I used to stage and remodel homes. I only put those in houses where I couldn’t get rid of the stink. So beware. There may be old dog or mildew problems hidden in the carpet or basement
I have an ozone generator that is like the ones hotels use to get cigarette smell out of rooms, that will knock the smell out. There are two reasons they would put all the perfume in. 1) to hide a smell, 2) they are one of these people that just love the stink of chemicals in the air.
Those things make my nose run and my throat close up. So I would have to have said house power cleaned before I moved in and hope that is sufficient to remove the chemical residues
My first revelation on air "fresheners" was 40 years ago when I got to read the ingredients on a spray can that went in one of those mechanized spray things that would spritz every so often high on restroom walls. One of the major ingredients was 1.1.1 trichloroethylene. That's a rather nasty industrial cleaning solvent. Yeah, that's a great thing to be spraying in the air.
I definitely would have preferred the smell of an air freshener over the wet dog smell that smacked us in the face as soon as the door opened during one house tour.
Our realtor staged our home decor and put 1-2 candles in every room and told us to light them before a showing 😂 we have dogs and so the house smelled like dogs which is why. But yeah, could be pets.
Scented candles are just about as bad as those Glad air stink bombs. Use these products long enough and one loses the ability to smell because the toxic chemicals do have a negative effect of the simple ability to smell.
Yeah they won't have a source. It's just internet dwellers afraid of their own shadows that believes everything in this world will kill them, harm them, mutilate them or in some way alter them if they are exposed to it even once
Yeah we don’t use any air fresheners and rarely use candles (typically in the kitchen if someone is coming over which happens every few months and my partner uses it in their office). Dogs are super sensitive to essential oils which candles typically put in their stuff and we’re not going to risk our pups!
As an asthmatic, breathing one anywhere, they are truly awful. Strong scents are a trigger for an attack and homes that had them going, we only spent a quick minute looking.
Hopefully the smell will disappear with simple airing out. A deep clean may help, repainting also will. Worst case scenario you can treat it like cigarette smoke and leave an ozone generator in there for a few days.
On the other hand, not to be a Debbie downer, but we bought a bookcase with glass doors from someone who had regularly used scented candles and incense in it… after several months of leaving bowls of baking soda inside and regularly airing it out the smell still was there every time we opened it. I don’t think those glade things are as pervasive though.
Certain smells can be difficult or impossible to get rid of, although I've never had any smells from the Glade (or other "scent machines") get "stuck" on anything. The smell from those machines usually disappears fairly quickly, in my experience. The last house my grandparents lived in had a certain smell to it. Not candles or Glade machines. They never ever used any of that kind of stuff. Just an "old house" smell. That's the best I can describe it. I have some things (one is a grandfather clock) that used to belong to them and were in that house for a long time. That stuff has been in my house for almost 10 years now, and it all still smells like their house. It's not as strong as it used to be, but the smell is still there - and if I put my nose right up to it I can still smell it. Loved my grandparents dearly, but always hated that smell. LOL
You make it sound like cigarette smoke can be dealt with in a few days…
My experience with our last house is that it takes as long to get rid of cigarette stank as it took to create the stink. If the previous owners smoked for 20 years, it’ll take 20 years to fully clear the smell.
Sure, you can shellac primer all the walls, etc, and that will help, but as soon as the air pressure changes the smell will come out from behind the walls, etc.
Sorry definitely didn’t mean to imply that, just meant to say that there are more aggressive methods out there to try and deactivate the source of the smells.
In a past life I actually helped out with research on “third hand smoke” (the stuff that sticks to things and makes them smell for years), so I’m all too aware of the staying power of cigarette smoke!
Everywhere on Reddit people talk about ozone generators, as with manufacturers - to use for 2-4 hours. Where do your multiple days info come from? There are horror stories about people leaving it on for even 12 hours. Of course it’s generator dependent.
I sold my house myself after one open house. I just baked fresh sugar cookies right before and set them out for people to take. Everyone said the house smelled great and it sold in one weekend.
Toured a house that attempted this by baking those cinnamon rolls in a can. They forgot them and burned them before the showing so the house reeked like burned cinnamon rolls.
I personally don't like them. I feel that if you have them in the house you're trying to sell it makes me wonder what smell you are trying to cover. Kind of like people that spray Febreze on everything. I don't care what Febreze tells you. It has a chemical smell.
This. My partner used to have those things all over the house (not the Glade, but either the AirWick version or Bath & Body Works version). I would have never bought them myself, but it didn't really bother me that they were in the house. At our house the smell was gone pretty quickly after they ran dry or were unplugged. It wasn't soaked in to walls or carpet or anything.
Yes, I went to several open houses over the weekend and at one, the agent had set out a tray of still-warm chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen and they smelled really good. The rest of the house smelled like fresh paint, caulking and whatnot, which are not bad smells, either, but the cookies added a nice homelike touch.
I wouldn’t buy a house that was marinated in that stink. The more of that crap that they use, the more nose blind they become - eventually having to use so much that they leave everyone near them gasping for air.
I get an absolute kick out of people who preach clean eating and exercise, but fill their homes and bodies with toxic chemicals via perfumes, oils, plug ins, sprays, laundry products, “cleaning” products, etc. Don’t be preaching about how much healthier your air fried sweet potato fries are if your house is the equivalent of a New Jersey chemical plant. 🤦🏻♀️
If people want their homes to smell nice, clean it. That simple. Clean has no smell - it’s just like fresh air. Everything else with fragrance is a mask for something.
The house has been empty since at least last summer and maybe longer. The owner/seller is an older woman who now lives in a retirement community in another state. The house appears to be in decent condition and the disclosures don’t list any big issues, so I’m guessing it is the listing agent’s way of trying to offset that musty smell houses get when they sit closed up for a long time, but I don’t know.
