Seated next to a campfire on a warm evening, with friends nearby and an open, starry sky above, the smell of smoke can be relaxing. It is a welcome accent to a beautiful outdoor experience.

But inside your house, the smell of smoke can be insidious. It can travel under doors and out from hampers and linger in the air for days or seemingly weeks.

There are lots of reasons your home may smell like smoke. Perhaps you are a smoker and your best efforts to smoke outside have not kept the smell out. Or perhaps you work with smoke or fire. Maybe you have a neighbor who constantly burns leaves, sticks, or other items in a backyard upwind from your home.

Or perhaps you have recently suffered a fire.

Either way, there are some steps ranging from simple and cheap to complex and expensive you can take. How much time and energy you invest depends on the intensity of the smell and your need to get rid of it completely.

A simple smoke removal solution: cover it up

There are a wide range of cheap and simple, low-effort options if the smell is minor.

1. Aerosol spray: use a disinfecting spray like Lysol or Febreze to simply cover up or eliminate the odor
2. Scented candle: burning a scented candle can replace the smoky odor
3. Reed diffuser: a milder scent might be enough to eliminate smoe’s insidious smell

These inexpensive solutions can help eliminate a faint smoky smell.

A more comprehensive smoke solution

Of course, if the smell is strong enough to get your attention, it might not be easily covered up with the simplest solutions. Use these more aggressive interventions if the smell is in your fabrics.

1. Mop all wood and tile floors. Attack the smell where it sits, changing water frequently.
2. Use a steam vac on your upholstery including rugs and curtains.
3. Wash all of the fabrics that fit in the washer.
4. Dry clean any fabrics that are too delicate for the washer or a steam vac.

These more intensive steps can work even if the smell has worked its way into all areas of your home.

The final smoke removal solution

Of course, the most comprehensive smoke removal interventions are incredibly time consuming, and they often miss other places where smoke might be hiding: under joints and seams and in hard-to-reach areas of your home.

When you require a professional, thorough response, a professional cleaner like Dry Patrol can help eliminate the odor from fire in your home. Using the latest tools and techniques, they attack the smell everywhere it is hiding and eliminate it forever.