Can I get rid of the smell of soot? And general staleness?

Thriftylady

I have one of those cast iron multi fuel stove thingys in my living room instead of an open fire. It is well maintained - proper ventiliation, chimney swept regularly, etc. But in the summer months when its not lit, I often get a stale soot smell in the room.

Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can tackle this? Its a reasonably large room, with a door at either end, but even leaving the windows and doors open doesn't seem to help much - the room doesn't seem to air very well no matter what I do.

In fact, I find that the downstairs of my house in general has a tendency to trap stale smells and as both OH and I are cleaning obsessives, its not something that we can tolerate very well!

I hope you have some suggestions.

Thanks

ubamother

I remember reading somewhere that if you keep a flame - even just a tealight - in the grate of the fire it effectively 'pulls' the air from the room into and up the chimney. If this is true, and works, it would take the soot odour up and out rather than down and in.

caitybabes

Is there any chance the smell could be getting trapped in curtains and other absorbant furnishings? Just a thought

Thriftylady

caitybabes wrote: »

Is there any chance the smell could be getting trapped in curtains and other absorbant furnishings? Just a thought

I've never thought of that. Although, having said that, the curtains have been changed quite recently, and there is no carpet in the room, so probably not an awful lot for it to cling to.

I just don't seem to be able to air the downstairs of my house very well, although upstairs is fine. When I have been out of the house, I always feel that when I unlock the door and go back in, I am met with a stuffy, stale smell. We don't smoke, don't have pets, there is no damp in the house, so I'm totally at a loss as to what I can do.

Mrs_pbradley936

Well charcoal is supposed to be the best thing for removing bad smells but I have no idea how you would tackle a room because I discovered it when my son had spilled some milk in the car and not said anything. After a few days the smell was awful. Then someone told me to get some of those insoles for smelly trainers and put them over the smell the put a clean towel over them so the insole was sandwiched between the carpet of the car and the towel. I did and after a day the smell was completely gone.

YORKSHIRELASS

I have the same problem with my woodburning stove and have not found a solution! Hopefully someone else has some ideas. Strangely enough the smell seems to come and go - or maybe its my imagination?