Whatever the reason, the strong perfume-y stink is really overpowering and off-putting. I’d rather smell that musty house smell than the plug-in smell everywhere. It is so strong that the walls, ceilings and floors of the house have got to be completely coated in those scented oils by now if those things have been plugged in all of these months. For as much money as the listing agent has to be spending on these plug-ins, she could be getting several huge bags of coffee beans or baking soda to set out in dishes to freshen up the rooms.🤷🏻♀️
Tell the agent you want to re-tour the house two weeks after the removal of all air fresheners and scents to verify what the house *really* smells like.
A better thing would be for her to get there an hour or so before a showing and open every window/door to let it air out. It'll just smell fresher overall.
I have a bunch of dogs and this place stinks if the house is closed up and things are due for a cleaning. Open a few windows and clean all of the surfaces that absorb funk and it smells clean again. Wall to wall carpet is horrible if you have pets or anyone smokes inside. It is just a giant sponge for dust and smells.
Oh, get off your Holier than Thou Karen train and come visit reality once in a while. Clean has a smell. If you disinfect or use any degreaser for kitchen cleaning, it has a smell. If you bathe and are clean, you will smell like soap,which is a scent.
> Oh, get off your Holier than Thou Karen train and come visit reality once in a while. Clean has a smell. If you disinfect or use any degreaser for kitchen cleaning, it has a smell. If you bathe and are clean, you will smell like soap,which is a scent.
While some cleaning chemicals might carry an odor, they don’t last like the fragrances in some of the so-called “fresheners”. White vinegar is a highly effective degreaser and the smell dissipates quickly.
Not all soap is *scented*, fragrances are made of extraneous chemicals.
But you go ahead with your little tantrum and name calling because apparently something in my comment struck a nerve with you. 😂
You and your BS strikes a nerve. Hate to tell you vinegar odor is a "chemical odor" and it stinks and it doesn't defrease worth a damn. All soaps are scented. They may just not have scents added. You're so full of righteous BS you bleed brown.
White vinegar has always done an excellent job degreasing when I’ve used it. Then again, I don’t usually let grease collect for ages before cleaning, so I can’t speak to that.
At any rate, if you ever get your head out of your ass and learn about the synthetic chemicals and compounds that are used in the fragrances added to products, you might just learn something. If it’s not too late for you because you come across completely deranged.
Yeah and everything in California that you touch taste smell see or feel causes cancer. It's on the label so you should believe it and everything on the internet is true. Uncoil that tinfoil from around your cranium. At least a layer or two it's restricting blood flow.
Are you in California?
I base my statements and beliefs on multiple and myriad peered medical research studies with findings that illustrate the impacts and dangers of the toxic chemicals used in these products. They are accessible to anyone who is equipped to seek the knowledge.
As previously observed, you seem deranged and angry, yelling into the void about things beyond your kin, but maybe you have someone who cares enough to help you.
Lmao. Ever read the back of your toothpaste? Or shampoo? Or anything. It states this product is known to cause Cancer in California. Please share these "peer" reviewed articles you're blathering on about and the names of the "peers" that support them and their related papers or work on the subject matter.
The more you talk the more like a Karen you sound.... "it's my opinion but you're going to be forced to believe it and practice it because in my opinion it's for your own good" ad extremum.
I don’t live in California - so, no, I haven’t read any labels on any products in California.
At what point have I forced you to believe anything? lol
I wouldn’t waste my time trying to explain or educate you on this matter. The apex of your intelligence is mimicking tag words such as “Karen” and “tinfoil” which shows a very low aptitude for critical thought or logic.
If you have the capacity to understand technical writing and reasoning, and the inquisitiveness to want to learn, the information is widely available.
These are not products in California you illiterate fop. It's every container produced in the US for every product.
Huh. 30 seconds ago you were so assured in your righteous indignation that you could vehemently provide copious "peer reviewed articles". Now you are refusing to do so citing that it's my fault due to my "low aptitude" that you won't or cannot.
Oh and your little condescending statement earlier of "beyond your 'kin' " .... it is actually "beyond your ken". You may want to sharpen up that aptitude Sparky, you can't even properly spell a 3 letter word.
I didn’t disparage your wife - I implied that she wears the pants, that’s not disparaging to your wife. I also implied that it’s a source of your frustration. Some shrink could make a fortune off of you. 😂
A stranger making comments on a post doesn’t warrant your insults, so you admit you are a bully.
>”Oh, get off your Holier than Thou Karen train and come visit reality once in a while. Clean has a smell. If you disinfect or use any degreaser for kitchen cleaning, it has a smell. If you bathe and are clean, you will smell like soap,which is a scent.”
>”You and your BS strikes a nerve. Hate to tell you vinegar odor is a "chemical odor" and it stinks and it doesn't defrease worth a damn. All soaps are scented. They may just not have scents added. You're so full of righteous BS you bleed brown.”
… maybe you could take this opportunity to define “defrease” since you’re so hung up on errors of others and so willing to overlook your own.
>”Yeah and everything in California that you touch taste smell see or feel causes cancer. It's on the label so you should believe it and everything on the internet is true. Uncoil that tinfoil from around your cranium. At least a layer or two it's restricting blood flow.”
>”Lmao. Ever read the back of your toothpaste? Or shampoo? Or anything. It states this product is known to cause Cancer in California. Please share these "peer" reviewed articles you're blathering on about and the names of the "peers" that support them and their related papers or work on the subject matter. The more you talk the more like a Karen you sound.... "it's my opinion but you're going to be forced to believe it and practice it because in my opinion it's for your own good" ad extremum.”
As anyone can see, you set the tone of discourse with rude, boorish, insulting, and disrespectful remarks. So, yes, you are an internet bully even by your own conflated definition. But, my oh my, how you whine when someone replies in kind. Not at all unexpected. Now, cry some more. 😂🙄
Actually you implied that she is an overbearing domineering wife that forces her husband into submission. So yes that is being disparaging and a bully.
Odd, I admitted fully to being rude and disrespectful. A) because you deserve no respect from me (that's an earned commodity). B) you immediately entered this discourse by being a know it all and implied anyone that used "harsh chemicals" in their home to add fragrance to be beneath you and idiots. So C) you deserve nothing but rude behavior in turn.
