next morning. Really smelly fabrics need steam-cleaning.
• Tobacco smoke is a toughie, because it lingers. Try a HEPA filter vacuum, which most vacuum companies include in their lines. HEPA stands for high-efficiency particulate air filter. Regularly laundering curtains and other fabrics helps, too. We'll spare you the obligatory sermon about health. (Well, sorta.)
• With summer in the wings (hah!), so is mildew. Dehumidifiers help, along with installing exhaust fans in bathrooms and basements.
• Fight food odors by taking out the trash every day, but also scrub the trash can with disinfectant every once in a while, even if it doesn't look soiled. Garbage disposals should get a vinegar gargle.
