It’s a precious investment when you bring in a new carpet for your home. Impressed with its beautiful appeal and comfort it will provide, you get it installed on your floors. But there can be nothing more irritating than a release of a foul odor as soon as it’s unrolled and installed.
Your new carpet smells so bad because of its off-gassing which is nothing but a release of VOCs (chemicals used during manufacturing) after unrolling it. While it’s common for your carpet to off-gas for a day or two, it can be really irritating all the while.
If you are thinking/searching for ways to reduce that nasty new carpet smell, here is how you can do it effectively.
3 Ways to Eliminate New Carpet Odor
1. Let The Carpet Breathe
Manufacturers recommend unrolling a new carpet in a dry, well-ventilated place. Help it get as much ventilation as possible. The off-gassing process can quicken with adequate airflow in the new-carpeted area.
Open all your windows and turn on your HVAC or fans to push all the chemical-laden air out. This is the most preferable way to remove the new carpet smell.
2. Natural Deodorization
⇒ Baking soda
Being an effective odor-absorbent, baking soda can tackle any kind of carpet smell. Just sprinkle a generous amount of it all over the carpet thoroughly. Let it sit and work there overnight and vacuum it in the morning to get a fresh-smelling carpet.
⇒ Vinegar
Place small bowls filled with vinegar all around the carpeted room to help absorb the strong smell of chemicals. Vinegar is yet another odor neutralizer capable of being effective in eliminating such odors.
Plants
Air-purifying indoor plants can also help you eradicate the nasty smell. You can prefer moving potted plants of aloe vera, snake plant, peace lily, or golden pothos into your carpeted room to provide proper and fresh air circulation.
3. Cleaning The New Carpet
⇒ Vacuuming
Apart from being one of the best ways to extend the life of your carpet, vacuuming can also help in deodorization by removing odor-causing VOC chemicals.
Even if the carpet seems to be visibly clean, you should vacuum it right after installation and regularly every other day to remove the loose debris and fuss with the chemical residue.
⇒ Steam Cleaning
When the stubborn chemical odor is not leaving your new carpet, steam cleaning can be your best resort. It not only cleans thoroughly but also eliminates odors and germs during its process.
You can either do the steam cleaning on your own or hire professional carpet cleaning services for even better results.
Tip: Try to steam-clean your carpet with a vinegar solution for an even better result.
Can you Prevent New Carpet Smell?
While there are ways to deal with its nasty stench, you must wonder if you could prevent this off-gassing in the first place.
Ideally, every new carpet, to some extent, will release some amount of chemicals. But you can significantly have much lesser emissions with the following two ways:
• Green Label for Low Emission
You can choose to buy the carpet having a green label provided by Carpet and Rug Institute. This tag indicates that it will have lesser off-gassing with low emission of VOCs.
• Nails Instead of Glue
Opt for tacking down or stapling the carpet while installing it instead of gluing it. The adhesive to attach a carpet to the floor can worsen the chemical scent even more.
Summing up
The smell of a new carpet can be understandably unpleasant. However, by providing proper ventilation, using baking soda and vinegar, and frequent cleaning, you can significantly reduce the strong chemical scent.
Additionally, keep in mind to prefer the carpet with low VOC and proper installation methods to help minimize the off-gassing and get a fresher and odor-free carpeted home.