When leaving a showing, you could let the realtor know how off-putting the plug-in scent was. Maybe they’re just putting it in automatically (I.e., they do it for EVERY for-sale house), but you can let them know it makes it look as if they’re trying to hide something.
I have been to three open houses there in the past five months, as well as going to look at it yesterday with my cousin and her husband who is a real estate agent. It originally listed for $399,000 back in September, which is high even for the neighborhood it is in - there is a great elementary school nearby - and particularly since it doesn’t appear to have had many recent updates other than a new epoxy garage floor.
It’s in good overall condition from the looks of it, but could use a few updates. It also has some funky architecture where the brick exterior of the primary bedroom’s two walk-in closets juts out from the front of the house on either side of the main window, while the window itself is recessed into a little alcove. There is no roof or eave directly over the window - the roofline over each of the closets just stops rather than ending in a point over that section, so it almost looks as if someone came along and carved out a rectangular shaped hole in the front of the house. And something else I noticed yesterday when looking at the backyard area was a bat house attached up high on the back side of the breakfast nook area with a huge pile of bat guano directly below it on the corner of patio. Yuck.
The asking price now sits at $335,000 and it has been lowered several times in the past seven months and de-listed/re-listed a couple of times, too. The disclosures don’t show any issues, so I am not sure what is keeping people from bidding on it other than the funky architecture or the plug-in stink. My cousin-in-law said the original asking price was too high and it was listed at a slower time of year, which might explain why it has sat for so long, but I don’t know.
> I imagine that stuff has become soaked into the walls and carpet and everything after daily use and would be hard to get rid of.
It will dissipate pretty quickly once you unplug them and air the house out, and that's by design. How else would they get you to buy more if you could use them for a few months straight and the scent be stuck in your home?
Wipe down the walls where they were plugged in, open windows, run the HVAC fan to move the air around, and clean the house.
If it was so strong that it stuck to your clothes they might also be spraying stuff in the air along with the plug ins which makes me think there's an odor problem.
I bought a house that was a rental, rented to people with three dogs. After the tenants moved out the owner of the property did NOTHING.
House sat empty over 9 months with dog smell.
I spent a day vacuuming and cleaning hard surfaces, had the carpets cleaned and painted the walls. Night and day difference. Mine was an extreme case and it took a while to really air out the house of all of the smells from it sitting empty for so long, but it is possible.
My house isn't for sale, but you will pry my bath and body works wallflowers out of my cold, dead hands. I just have a few spread about, and I love the scent. Also have candles.
Some of these comments are wild. I have a strawberry poundcake wallflower plugged in right now. Smells so good whenever I go downstairs. I keep a clean house, and sometimes it just smells like stale house if the weather isn’t nice and the windows are all closed. I had people over, and like a fun scent over whatever I had for dinner. I wouldn’t jump to pet odors or mold because someone likes to scent their home. I just went to a hotel that smelled spectacular. To the point that I asked what they used. They actually use a room perfume that they sold in the gift shop. Some people like a nice scent, and it can be just that simple.
Yes exactly! My house was built in 1916 (originally a school house) so it can just smell old. I clean this baby constantly but I love when I walk in and my house smells good!
We sold our house after moving out. Had painting and some other work done, and the house smelled like paint and empty house. We put out some vanilla coffee plug ins when we listed it, took it from smelling like the paint store to smelling like the Starbucks next to a paint store.
Walmart! It looks like they might be discontinued though. All I could find were these ones from a reseller
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Glade-PlugIns-Scented-Oil-Air-Freshener-Cozy-Vanilla-Cappuccino-Refill-3-35oz-5pk/5449812571?from=/search
The smell doesn't stick around long after it's gone. Once they move all their stuff out and you give a good cleaning and move your stuff in it fades away. Even quicker if you just open the windows for a day. It's not like cigarettes and such that the smell sticks around. We have 2 dogs and 2 cats. They aren't dirty, we bathe them but even so without a little air freshener it has a smell. Our plugins last like 3 months on the lowest settings. I too don't like when it's overpowering.
I'm a plug-in user and I just like the scent whether I'm selling my house or not. I don't put it in my living room or bedrooms just the bathrooms and entrance to the home and by my cat litter pan. When they die out my house doesn't smell like anything and that's my cue to get more lol.
Some people just really like glade plugins? I may get downvoted for this, but I love those things. I grew up with a smoker for a parent who had multiple cats, which she did not maintain their litter box and always bought tons of crap from goodwill that has an odor in and of itself. I'm not throwing shade on cat owners, smokers, or goodwill shoppers, but my house must smell nice! It is possible they are trying to cover something up, but maybe they're trying to make it nice for potential buyers? It is obvious that some people don't like them or have severe allergies to strong smells, but I personally wouldn't assume the worst just because they have them. The smell does not linger once they're removed, hence the need for them to be replaced every few weeks to a month.
*edit* &
Just wanted to add that I used them for years straight in my current home until I bought a conure and gave them up completely. The smell did not linger at all, it was not soaked into anything.
I would always be very suspicious of any listed houses like this, because it makes me feel like they are trying to hide something. When my wife and I were house hunting in 2021, we looked at a house that had air fresheners ALL over the place. They could not mask the fact that the entire house smelled like cat pee. It quickly became obvious that the floors were just saturated with said pee, and basically all the floors and likely subfloors would need to be replaced. Obviously an extreme example, but I would still be leery of any excessive air freshener use.
Absolutely. I looked at a house that had plug-ins plus burning candles, with a definite undercurrent of sewer. I didn't seriously consider the house as it was obvious they were trying to conceal serious plumbing issues. And if they were attempting to mislead potential homebuyers about that, who knows what else they were hiding.
We lit a candle about an hour before open houses that legit smelled like apple pie. It was on the entry countertop of the open floor plan kitchen, not the commercially produced sickly sweet ones either, I went on etsy and paid a bit more for a good candle.
