Dear Tom and Ray,
My father in law was and old time trucker and hauler of fruit and vegetables, and needless to say, the aroma at times was much less than pleasant. Here was his solution that always worked: Put moist used coffee grains over the odorous area and let them sit for a day or two. Then vacuum up the grains, and the odor will be gone. Good Luck!
John Talerico
866 W Oak St
Old Forge, Pa 18518
As a avid listener and reader of the Car Talk propaganda. I read outloud the sorrowfelt talk of the gallon of milk. A waitress blurded out the answer she used on her delema of said kind. It was a ONION! slice the onion like you would for toppings on a hamburger. Put entire slice,or slices over affected area. let set till,the area gets a white crystalized look to it. May take a few days. the smell is lifted by the onion,and the residue is vaccumed up with a sweeper. you may have a onion smell afterwords,but thoes smelly things ya can get at a car parts place will dampen the smell till the onion smell goes away. DON"T use a steamer to clean the area! It will weaken the backing on the carpet. It is a thin rubber back on the carpet. the hot water will deterioriate the integrety of the carpet. Trust me! I did it. Dave U. Elizabethtown PA.
Not sure if this will work on milk, but definitely worth a try. It will remove cat and dog urine smells from carpet and pad, without leaving an additional smell. It’s also much cheaper than any of the “stop stink” products you can buy. Here is the recipe. 2 cups hydrogen peroxide, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 2 drops of dish washing liquid, such as Dawn, etc. Mix in OPEN container or you will get a volcano effect. Sprinkle or spray over the problem area. Do not rub or blot. Let it soak for 24 hours. Then blot any excess away and finish air drying. Vaccum. If smell is not completely gone, I agree that an ozone machine can finish the job, but, this may remove it completely. If not…well, now you have a great recipe for getting rid of pet odors and it’s cheap. Peroxide can be purchased at most Dollar Stores for .50 a bottle. Look for it in the first aid section.
Odors in a vehicle from rain coming in open windows and then the moisture sitting there in a closed hot car are very sour. This has happened to me also with other spilled drinks. The moisture is trying to evaporate and can’t. If this happens in a minor way, remember to at least crack the windows so evaporation can occur. I can’t say that I remember spilled MILK however. My solution for sour odors has always worked, even in a trunk spill. Solution? Newspaper! Lay a few layers over the dash, seats, carpet, etc. Also, wad several newspapers and stuff into cavities. It not only absorbs moisture but also tends to absorb odors. In a really bad situation, change the paper out after a few hours. Again, allow for evaporation by either opening the windows or doors. I discovered this years ago when hiking and backpacking. I would carry some folded newspaper and stuff about 4 wads into my boots. It did great! I do it now after wearing my boots (I am a police officer) all day. It definitely helps with both moisture and odor. With the milk, you may need to try some wet solutions as suggested by other readers (store-bought or vinegar), but I would add the newspaper to assist with the moisture removal. GOOD LUCK!
Hello Guys!
Years ago I worked for a company that made seats for Greyhound and Trailways. The semi trucks that picked them up would come east with a load of dried milk, drop their loads, them come to us for a load back out west. The trucks always stunk from the milk, so to keep the odor out of the cloth fabric seats we would open a can of coffee, sprinkle the grounds in the truck trailer; let it sit for 30 to 45 minutes to soak up all the milk smell, then swept the trailers clean. You might try it on the carpet. Sprinkle it on, let set, then vacuum good. Repeat if necessary. Hope it works.
To eliminate the offensive milk odor go to www.uniquemm.com and search for a retailer in your area to purchase ‘Unique Odor and Stain Eater’ or ‘Unique Pet Odor and Stain Eliminator’ and follow directions on the bottle. Buy the concentrate so you can make a stronger solution. Make sure that plenty of product gets to every location the milk is. This is totally safe for your upholstery! Please send back message of how well product worked. One dealer told us his father-in-law left a watermelon on the seat of his king ranch F250 for a week in the summer and he thought he would have to trash the truck. He used this product and saved his truck!
I would suggest calling in the professionals. Those are the boys and girls at the companies that come in after fire or water damage to a home. I believe ServePro is one of the outfits, but there are more than one. They have the experinece and industral equipment to handle the problem
I work at octopus car wash and when I have a customer with spilled milk we steam clean the area, ususally twice and then we use an ozone generator. They work well for biological odors. The down side is that takes about 8 hours so people have to leave the car for the day. So far we have had 100% suscess.
Jay @ ocopus Car Wash
Dry coffee grounds usually works on about everything. Sprinkle liberally and let set for a couple days. Worked on cat urine and spilled fish meal.
