Well my girl friend went on a long vacation to FL to help with her sister with thier sick father and mother. Well when she got bk she found out that she was locked out of her house and her **** husband was cheating on her and devorcing her. Well he took all her belongings along with her beloved cats and her little dog & moved them out to the garage. Well She is back in the house and he is out for good but we have run into a problem of smelly books tons of them, alot of $$$$. They smell like cat and or dog. How can we get rid of the smell and clean them. They are not wet and look clean but for some odd reason they smell? She doesn't want to toss them out!!!!
2007-03-03 13:16:52 · 6 answers · asked by vomo07 2 in Home & Garden ➔ Cleaning & Laundry
First off make sure the books aren't wet if they are they will need to be opened up and weighted down and dried in the sun. For the odors I would suggest sunning them also and then sprinkling baking soda in between the pages, again make sure they aren't wet. Let them sit in a cool dry place for a few days and if they smell do it over and over again. The baking soda should absorb the odor and then just shake it out of the books outdoors. Last resort would be to place them in plastic boxes for storage and use charcoal just prevent the charcoal from marking on the books. I would also suggest contacting your local library or museum to see how they would suggest what to do. I am sure they have wet books from time to time and would know a few tricks also. I would call but it is the weekend. Good luck I hope I have helped
2007-03-03 13:29:05 · answer #1 · answered by Lisa A 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Honestly, I would dispose of them. If this is a situation where God only knows what happened to the books while she was gone, you could spend a lot of time trying to diagnose the smell and solve the problem, but you may never figure it out.
At the same time, this is BAD mojo here. If she keeps the books, she not only deals with the stink but the memory of a crummy husband, every time she looks at them. If she sells them, then the negative energy goes to whatever she spends the money on.
I know this sounds touchy feely and kind of ridiculous. But think of how you are surrounded by memories when you look at things around you. If you want to have GOOD memories, you give yourself things to use and look at that were positive for you, things that were used in love. Not all that was left when you were abandoned by your husband.
Honestly what I would do is put them in the TRASH. Don't even give them away if they are nasty. Throw them out and let your friend start over fresh.
Honestly, I would also encourage your friend to find somewhere else to live as well. This would be very empowering to her.
2007-03-04 00:33:49 · answer #2 · answered by musicimprovedme 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Maybe you could open some pages and gently spray freebreeze on them. I would put the books in the garage until you can solve the problem. You could also put them in a large plastic container with a top and then add a few air freshners (the older pull up glade) and remember to put the top back on so that the deodorizers can work faster!
2007-03-03 21:26:06 · answer #3 · answered by Carol H 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
this is so easy... what you do is open the book up and sprinkle some baby powder in amongst the pages... then close the book and let it sit for a while... a few days later shake the book out and the powder will have absorbed the stench... this works like magic!!! great for old smelly books as well!!!
2007-03-03 22:38:48 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I love to collect old books, the best way to get the smell out is to use fresh dry coffee grounds& news paper, .. Place the news paper in a box, the book and the fresh dry ground coffee, leave it in the box for a few days it works well.
2007-03-03 21:57:48 · answer #5 · answered by 520 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
open them up lay them on the carpet and spray with febreeze, wait 15 min, open to another page and do the same, it will take time but it should help.
2007-03-04 03:50:06 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