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Recipe 85 of 100 · The Country Cleans Mix Book

How to Freshen a Musty Guest Room Before Company

Baking Soda and Charcoal Bowls

A guest room that's been shut up smells stale and musty. Find the source first and remove it. Stir 1 cup baking soda with 1 cup activated charcoal (aquarium filter carbon from the pet aisle), divide it between 2 or 3 shallow bowls, and sprinkle 2 tablespoons dry coffee grounds on the one going where it smells worst. Set one bowl low and one up on a shelf, close the door and leave them 48 to 72 hours. Never grill briquettes.

Whole Room Odor Absorber recipe card: 1 cup baking soda, 1 cup activated charcoal, 2 tbsp dry coffee grounds, 2 or 3 shallow bowls
What it fixesStale, musty, closed up smell in a bedroom, basement, closet or car.

You need

Mix it

  1. Stir the baking soda and activated charcoal together in a bowl. The baking soda grabs acidic odors, the charcoal traps everything else in its pores.
  2. Divide the mix between your open bowls.
  3. Sprinkle the coffee grounds across the top of one bowl only. That one goes wherever the smell is strongest.

Use it

  1. Find the source first and remove it. A bowl of charcoal cannot beat a wet towel behind the dryer.
  2. Set the bowls at different heights, one on the floor and one up on a shelf. Odor molecules are not evenly distributed in a room and low bowls miss most of them.
  3. Leave them 48 to 72 hours with the door closed. Air movement helps, so a ceiling fan on low is a bonus.
  4. For a closet or a car, fill a sock with the mix, knot the end, and tuck it under a seat or on the shelf where it cannot spill.
  5. Stir the bowls once a week to expose fresh surface. Replace the mix every month or when it stops working.
Dale's noteYou can stretch activated charcoal a little instead of replacing it every month. Spread it on a baking sheet and give it a couple of hours at 200 degrees F. That dries it out and buys back some of its capacity, but understand it is not a full reset. Real reactivation takes several hundred degrees C or live steam and a home oven does not get close, so plan on replacing the bag once or twice a year no matter how often you bake it.
Don'tDo not substitute self lighting briquettes or anything with lighter fluid added from the grill bag. Most are treated with lighter fluid and binders, and they will put a petroleum smell into the room you are trying to fix.
The Country Cleans Mix Book

This is 1 of 100 mixes in the Mix Book

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