Curry Home Odor Removal Options: Deep Cleaning, Remedies and More

Your carpets attract a lot more than just dirt. They also attract odors—and over time, without cleaning that goes deeper than vacuuming, those smells can stick. You might not even notice, because you get used to it over the months and years in your home.

That’s the situation one Capitol Hill real-estate agent was facing with a townhome that was about to go on the market. As soon as you opened the door, there was an overwhelming, powerful smell. The previous tenant, who had lived there for three years, apparently liked curry—a LOT.

Of course, plenty of people love curry, but most probably don’t want their home to smell like it every day. And because this townhouse was going to be listed soon, we had to act quickly.

Deep cleaning

We knew immediately that while cleaning the floors was going to be a key part of this operation, it likely wasn’t going to be quite enough. So we started by bringing in CleanSpace Cleaning Services for a seriously deep clean of the kitchen area. We’ve worked with CleanSpace many times before, and recommend them highly.

That removed the source of much of the smell, which turned out to be grease. We replaced filters for the microwave and range hood, too.

Intensive remedies

Then it was time to go deeper by treating all surfaces, including the walls and ceiling in addition to the floors, as that curry smell had actually seeped into the building materials over the years. First, we used a liquid chlorine dioxide (ClO2) treatment. Even though it might sound unfamiliar, chances are you have a lot of experience with CIO2: It’s commonly used to disinfect municipal drinking water, because it destroys pathogens responsible for disease, contamination, and odor without leaving any residue or fragrance.

Next, we set up a containment area and used the gaseous form of CIO2 to clean the air as well. This has the benefit of not only killing odor-causing bacteria, but eliminating any mold and mildew—which you definitely don’t want in your home.

Just to make sure we didn’t miss anything, we also used ozone generators to remove the curry odor in other parts of the townhome that were only slightly affected. The home was ready to be occupied a couple of hours after we performed a final wipe-down and removed our equipment. Including the deep clean, the project took three days.

A trusted resource

We’ve now worked with this real-estate agent several times for odor elimination, although this remains the only time we’ve been called in for emergency curry service! We’ve also done work to remove tobacco, pet, and other odors—all without requiring painting or replacement of surfaces. Every detail matters when you’re trying to sell a home, and strong smells can be a big turn-off to buyers.

What does your home smell like?

Your home might have smells you don’t quite notice. Family-owned All Kleen can help! Our standard floor-cleaning services will keep your home feeling fresh and looking great, and if we need to go deeper, we can do that, too. So go ahead, cook that curry (maybe not every night, though). And then get in touch with us here or call 888‑771‑4109.