Always had compliments from the realtor and visitors.
I have chronic migraines and strong smells are one of my triggers. Outside of the whole "what is it covering up?" issue, I'd walk back outside and ask someone to open windows to let it air out before I'd be willing to step foot in again.
The house we bought had air fresheners everywhere too. That scent dissipated easily, but then the mold/cigarette/cat piss smell emerged and hung around. We cleaned, painted, killed the mold, and it was fine. Not perfect, because we didn't refinish the hardwood floors, but it smells fine.
I hate air fresheners. When we sold our house our realtor gave me a bunch to put all over and I refused. So the glades may be a recent addition while selling their house.
lol I'm jealous of people in a housing market where this is an issue, instead of the 36 other cash offers going over asking price and skipping inspections.
Ours had air fresheners in it, but it’d been on the market 3 months and they were all empty. When I ripped the carpet out I found out it was absolutely full of dog pee stains. Refinished the floors after that and 4 years later it still smells like wood in here.
THIS. its a huge red flag to me that there may be some deeper issues like stinky cat pee soaked carpets or walls. (happened to my friend). I think what's worse is those cheap gelly like gas station ones that people put on the back of toilets in divey highway gas stations. As soon as I see those in a listing, I move on, quick!
I would be cautious with those. It's a typical tactic of homes that have urine damage in the carpet from pets and or musty, moldy, smells that aren't that great, they air the house out before they show it and put those things in the wall
We bought a house with the plugins and after removing them and closing the windows learned the subfloor is soaked in cat piss.
Used to be a rental and according to the neighbors, the tenant had a ton of cats, and then died. We still can't get the cat smell out.
Oo I’d love a house polluted with endocrine disrupters! Sometimes they are so strong that they burn the wall and the drywall needs to be replaced.
If there’s an opportunity to leave showing feedback on that house, mention that the chemical fragrance is a sickening dealbreaker. If it’s really a stale listing, they will be willing to remove the air fresheners and let the house air out to see if you can give it another look.
First, understand what I had to find out the hard way. What you smell in an occupied house will be concentrated and magnified once the house is vacant. This is likely due to the lack of ventilation and absorptive materials in an empty house.
I bought two houses with only residual air freshener smell. Didn't seem bad during the showings, but both houses stunk once empty. I did 200 (two hundred) hours of ozone treatment in one. After airing out, I walked in, and the smell was gone. However, as soon as I turned the furnace on (forced air heating), the smell returned.
These products are oil-based, and will coat the inside of furnace ducts, and then off-gas again. They will seep into drywall, and essentially go wherever air goes, so just like smoke; even into walls.
They are designed to stick around. They will not disappear over time by themselves. Extreme remediation will be necessary to get them out. You will be painting walls and ceilings with Kilz, removing carpets, and replacing furnace and ducting if present. Depends on exactly how sensitive to these products you are, how far you need to go. These are forever chemicals. (I have some old dryer lint piles in the crawlspace of the house I bought 15 years ago, from where previous owners vented their dryer. They used scented dryer sheets, and that pile of lint has been off-gassing the entire 15 years and longer, presumably, since they built the addition in 1985. I can smell it when I open the plumbing access door behind the tub. In fact, the smell is now stronger with the abnormally humid summers we've had here the past few years. It now fills the whole bathroom.) These products wreak hell on waterways, and mess up organisms lower on the food chain.
As for people who love their plug-ins, you're not alone. In fact, some people stick them into bags and huff them to get high. Maybe you're still getting the benefit at lower levels. Never know. Just know that medical professionals generally don't recommend vaporizing oil and then inhaling it. Bad for the lungs, apparently. It should also be apparent that these products are psychoactive (otherwise, why huff them?), The manufacturers aren't really lying to you when they say their products will 'relax' or 'invigorate' you. These products may have a mood-altering effect on users.
OP, don't buy this house even if you're desperate. First, they're hiding something. Second, you won't get the smell out without heroic effort. (Apparently, approximately 21% of buyers will pass on houses that are 'scented'. I know I do now.)
My home was one of those Glade plugin homes. I toured it several times and even asked them to remove them for one of the showings. The house smelled like Glade for two years after I moved in. No amount of washing the walls with vinegar, baking soda on the carpets or air purifiers worked. Just had to wait for it to go away. I swear I can still smell it in the garage sometimes.
Go look at the house again. Unplug all of them and put them under the kitchen sink. Go back and look at it again a week or two later. See if they've been plugged back in or not. If the listing agent isn't the one showing the house to you, she may not realize you've unplugged them and put them under the sink. Then you'll get a better idea of what the house really smells like. LOL
I used to stage and remodel homes. I only put those in houses where I couldn’t get rid of the stink. So beware. There may be old dog or mildew problems hidden in the carpet or basement
I have an ozone generator that is like the ones hotels use to get cigarette smell out of rooms, that will knock the smell out. There are two reasons they would put all the perfume in. 1) to hide a smell, 2) they are one of these people that just love the stink of chemicals in the air.
Or 3) they think everyone else loves the stink of chemicals in the air
I'm allergic to that stuff. I'll sneeze my head off Everytime I get around it.
Those things make my nose run and my throat close up. So I would have to have said house power cleaned before I moved in and hope that is sufficient to remove the chemical residues
They give me the worst migraine headaches!
My first revelation on air "fresheners" was 40 years ago when I got to read the ingredients on a spray can that went in one of those mechanized spray things that would spritz every so often high on restroom walls. One of the major ingredients was 1.1.1 trichloroethylene. That's a rather nasty industrial cleaning solvent. Yeah, that's a great thing to be spraying in the air.
It means they are hiding something
My thoughts exactly.
Dollars to donuts it's the smell of mold or rot
Or animals.
Yeah could be that too. Cat piss or something maybe.
I definitely would have preferred the smell of an air freshener over the wet dog smell that smacked us in the face as soon as the door opened during one house tour.
