How to remove the smell of vinegar: methods, remedies, life hacks

Vinegar is an indispensable household product, famous for its cleansing and disinfecting properties. Acetic acid is actively used to remove various contaminants, but it also has one drawback - an unpleasant odor that remains after cleaning. Of course, there is hardly anyone who will like this scent, because you don’t want to walk down the street and emit this smell. That is why it is important to know how to remove the smell of vinegar from clothes and other surfaces at home easily and simply.

How to eliminate the smell of vinegar?

Acetic acid is actively used to remove stains and marks from the following surfaces:

Furniture.
Cloth.
Tile.
Carpet.
Dishes.

Important! Vinegar is no less effective in combating other unpleasant odors, such as sweat, urine or mold. In general, its smell is much easier to get rid of, which is why it is so popular in everyday life.

To eliminate unpleasant odors you can use:

Salt and soda.
Fabric softener or laundry detergent.
Ammonia.
Dishwashing liquid.
Laundry soap.

A universal remedy for many ills

There are times when even special detergents cannot cope with the unpleasant odor. Vinegar essence diluted in water removes odors:

sweat in shoes and on clothes;
food in the microwave;
burnt in the oven;
musty kitchen towels;
old bread bin.

Sometimes it is enough just to soak a cotton swab in acid and wipe the problem area with it. In the case of a microwave, just place the vinegar solution in it and start the heating mode. And towels are soaked in a mixture of water and acid overnight - not only the mustiness and feeling of dampness go away, but also the fungus that has penetrated deep into the fabric.

After getting rid of the unpleasant odor with vinegar, a new problem suddenly appears - the cleaned items smell sharply of an acid that irritates the sense of smell.

How to quickly eliminate a strong vinegar smell?

In some cases, a large amount of vinegar is used to remove contamination, so its aroma will be felt throughout the apartment, absorbed into clothes and upholstered furniture. Also, no one is immune from the fact that you can accidentally turn over a bottle of product and pour it onto the floor or carpet. In this case, the unpleasant odor must be eliminated immediately by choosing one of two effective methods.

Important! Before taking active measures, you can ventilate the room or turn on the air conditioner; it will easily eliminate the unpleasant odor if there is an air ionization function.

Method 1

Take half a bucket of water, a tablespoon of ammonia and two tablespoons of washing powder.
To stir thoroughly.
Apply the solution to the flooring using a sponge.
Gently rub the surface.
Remove any remaining substance with a damp cloth.
Dry with a hairdryer, vacuum cleaner or naturally.

Method 2

In this case, dishwashing liquid will help:

Moisten the problem area with water.
Apply a cleaning agent to the source of the odor.
Rub with a brush.
Remove residues with a damp cloth.
Dry in an accessible way.

Cleaning Features

Cleaning a sofa with a mattress using vinegar is carried out in the usual way. There are also mattresses that do not absorb odors at all. For example, such mattresses are installed in sofas of the Ascona brand. They are made from:

holofiber;
heat-bonded flax;
foams with silver ions Ag+ (MediFoam technology);
foam with bamboo charcoal (BambooFlex technology).

Before cleaning a sofa with a folding bed inside, unfold it. This way, the vinegar solution will not penetrate deeply into the material.

The peculiarity of cleaning leather upholstery lies in the different colors of the coating material. Before using a vinegar solution on colored or dark skin, test to see if the liquid affects the color. For fair skin, this cleaning method will not cause harm. To soften the effects of acid on the skin, mix 1/4 cup of vinegar and the same amount of olive oil.

To ensure that there are no streaks left after cleaning the sofa, use a hairdryer to dry it. In this case, it is important to heat the surface evenly.

Eliminating vinegar smell from food

No matter how good a housewife is in the kitchen, she is not immune from “overdoing” the dosage of vinegar while cooking. If the added amount of vinegar turns out to be more than expected, then you don’t have to throw away the food, because you can do the following:

Open the lid of the pan and let the vinegar evaporate a little.
Boil the dish for another 30 minutes (at high temperatures the rate of vinegar evaporation increases).

Important! In principle, all the described actions are not necessary, since vinegar easily dissipates on its own. The proposed methods are only needed to speed up the process.

