Landlords Refurb Tips – Know Your Onions

Putting a freshly cut onion in roughly the centre of a room whilst painting and after you have decorated will get rid of the smell of fresh paint a lot quicker. Give it a try, it really does work, not by masking the smell of paint with the smell of onions either. I’m no scientist so I can’t explain how or why this works but somehow the onion will absorb the smells. Apparently fresh cut onions will get rid of the smell of smoke too, both very useful tips for landlords.

You might love the smell of fresh paint, apparently some people do, but most people don’t like it at all, especially those with children or breathing difficulties such as asthma.

You need to have the freshly cut flat side of the onion exposed to the air. The bigger and the juicer the onions the better and change them daily. The smell of paint will usually be gone in just a few days. I’ve also read that you can cut onions into thick slices and place three slices on a place in each room and that works even better. I’ve not tried that yet but I will be using the sliced onion tip during my next refurb project.

When I begun writing this article I also did a bit of Google research and apparently there are many other practical uses for onions too. Onions are not just food, they are a very useful weapon in a landlords armoury to fight grime. Apparently they can also be used to clean off rust and during my research it would appear that several Americans swear by the power of an onion to clean their barbecue grills. Just heat up the grill and rub half an onion, covered with cooking oil over the hot grill bars. I even read one post which suggested that freshly cut onions absorb the flu virus. Very useful if you have had visitors in the house who have been sneezing.

During my investigations I also came across several other products that landlords are using during their refurbishments. Mary Latham recently shared her insights into the power of fizzy cola drinks as a cleaning product here on property118. Apparently there are also many reasons for landlords to acquaint themselves with lemons, vinegar, toothpaste, olive oil, baby oil and several others. Please feel free to add any other suggestions. As a resident of Norfolk I am particularly interested to hear whether there are any magical uses of carrots, turnips and maize for the landlord business.

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