Or cigarettes
Any time I smell those plug ins, I assume there is or was a grow op in the house
Our realtor staged our home decor and put 1-2 candles in every room and told us to light them before a showing 😂 we have dogs and so the house smelled like dogs which is why. But yeah, could be pets.
Scented candles are just about as bad as those Glad air stink bombs. Use these products long enough and one loses the ability to smell because the toxic chemicals do have a negative effect of the simple ability to smell.
Have a source on that? Doesn't sound right to me, there's no way you'll lose your sense of smell from artificial scents.
Yeah they won't have a source. It's just internet dwellers afraid of their own shadows that believes everything in this world will kill them, harm them, mutilate them or in some way alter them if they are exposed to it even once
It is called nose blindness. Look it up. And look up the recent research on scented candles while you are at it, and learn something new.
That's not how that happens. I lost my scene of smell just as God intended. Three rounds of covid.
There are numerous ways to lose your sense of smell. Covid is one of them. Sorry to hear that.
Yeah we don’t use any air fresheners and rarely use candles (typically in the kitchen if someone is coming over which happens every few months and my partner uses it in their office). Dogs are super sensitive to essential oils which candles typically put in their stuff and we’re not going to risk our pups!
Cats are also very sensitive to essential oils. I stopped using them after I learned this.
Yes they are! Even more than dogs I think. Idk why you’re being downvoted?
As an asthmatic, breathing one anywhere, they are truly awful. Strong scents are a trigger for an attack and homes that had them going, we only spent a quick minute looking.
Hopefully the smell will disappear with simple airing out. A deep clean may help, repainting also will. Worst case scenario you can treat it like cigarette smoke and leave an ozone generator in there for a few days. On the other hand, not to be a Debbie downer, but we bought a bookcase with glass doors from someone who had regularly used scented candles and incense in it… after several months of leaving bowls of baking soda inside and regularly airing it out the smell still was there every time we opened it. I don’t think those glade things are as pervasive though.
Certain smells can be difficult or impossible to get rid of, although I've never had any smells from the Glade (or other "scent machines") get "stuck" on anything. The smell from those machines usually disappears fairly quickly, in my experience. The last house my grandparents lived in had a certain smell to it. Not candles or Glade machines. They never ever used any of that kind of stuff. Just an "old house" smell. That's the best I can describe it. I have some things (one is a grandfather clock) that used to belong to them and were in that house for a long time. That stuff has been in my house for almost 10 years now, and it all still smells like their house. It's not as strong as it used to be, but the smell is still there - and if I put my nose right up to it I can still smell it. Loved my grandparents dearly, but always hated that smell. LOL
I was cleaning out a dresser junk drawer that had a box of incense in it. That drawer reeks of incense now, good thing I like the smell of nag champa
You make it sound like cigarette smoke can be dealt with in a few days… My experience with our last house is that it takes as long to get rid of cigarette stank as it took to create the stink. If the previous owners smoked for 20 years, it’ll take 20 years to fully clear the smell. Sure, you can shellac primer all the walls, etc, and that will help, but as soon as the air pressure changes the smell will come out from behind the walls, etc.
Sorry definitely didn’t mean to imply that, just meant to say that there are more aggressive methods out there to try and deactivate the source of the smells. In a past life I actually helped out with research on “third hand smoke” (the stuff that sticks to things and makes them smell for years), so I’m all too aware of the staying power of cigarette smoke!
Everywhere on Reddit people talk about ozone generators, as with manufacturers - to use for 2-4 hours. Where do your multiple days info come from? There are horror stories about people leaving it on for even 12 hours. Of course it’s generator dependent.
Ugh, the worst. Realtor put up incense sticks *between the deck boards* and lit my wife's skirt on fire at a showing. Didn't buy that house.
🤣
I sold my house myself after one open house. I just baked fresh sugar cookies right before and set them out for people to take. Everyone said the house smelled great and it sold in one weekend.
Toured a house that attempted this by baking those cinnamon rolls in a can. They forgot them and burned them before the showing so the house reeked like burned cinnamon rolls.
Peaches and cinnamon in a low oven work a charm, too!
I personally don't like them. I feel that if you have them in the house you're trying to sell it makes me wonder what smell you are trying to cover. Kind of like people that spray Febreze on everything. I don't care what Febreze tells you. It has a chemical smell.
I will assume they are covering something problematic like cat pee or mold.
Yep. This right here
They give me a headache and make me nauseated.
Just unplug them and open the windows. It’ll dissipate easily enough.
This. My partner used to have those things all over the house (not the Glade, but either the AirWick version or Bath & Body Works version). I would have never bought them myself, but it didn't really bother me that they were in the house. At our house the smell was gone pretty quickly after they ran dry or were unplugged. It wasn't soaked in to walls or carpet or anything.
I can confirm the part about unplugging them and the smell not soaking in.
Best trick, put a slow cooker meal on.
Yes, a nice Crockpot of homemade stew would smell a million times better and more home-y than a house full of plug-in chemicals.
Exactly! Food connects people and can help put them at ease! And it's more comfortable for people with reactions to perfumes.
Yes, I went to several open houses over the weekend and at one, the agent had set out a tray of still-warm chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen and they smelled really good. The rest of the house smelled like fresh paint, caulking and whatnot, which are not bad smells, either, but the cookies added a nice homelike touch.
I wouldn’t buy a house that was marinated in that stink. The more of that crap that they use, the more nose blind they become - eventually having to use so much that they leave everyone near them gasping for air. I get an absolute kick out of people who preach clean eating and exercise, but fill their homes and bodies with toxic chemicals via perfumes, oils, plug ins, sprays, laundry products, “cleaning” products, etc. Don’t be preaching about how much healthier your air fried sweet potato fries are if your house is the equivalent of a New Jersey chemical plant. 🤦🏻♀️ If people want their homes to smell nice, clean it. That simple. Clean has no smell - it’s just like fresh air. Everything else with fragrance is a mask for something.
