Have you ever wondered what a smell is? It’s a collection of microscopic “stuff” (well, molecules) floating through the air, that enter your nose, hit your olfactory neurons in your nasal passages and transmit a message to your brain, which you perceive as “smell”. Where do these molecules come from? The things around you. What if the things around you are smoke damaged, moldy, or remnants of a hoarding situation? In essence, little pieces of those elements, impurities, are getting inside of you.
“Smell pollution” is not a trending concept but one which we suggest can have an affect, whether psychological or physical, on your daily life.
For instance:
– Mold gives off airborn mold spores which are known irritants and triggers of asthma and allergies. Mold can also cause headaches, itchy eyes, and skin problems.
– Smoke damage leaves a layer of soot which consists of various acids, chemicals, metals, soils, and dust (again, all getting inside of you in a microscopic way).
– Properties that have had hoarding situations often have strong odors due to rotting food particles, insect and/or rodent infestations and carcasses, and animal urine/feces. No amount of airing out can completely remove the embedded molecules and odors.
Other more banal sources of odors — daily carpet wear, pets, cigarette smoke — can create a “smell backdrop” to your day and affect the way you feel and approach your daily life.
The Scientific American reports about how closely smells are linked to our emotions:
The olfactory bulbs are part of the limbic system and directly connect with limbic structures that process emotion (the amygdala) and associative learning (the hippocampus). No other sensory system has this type of intimate link with the neural areas of emotion and associative learning, therefore there is a strong neurological basis for why odors trigger emotional connections. (Do Scents Affect People’s Mood or Work Peformance?)
The article also states:
When people were exposed to an odor they liked, creative problem solving was better than it was when they were exposed to an unpleasant odor condition.
(Good to know! Let’s keep our homes and work places smelling good!) For health, mood, and even productivity, investing in the air quality of your home or business makes sense.
Removing odors from materials such as walls, flooring, and furniture takes professional equipment and products, and in some cases (biohazards) professional handling is a MUST to ensure disinfection as well. Neutralizing odors at the molecular level is the most effective way to eliminate odors, and may involve “fogging” a room with ozone or other deodorants, using industrial fans and air filters, and removing or replacing damaged materials.
Clean Earth Restorations provides all of these services and more as part of our professional remediation and clean up services in San Diego County. We are also a licensed general contractor and can follow up clean up and remediation with complete restoration to original conditions. Contact us today for any questions you have about odor removal, smoke damage, mold remediation, and hoarding clean up. We are also one of San Diego’s best professional carpet cleaning providers!
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