If a skunk has been in your home, the smell of skunk’s spray may quickly overpower your entire house. Skunks produce a pungent spray as a defense mechanism to ward off any predators, and they also mark their territory with it.
After the skunk or skunk family has been removed from your home the smell may continue to linger. Here’s how to remove skunk smell from your clothes and your home using a few simple household items.
Skunk Cleaning Solution
There are some commercial skunk deodorizers on the market, but they tend to be overpriced and are less effective than a homemade solution. The solution that we find works best for removing skunk smell is not tomato paste, but rather a mix of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, dish soap.
Mix together in a bowl:
- 4 cups hydrogen peroxide
- ¼ cup baking soda
- 1 tablespoon dish soap
With a rag or sponge, soak up the liquid and generously apply it to walls, carpeting, or fabric areas. The solution is made of chemicals that will not stain and is also safe to use on pets. Let the solution sit for five minutes before you wipe it off the surface and rinse it with a water soaked rag.
Does Tomato Paste Remove Skunk Smells?
Tomato paste does not remove skunk smells, but in theory, it does help. Tomato paste was regarded to remove skunk smells because it is a light acid and is perfectly safe to put on your skin. Tomato paste unfortunately does not work well at removing skunk spray because it is not acidic enough to make a dent in the scent.
Identify Where To Clean
The first step to removing a skunks scent from your home is identifying where the skunk was staying. When skunks nest, they will mark their area with urine and feces. It’s important to remove that material before you start sanitizing and deodorizing your home.
Attic
If the skunk was staying in your attic, areas of your home’s insulation may need replacement. Once insulation has been exposed to germs through urine and feces there is no way to clean it, so it will need to be disposed of and replaced. Other structural damage may have occurred in your attic area such as chewing at beams or destroyed roof material. If there is an area that is hard clean or the job is too big, Critter Ridder of Texas offers professional attic restoration services that cover insulation replacement, structural repair, and cleaning.
Crawl Space
If the skunk was below your home cleaning out the skunk smell will be much easier than cleaning out attic spaces. Pier and beam foundation spaces are covered with dirt or crushed rock which makes cleaning out any feces and urine smells easy. In some cases there may be additional damage from chewing and scratching through baseboards, ripping through floor insulation, or tearing up HVAC ducts. For these extreme situations and large projects, we offer professional pier and beam exclusion services.
Open Windows and Turn On Fans
To remove the smell of skunk from your home, open up doors to let in fresh air. A major part of removing the lingering smell is by replacing the air in your home with clean air from outside. A fan can be used to accelerate the airflow which will speed up the process.
Mask The Smell
Once you have cleaned with your homemade solution and aired out your house you can use deodorizers like incense, candles, aerosols, or diffusers to mask the remaining stench. Masking the scent alone will not solve your problem, but it is a good last step in removing the skunk smell from your home.
Keep Skunks From Coming Back
After your cleaning process is done and your home is fresh smelling, you should invest time into deterring skunks from coming back. Critter Ridder of Texas offers exclusion services that will identify and cover up entry points into your home. For more information contact Critter Ridder today!