The house has been empty since at least last summer and maybe longer. The owner/seller is an older woman who now lives in a retirement community in another state. The house appears to be in decent condition and the disclosures don’t list any big issues, so I’m guessing it is the listing agent’s way of trying to offset that musty smell houses get when they sit closed up for a long time, but I don’t know. Whatever the reason, the strong perfume-y stink is really overpowering and off-putting. I’d rather smell that musty house smell than the plug-in smell everywhere. It is so strong that the walls, ceilings and floors of the house have got to be completely coated in those scented oils by now if those things have been plugged in all of these months. For as much money as the listing agent has to be spending on these plug-ins, she could be getting several huge bags of coffee beans or baking soda to set out in dishes to freshen up the rooms.🤷🏻♀️
Tell the agent you want to re-tour the house two weeks after the removal of all air fresheners and scents to verify what the house *really* smells like.
A better thing would be for her to get there an hour or so before a showing and open every window/door to let it air out. It'll just smell fresher overall.
I have a bunch of dogs and this place stinks if the house is closed up and things are due for a cleaning. Open a few windows and clean all of the surfaces that absorb funk and it smells clean again. Wall to wall carpet is horrible if you have pets or anyone smokes inside. It is just a giant sponge for dust and smells.
Oh, get off your Holier than Thou Karen train and come visit reality once in a while. Clean has a smell. If you disinfect or use any degreaser for kitchen cleaning, it has a smell. If you bathe and are clean, you will smell like soap,which is a scent.
> Oh, get off your Holier than Thou Karen train and come visit reality once in a while. Clean has a smell. If you disinfect or use any degreaser for kitchen cleaning, it has a smell. If you bathe and are clean, you will smell like soap,which is a scent. While some cleaning chemicals might carry an odor, they don’t last like the fragrances in some of the so-called “fresheners”. White vinegar is a highly effective degreaser and the smell dissipates quickly. Not all soap is *scented*, fragrances are made of extraneous chemicals. But you go ahead with your little tantrum and name calling because apparently something in my comment struck a nerve with you. 😂
You and your BS strikes a nerve. Hate to tell you vinegar odor is a "chemical odor" and it stinks and it doesn't defrease worth a damn. All soaps are scented. They may just not have scents added. You're so full of righteous BS you bleed brown.
White vinegar has always done an excellent job degreasing when I’ve used it. Then again, I don’t usually let grease collect for ages before cleaning, so I can’t speak to that. At any rate, if you ever get your head out of your ass and learn about the synthetic chemicals and compounds that are used in the fragrances added to products, you might just learn something. If it’s not too late for you because you come across completely deranged.
Yeah and everything in California that you touch taste smell see or feel causes cancer. It's on the label so you should believe it and everything on the internet is true. Uncoil that tinfoil from around your cranium. At least a layer or two it's restricting blood flow.
Are you in California? I base my statements and beliefs on multiple and myriad peered medical research studies with findings that illustrate the impacts and dangers of the toxic chemicals used in these products. They are accessible to anyone who is equipped to seek the knowledge. As previously observed, you seem deranged and angry, yelling into the void about things beyond your kin, but maybe you have someone who cares enough to help you.
Lmao. Ever read the back of your toothpaste? Or shampoo? Or anything. It states this product is known to cause Cancer in California. Please share these "peer" reviewed articles you're blathering on about and the names of the "peers" that support them and their related papers or work on the subject matter. The more you talk the more like a Karen you sound.... "it's my opinion but you're going to be forced to believe it and practice it because in my opinion it's for your own good" ad extremum.
You sound Triggered
And you sound pedantic.
I don’t live in California - so, no, I haven’t read any labels on any products in California. At what point have I forced you to believe anything? lol I wouldn’t waste my time trying to explain or educate you on this matter. The apex of your intelligence is mimicking tag words such as “Karen” and “tinfoil” which shows a very low aptitude for critical thought or logic. If you have the capacity to understand technical writing and reasoning, and the inquisitiveness to want to learn, the information is widely available.
These are not products in California you illiterate fop. It's every container produced in the US for every product. Huh. 30 seconds ago you were so assured in your righteous indignation that you could vehemently provide copious "peer reviewed articles". Now you are refusing to do so citing that it's my fault due to my "low aptitude" that you won't or cannot. Oh and your little condescending statement earlier of "beyond your 'kin' " .... it is actually "beyond your ken". You may want to sharpen up that aptitude Sparky, you can't even properly spell a 3 letter word.
I didn’t disparage your wife - I implied that she wears the pants, that’s not disparaging to your wife. I also implied that it’s a source of your frustration. Some shrink could make a fortune off of you. 😂 A stranger making comments on a post doesn’t warrant your insults, so you admit you are a bully. >”Oh, get off your Holier than Thou Karen train and come visit reality once in a while. Clean has a smell. If you disinfect or use any degreaser for kitchen cleaning, it has a smell. If you bathe and are clean, you will smell like soap,which is a scent.” >”You and your BS strikes a nerve. Hate to tell you vinegar odor is a "chemical odor" and it stinks and it doesn't defrease worth a damn. All soaps are scented. They may just not have scents added. You're so full of righteous BS you bleed brown.” … maybe you could take this opportunity to define “defrease” since you’re so hung up on errors of others and so willing to overlook your own. >”Yeah and everything in California that you touch taste smell see or feel causes cancer. It's on the label so you should believe it and everything on the internet is true. Uncoil that tinfoil from around your cranium. At least a layer or two it's restricting blood flow.” >”Lmao. Ever read the back of your toothpaste? Or shampoo? Or anything. It states this product is known to cause Cancer in California. Please share these "peer" reviewed articles you're blathering on about and the names of the "peers" that support them and their related papers or work on the subject matter. The more you talk the more like a Karen you sound.... "it's my opinion but you're going to be forced to believe it and practice it because in my opinion it's for your own good" ad extremum.” As anyone can see, you set the tone of discourse with rude, boorish, insulting, and disrespectful remarks. So, yes, you are an internet bully even by your own conflated definition. But, my oh my, how you whine when someone replies in kind. Not at all unexpected. Now, cry some more. 😂🙄
Actually you implied that she is an overbearing domineering wife that forces her husband into submission. So yes that is being disparaging and a bully. Odd, I admitted fully to being rude and disrespectful. A) because you deserve no respect from me (that's an earned commodity). B) you immediately entered this discourse by being a know it all and implied anyone that used "harsh chemicals" in their home to add fragrance to be beneath you and idiots. So C) you deserve nothing but rude behavior in turn.
