The smell of wood stains can be revolting and intoxicating to some people. However, the application of wood stain on your furniture can help protect your wooden furniture from daily wear and tear, and at the same time improve the beautiful natural wood grain.
So for you to eliminate this awful unrelenting wood stain odor, I have put together a list of methods to help you restore fresh air in the house.
7 Ways to get rid of wood stain smell
So let’s get right into it!.
1. Allowing proper ventilation
Allowing proper ventilation into the room where the wood stain smell is, will help reduce the intensity of the stain odor. You can properly ventilate the room by opening the windows, switching on table fans, exhaust fans, and overhead fans, and using air purifiers.
Ensure adequate ventilation in the recently stained area for at least eight hours. Using air purifiers and fans is a great way of reducing the wood stain smell. Standing fans, ceiling fans, and exhaust fans are great in getting rid of the stain fumes by providing excellent air circulation.
Typically, air purifiers are used to absorb cigarette or fireplace smoke odors, among other house odors. It is an excellent tool to purify the unpleasant odors emitted by the wood stains and restore fresh air.
2. Use coat encapsulating sealer
Applying coat encapsulating sealer is another great option if the ventilation method did not fully work in getting rid of the wood stain smell.
This is a viable option since such sealers do not contain a noxious solvent or harmful chemicals. You are only required to apply one layer of encapsulating sealer before staining your wooden furniture. This can help suppress the stain odor at a significantly meager level or make it nonexistent.
3. Natural Remedies
This method will help reduce the wood stain smell and maybe—just maybe— remove the smell of the wood stain permanently.
These natural materials I will be mentioning are quite easy to find. And even if you don’t have them at home, you don’t have to be worried, they are cheap and available in your local store around you. This method is the easiest and cheapest on this list. So without further ado, let’s get into the natural things to use.
Lemons:
Lemons are quite easy to find. It could be in your kitchen fridge or fruit bowl. But if you happen not to have it at home, it’s fine. You can just go and pick it up and come back to carry out this hack. One thing I love about using lemon as the removal of stain odor is that it’s very easy to use and cheap. The lemon and water combination will help absorb the odors quickly.
How to use:
Grab some lemons from your kitchen fridge or fruit bowl and slice them.
Next, fill a bowl with moderately measured water and put the sliced lemons in the water.
Then, you place it around the painted odorous area and leave it overnight.
Cool tip- you can do this as much as you want till the smell is completely erased. Or you can place so many bowls of the mixture around the affected area.
Charcoal:
Using activated charcoal is a cool way of removing the wood stain smell. It’s a natural remedy and can be used to tackle any difficult stain smell. Activated charcoal is often used in air purifiers, so this makes it a fantastic option to absorb odors quickly. You can purchase this at your local store or pet supply store.
How to use:
- Grab the activated charcoal and place them in small cups or bowls or buckets (the choice is yours), and place them close to the newly painted areas.
- Let it sit for a few hours. But I think leaving it overnight would be better. You can also replace them from time to time until the pungent smell dissipates.
Vinegar:
Using vinegar is another excellent natural option. White vinegar is a better option in this case. This will help eliminate the stain smell. The smell of the vinegar might be sharp but it’s nothing compared to the smell of the wood stain. If you go ahead with this method, after a few hours the smell of the vinegar would fade away, and so will the wood stain.
How to use:
- Pour a little portion of the white vinegar into a container or bowl, and place them around the affected area.
- Change the vinegar portion from time to time to enable proper absorption of the odor.
Baking Soda:
This is a household kitchen staple. A lot of people have this item in their Kitchen because of how useful baking soda can be asides from using it as a baking ingredient. But….just in case you don’t have this at home, you can go ahead to purchase it from your local store. Baking soda helps in filtering air from any contamination and works perfectly well as an absorbent.
How to use:
- Open the box of baking soda and place it close to the place the odor is emanating from.
Tip- please avoid sprinkling it. It could dirty your floor.
4. Remove stain
Removing stains becomes the best option when the others are failing to work. This option is labor-intensive, expensive, and time-consuming. So, I decided to suggest this now because I felt like the other options are easier and cheaper to use.
Regardless of it having these cons, I think you should consider it if you have health problems or a family member who does. Keeping your environment safe should always come first. The cause of wood stain smell could be attributed to its components such as solvent, colorant dye or pigments, and binders.
The solvent is extracted from petroleum products during refinery and when this solvent is mixed with other chemicals, it gives the wood stain durability and strength. However, once the solvent comes in contact with oxygen, they produce harmful and pungent odors.
5. Avoiding wood stain altogether.
Avoiding the wood stain is a great way to prevent wood stain smell. An excellent way to avoid wood stain smell is with Volatile Organic Chemical (VOC).
This emits toxic fumes, so you should opt for water-based or odorless wood stain. They include Low VOC or ultra-low VOC and are also more eco-friendly therefore it is guaranteed not to harm any household member.
6. Staining wood outside.
Another great way to reduce the toxicity of wood stain smell is staining the wood outside. You should stain your wooden furniture outdoors. But this can only work if this furniture is mobile (can be moved). If not, you have no choice but to opt for other methods stated above.
7. Disposing of your wood stain materials.
Make sure you properly dispose of your wood stain materials like the wood stain itself, paintbrushes, or rags used to apply the stain. This will help to lessen the possibility of smelly air filling the house. Instead of tossing these materials into the waste bin in your house, put them in a ziplock bag and dispose of them in the trash can outside.
Lastly, use the appropriate kind of wood stain for interior and exterior projects. This information would be on the wood stain container; so adhere to it.
Just a little help from me, I will be giving you a list of what you will need after reading this article.
- Table fan
- Encapsulating sealer
- Air purifier
- White vinegar
- Lemon
- Activated charcoal
- Baking soda
- Small containers or bowls.
- Respirators
- Ziplock bag
•Water based or odorless wood stain