On hands

It often happens that after cooking, a characteristic vinegar smell remains on your hands, which simply does not come off. Neither soap nor deodorants can help, the smell constantly returns. In this case, regular kitchen salt will help. You need to literally smear your hands in salt and keep them in this state for some time. At the same time, you need to take into account that if there are wounds or cuts on your hands, they will burn quite strongly (“Don’t pour salt on my wound” are not at all the empty words of the old saying). After this, hands should be washed with warm water and soap. This usually eliminates the odor. If for some reason salt did not help, then other methods described above will also work on the smell of your hands - baking soda, lemon juice and ammonia will help get rid of the smell of vinegar.

Eliminating the smell of vinegar from a room

Method 1

You can remove the smell of vinegar from shoes using ammonia. For this it is enough:

Dip a clean cloth in the ammonia solution.
Treat the surface of the boots.
Take to fresh air to ventilate.

Method 2

Eliminating odors from kitchen utensils is possible using salt. Procedure:

Add salt to warm water (make a highly concentrated solution).
Wash the dishes in the resulting liquid.
Allow to dry naturally.

Method 3

Salt and soda are absorbent substances that absorb unpleasant odors:

Pour baking soda and salt into small containers.
Place dishes around the apartment.
Change content periodically.

Important! For this, it is best to buy beautiful small vases that complement the interior, since they will be in a visible place in the apartment at all times.

Or maybe it's not worth fighting?

Not everyone likes the aroma of acetic acid, but if you and your household can tolerate it relatively well, then maybe you shouldn’t fight it? The fact is that this peculiar smell has a detrimental effect on viruses and some types of bacteria. The product has disinfectant properties, but is completely natural. Doctors, for example, on the contrary, recommend it as a worthy alternative when treating toilets, trash cans, sinks, and for washing dishes.

Vinegar is much safer for you and your family than most of the products that are sold in the “Household Chemicals” department. Our mothers and grandmothers used vinegar everywhere. The temperature was reduced with a solution of vinegar and water. It was added to water when washing floors. This was especially true in the summer, when there are a lot of flies. These insects cannot tolerate the aroma of vinegar. They used it to wipe car windows to prevent them from freezing and fogging up. Plus, apple cider vinegar is an excellent odor neutralizer that is much worse. For example, the aroma of acetic acid refreshes the air in the apartment of smokers. Previously, when there were no air fresheners, housewives constantly used vinegar to eliminate odors in the apartment.

Removing vinegar smell from clothes

Solution 1

Using fabric conditioner:

Wash clothes in a washing machine, adding powder and conditioner.
Turn on double rinse.
Hang clothes to dry on the balcony.

Important! If you have to wash by hand, then soak the clothes in soapy water and wait 6 hours, then rinse in cold water.

Solution 2

When washing by hand (delicate fabrics or other reason):

Add a few drops of ammonia to the water.
Immerse clothes in the solution and wait half an hour.
Rinse in warm water.
Dry on the balcony.

Solution 3

Using soda:

Mix water and baking soda to create a concentrated solution.
Soak the clothes in the liquid and wait a little.
Rinse in running water.

Important! The last two methods cannot be used for synthetic fabrics, as they may lose their color.

Ammonia

This pharmaceutical product will help you solve a delicate problem. The solution will need to be treated with the couple inside and out. Then take another cotton pad or piece of cotton wool and soak it in ammonia. Put this in your shoes. Take her out to the balcony.

The fact is that ammonia neutralizes acetic acid. But most people also don’t like the smell of ammonia. Luckily, it dissipates much faster than the vinegar smell. But still, give a pair of shoes a good airing so as not to confuse others with strange odors.

Removing odor from fabric shoes is not that difficult; throw a pair in the washing machine and fill it with twice as much rinse aid as you usually do. After such a hygienic procedure, the terrible smell will disappear.

The main causes of unpleasant odors

The smell from the sofa can occur in the following cases:

in new furniture there are traces of chemical compounds (for example, glue) that were used during assembly;
due to the fact that pets, cats and dogs constantly sleep on the furniture;
if you constantly smoke in the apartment;
if the room is damp and poorly ventilated, condensation may appear, and with it mold;
from old age: the seat, which was used for several years without deep cleaning, has absorbed all kinds of aromas from the room;
the child described the sofa - how to get rid of the smell in all these cases?

Doctors recommend

The smell of vinegar is not always harmful; in some cases it can help. Doctors advise treating the following surfaces with vinegar from time to time:

Bucket for collecting garbage;
Toilet;
Sink and sink in the bathroom and kitchen;
Cutting boards (especially those used for fish).

If you do not neglect this recommendation, you can protect your home from harmful viruses and microbes.