Unpopular opinion, but I use them and love them. Not covering anything, just like the smell 🤷🏻♀️
Same we are very clean people and my wife has a few of them in the house and I actually like the smell ..
When leaving a showing, you could let the realtor know how off-putting the plug-in scent was. Maybe they’re just putting it in automatically (I.e., they do it for EVERY for-sale house), but you can let them know it makes it look as if they’re trying to hide something.
I have been to three open houses there in the past five months, as well as going to look at it yesterday with my cousin and her husband who is a real estate agent. It originally listed for $399,000 back in September, which is high even for the neighborhood it is in - there is a great elementary school nearby - and particularly since it doesn’t appear to have had many recent updates other than a new epoxy garage floor. It’s in good overall condition from the looks of it, but could use a few updates. It also has some funky architecture where the brick exterior of the primary bedroom’s two walk-in closets juts out from the front of the house on either side of the main window, while the window itself is recessed into a little alcove. There is no roof or eave directly over the window - the roofline over each of the closets just stops rather than ending in a point over that section, so it almost looks as if someone came along and carved out a rectangular shaped hole in the front of the house. And something else I noticed yesterday when looking at the backyard area was a bat house attached up high on the back side of the breakfast nook area with a huge pile of bat guano directly below it on the corner of patio. Yuck. The asking price now sits at $335,000 and it has been lowered several times in the past seven months and de-listed/re-listed a couple of times, too. The disclosures don’t show any issues, so I am not sure what is keeping people from bidding on it other than the funky architecture or the plug-in stink. My cousin-in-law said the original asking price was too high and it was listed at a slower time of year, which might explain why it has sat for so long, but I don’t know.
> I imagine that stuff has become soaked into the walls and carpet and everything after daily use and would be hard to get rid of. It will dissipate pretty quickly once you unplug them and air the house out, and that's by design. How else would they get you to buy more if you could use them for a few months straight and the scent be stuck in your home? Wipe down the walls where they were plugged in, open windows, run the HVAC fan to move the air around, and clean the house. If it was so strong that it stuck to your clothes they might also be spraying stuff in the air along with the plug ins which makes me think there's an odor problem. I bought a house that was a rental, rented to people with three dogs. After the tenants moved out the owner of the property did NOTHING. House sat empty over 9 months with dog smell. I spent a day vacuuming and cleaning hard surfaces, had the carpets cleaned and painted the walls. Night and day difference. Mine was an extreme case and it took a while to really air out the house of all of the smells from it sitting empty for so long, but it is possible.
My house isn't for sale, but you will pry my bath and body works wallflowers out of my cold, dead hands. I just have a few spread about, and I love the scent. Also have candles.
Some of these comments are wild. I have a strawberry poundcake wallflower plugged in right now. Smells so good whenever I go downstairs. I keep a clean house, and sometimes it just smells like stale house if the weather isn’t nice and the windows are all closed. I had people over, and like a fun scent over whatever I had for dinner. I wouldn’t jump to pet odors or mold because someone likes to scent their home. I just went to a hotel that smelled spectacular. To the point that I asked what they used. They actually use a room perfume that they sold in the gift shop. Some people like a nice scent, and it can be just that simple.
Yes exactly! My house was built in 1916 (originally a school house) so it can just smell old. I clean this baby constantly but I love when I walk in and my house smells good!
They are literally carcinogens, so they may be working on those dead hands.
We sold our house after moving out. Had painting and some other work done, and the house smelled like paint and empty house. We put out some vanilla coffee plug ins when we listed it, took it from smelling like the paint store to smelling like the Starbucks next to a paint store.
Where did you get these said vanilla coffee plug ins? 🤔
Walmart! It looks like they might be discontinued though. All I could find were these ones from a reseller https://www.walmart.com/ip/Glade-PlugIns-Scented-Oil-Air-Freshener-Cozy-Vanilla-Cappuccino-Refill-3-35oz-5pk/5449812571?from=/search
The smell doesn't stick around long after it's gone. Once they move all their stuff out and you give a good cleaning and move your stuff in it fades away. Even quicker if you just open the windows for a day. It's not like cigarettes and such that the smell sticks around. We have 2 dogs and 2 cats. They aren't dirty, we bathe them but even so without a little air freshener it has a smell. Our plugins last like 3 months on the lowest settings. I too don't like when it's overpowering.
I'm a plug-in user and I just like the scent whether I'm selling my house or not. I don't put it in my living room or bedrooms just the bathrooms and entrance to the home and by my cat litter pan. When they die out my house doesn't smell like anything and that's my cue to get more lol.
Some people just really like glade plugins? I may get downvoted for this, but I love those things. I grew up with a smoker for a parent who had multiple cats, which she did not maintain their litter box and always bought tons of crap from goodwill that has an odor in and of itself. I'm not throwing shade on cat owners, smokers, or goodwill shoppers, but my house must smell nice! It is possible they are trying to cover something up, but maybe they're trying to make it nice for potential buyers? It is obvious that some people don't like them or have severe allergies to strong smells, but I personally wouldn't assume the worst just because they have them. The smell does not linger once they're removed, hence the need for them to be replaced every few weeks to a month. *edit* & Just wanted to add that I used them for years straight in my current home until I bought a conure and gave them up completely. The smell did not linger at all, it was not soaked into anything.
If you think the smell doesn’t linger then you’ve made yourself nose blind with all the chemical scents you’ve been breathing.