Hello Tom and Ray,
It just so happens that I had about a half gallon of milk spill in the back seat of my brand new SUV. My truck was maybe two weeks old; It still had that great new car smell in it. Yes, I too cried! I took my carpet cleaner to it and thought I got it all, but after about 4 weeks, and warmer weather, I had the most horrible smell in my truck. When I was in my favorite truck accessory store, I happened to mention it to the owner. He had two solutions, one more extreme than the other. I decided to go with the less extreme solution first for two reasons. The first reason being it cost alot less. The second reason was it was much easier. The solution that Ron had for me was to have the truck Ionized overnight. Well, I did, and to this day I have never had that horrible smell in my truck again! So, I suggest that if you have spilled milk, gasoline, manure, cigarette smoke, puke, or any other really bad, long-lasting odor in your vehicle to take it to a place that does cleaning and detailing work. If they have an Ionizer and are willing to do the work, its the least expensive and least invasive way to get rid of odor. I won’t tell you how much I paid, but I will tell you it was less than $60. I did have to drive with the windows down for a couple of days though, because the smell from the ionizer was very strong. It was much more tolerable than the spoiled milk, but intense nonetheless. Good luck!
-Your friend from Wisconsin.
How do you get the vinegar smell out after you use it to neutralize odors?
Pick up a bottle of odor digester. It has active bactieria in it that will “eat” the residual milk and remove the smell. You can get it at your local janitorial supply house. It works and works well. You may need a few treatments, but it will work. We use it at work on our secondary water system in the building whenever there is a leak (smells like vomit) and this stuff works every time. Good Luck!
Some years ago I operated a used car sales facility. Every car that came to use was completely detailed. That included removing the interior for cleaning or at a minimum, removing the seats and carpet. In most cars this is a very easy procedure. Once the carpet or items that require cleaning can be removed from the vehicle, wash it thoroughtly. A small pressure washer with a detergent dispenser works great on carpet. Use a shop-vac to extract as much of the moiture as possible. Afterwards, lay it in the sun to dry or at least in a heated room with a fan blowing on it, making sure that air can circulate underneath. When dry, reinstall. Make sure the interior portion of the car where the carpet was laying is also clean. There is work in this, but it is cheaper than the alternative.
I agree with Hilarski in his/her comment below. Get some Nature’s Micracle(or other similar product) from your local pet supply store. It is meant to clean up and stop the odor from one’s indiscreet tabby. It works by breaking down the odor-causing enzymes. Milk, being laced with enzymes, is also susceptible to this product’s power. I had a similar experience with spilled milk in the rear section of my Jeep Grand Cherokee. Knowing the expected results from an untreated milk spill, I soaked the area in Natues’s Miracle. No odor was ever detected from the milk. Nor was there any staining of the carpet. It should also work even though the area has already dried.
As a pet owner, I would highly recommend one of the many enzyme products marketed for pet stains and odor. Just flood the target area with the enzyme liquid to thoroughly soak the upholstry, carpet, padding, etc. You may need to repeat the process, but this stuff has always worked for me.
Dear Tom and Ray, To solve the problem regarding the spilt milk, all you have to do is, list the car, for a few dollars under blue book value, on E-bay, stating that it’s in mint condition; then, presto, it’s sold! Send the buyer the keys, and where to pick the car up, then move leaving no forwarding address! - Philip
White kitchen vinegar neutralizes odors well – we’ve used it for pet (ahem) stains, baby puke, etc. Put straight vinegar in a spray bottle and go to it. You will probably want to remove the layers in the car and spray them individually. Yes, it will smell like vinegar for a couple of days, but the vinegar odor goes away once it has dried. It’s great stuff: cheap and nontoxic. My other suggestion is to ask Heloise. You could have a joint column!
Iuse kitty litter to sop up odors from mishaps that smell. It is best to use it when the accident is fresh but it might still work on an old odor. Maybe it could be re-dampened. Good luck.
Rent or Buy an Industrial Grade Ozone generator. Many car detail shops have these in house for use in removing Cigar & Cigarette odors among some of the distasteful odors found in autos. The Ozone generator DESTROYS the residual compounds that cause odors such as in Fire restoration, mold, mildew and fungus problems. The process is through Oxidation of the odor causing compounds.
We use this product on an industrial level to remove odors and disinfect linen used in nursing homes that have a very high foul odor. Ozone does leave an aroma just like that found after a thunder storm when outdoors smelling the fresh air.
Long ago when I was dealing with removing various odors from things associated with two small children and along the way with numerous pets I was told to use DRY ground coffee (not used grounds)- sprinkle on DRY surface and leave for a day or so then vacuum thoroughly. Coffee neutralizes just about every odor. Make sure the surface and air is very dry because of the obvious risk of staining.