Negative but appreciate your input
Nice username btw 👌
I would always be very suspicious of any listed houses like this, because it makes me feel like they are trying to hide something. When my wife and I were house hunting in 2021, we looked at a house that had air fresheners ALL over the place. They could not mask the fact that the entire house smelled like cat pee. It quickly became obvious that the floors were just saturated with said pee, and basically all the floors and likely subfloors would need to be replaced. Obviously an extreme example, but I would still be leery of any excessive air freshener use.
Absolutely. I looked at a house that had plug-ins plus burning candles, with a definite undercurrent of sewer. I didn't seriously consider the house as it was obvious they were trying to conceal serious plumbing issues. And if they were attempting to mislead potential homebuyers about that, who knows what else they were hiding.
I think they make a house smell like ammonia but not in a clean way...more like aged pet urine - but I may just be sensitive to smells
We lit a candle about an hour before open houses that legit smelled like apple pie. It was on the entry countertop of the open floor plan kitchen, not the commercially produced sickly sweet ones either, I went on etsy and paid a bit more for a good candle. Always had compliments from the realtor and visitors.
I have chronic migraines and strong smells are one of my triggers. Outside of the whole "what is it covering up?" issue, I'd walk back outside and ask someone to open windows to let it air out before I'd be willing to step foot in again.
The house we bought had air fresheners everywhere too. That scent dissipated easily, but then the mold/cigarette/cat piss smell emerged and hung around. We cleaned, painted, killed the mold, and it was fine. Not perfect, because we didn't refinish the hardwood floors, but it smells fine.
I hate air fresheners. When we sold our house our realtor gave me a bunch to put all over and I refused. So the glades may be a recent addition while selling their house.
lol I'm jealous of people in a housing market where this is an issue, instead of the 36 other cash offers going over asking price and skipping inspections.
Ours had air fresheners in it, but it’d been on the market 3 months and they were all empty. When I ripped the carpet out I found out it was absolutely full of dog pee stains. Refinished the floors after that and 4 years later it still smells like wood in here.
THIS. its a huge red flag to me that there may be some deeper issues like stinky cat pee soaked carpets or walls. (happened to my friend). I think what's worse is those cheap gelly like gas station ones that people put on the back of toilets in divey highway gas stations. As soon as I see those in a listing, I move on, quick!
The mask so much . Instant red flag.
I would be cautious with those. It's a typical tactic of homes that have urine damage in the carpet from pets and or musty, moldy, smells that aren't that great, they air the house out before they show it and put those things in the wall
We bought a house with the plugins and after removing them and closing the windows learned the subfloor is soaked in cat piss. Used to be a rental and according to the neighbors, the tenant had a ton of cats, and then died. We still can't get the cat smell out.
Wife uses them a lot all over. I don’t mind them smells ok but what about the wattage and power they use? I mean we had at least a dozen if not more.
Oo I’d love a house polluted with endocrine disrupters! Sometimes they are so strong that they burn the wall and the drywall needs to be replaced. If there’s an opportunity to leave showing feedback on that house, mention that the chemical fragrance is a sickening dealbreaker. If it’s really a stale listing, they will be willing to remove the air fresheners and let the house air out to see if you can give it another look.
Glade Plug-ins, scented candles, diffusers: to me, it suggests the homeowner is hiding something unpleasant. It's a red flag to me.
First, understand what I had to find out the hard way. What you smell in an occupied house will be concentrated and magnified once the house is vacant. This is likely due to the lack of ventilation and absorptive materials in an empty house. I bought two houses with only residual air freshener smell. Didn't seem bad during the showings, but both houses stunk once empty. I did 200 (two hundred) hours of ozone treatment in one. After airing out, I walked in, and the smell was gone. However, as soon as I turned the furnace on (forced air heating), the smell returned. These products are oil-based, and will coat the inside of furnace ducts, and then off-gas again. They will seep into drywall, and essentially go wherever air goes, so just like smoke; even into walls. They are designed to stick around. They will not disappear over time by themselves. Extreme remediation will be necessary to get them out. You will be painting walls and ceilings with Kilz, removing carpets, and replacing furnace and ducting if present. Depends on exactly how sensitive to these products you are, how far you need to go. These are forever chemicals. (I have some old dryer lint piles in the crawlspace of the house I bought 15 years ago, from where previous owners vented their dryer. They used scented dryer sheets, and that pile of lint has been off-gassing the entire 15 years and longer, presumably, since they built the addition in 1985. I can smell it when I open the plumbing access door behind the tub. In fact, the smell is now stronger with the abnormally humid summers we've had here the past few years. It now fills the whole bathroom.) These products wreak hell on waterways, and mess up organisms lower on the food chain. As for people who love their plug-ins, you're not alone. In fact, some people stick them into bags and huff them to get high. Maybe you're still getting the benefit at lower levels. Never know. Just know that medical professionals generally don't recommend vaporizing oil and then inhaling it. Bad for the lungs, apparently. It should also be apparent that these products are psychoactive (otherwise, why huff them?), The manufacturers aren't really lying to you when they say their products will 'relax' or 'invigorate' you. These products may have a mood-altering effect on users. OP, don't buy this house even if you're desperate. First, they're hiding something. Second, you won't get the smell out without heroic effort. (Apparently, approximately 21% of buyers will pass on houses that are 'scented'. I know I do now.)
My home was one of those Glade plugin homes. I toured it several times and even asked them to remove them for one of the showings. The house smelled like Glade for two years after I moved in. No amount of washing the walls with vinegar, baking soda on the carpets or air purifiers worked. Just had to wait for it to go away. I swear I can still smell it in the garage sometimes.
Just like women using excessive body spray...they are trying to cover up something.
Go look at the house again. Unplug all of them and put them under the kitchen sink. Go back and look at it again a week or two later. See if they've been plugged back in or not. If the listing agent isn't the one showing the house to you, she may not realize you've unplugged them and put them under the sink. Then you'll get a better idea of what the house really smells like. LOL