posted on September 5, 2000 11:06:33 AM new
abacaxi: If you had NINE boxes of non-fiction scholarly hardcovers, AND they had been mis-stored in a smoker's home where they obviously were in a closet much too warm and dry...
Listen, I understand your instructions about INDIVIDUAL books and the kitty litter and the big ol' box...
However, would you care to instruct me what YOU would do if you had a huge batch of books?
posted on September 5, 2000 12:15:17 PM new
I think you're on to something. As an academic myself (although non-smoking), I am often so delighted to find a book I want, smoke odor is not a real deterrent.
Obviously, you should disclose the smoke odor in your description, but you might try selling them that way without going through Hurculean odor-removal procedures . . . us book people are crazy enough to buy them anyway.
What discipline are these books from anyway? . . .
posted on September 5, 2000 12:59:54 PM new
RADH -
Buy LOTS of kitty litter!
You can make a cheap temporary chamber out of a plastic trash bag with a cardboard box for support.
And if you can fan the books open in an airy place (garage, screened porch, ?) for several days it takes MUCH of the curse off.
posted on September 5, 2000 01:54:46 PM new
LOTS of kitty litter??
lol -- now WHERE are alla those dozens FREE $15 pets.com coupon codes NOW, in an *emergency* when I need them.
LOL!
I think, too, abacaxi that getting ridda the cardboard cartons will be at least 30% of the problem -- I do not have your expertise, but it seems to me that the boxes are undergoing DRY ROT.
Some of the books are okay, but a few got foxed pages, pretty bad, I presume from the dry heat.
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brezinaj: IF it takes me YEARS, that's fine, but I ain't gonna compose no auction descriptions that state:
Incidentally, this book STINKS!
LOL
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abacaxi: have you ever tried used olde fashioned BAKING SODA for odor elimination?
...s-o-d-a, soda, soda pop, coke, coca cola, real thing, eBay, IS.
posted on September 5, 2000 07:01:08 PM new
RADH -
Getting rid of the old boxes will help a lot.
I have used baking soda (not powder!) mixed into the kitty litter. If it works on cat pee it will work on anything.
IF you have the freezer space, I have heard that putting the book into a plastic bag, taping it shut and leaving it in the freezer for a couple of weeks gets rid of smells ... I prefer to have ice cream in my freezer, and the books in the litter tank.
posted on September 5, 2000 07:03:08 PM new
fabreeze?...........
every 20 seconds in america a woman is giving birth:SHE MUST BE FOUND AND STOPPED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.................................................................
posted on September 5, 2000 08:44:39 PM new
:::sigh:::
abacaxi: i'm gonna EDIT that one, i canna believe i wrote baking POWDER. lonnnnnnnnG day...
what i think i'm gonna do is to create a "decontamination room" of sorts - simply scrub out a small room in the basement, move on in a bunch of bookshelves, stand the books on end, OPENED up - maybe six to a shelf, (maybe four), ((:::sigh::) and buy about six large bags of kitty litter, and maybe 20 pounds of baking soda.
...wish me lucK.
In so far as fabreze or any of the other fabric softener sheets, LOTS of people have complained about the STENCH of their aroma -- they COVER an odor, they do NOT *remove* the odor.
say, abacaxi..... i do NOT ever recall ANY bookstore owner EVER doing ANYTHING to smelly books -- you notice that, too?
posted on September 5, 2000 08:57:08 PM new
Incidentally, if I had a deep freeze, I'd consider trying out the FREEZE~A~BOOK Method, but I ain't gonna put NO b00k in with food...not even a cookbook, lol.
Incidentally, aren't there ALOT of different chemicals that outgas during the decomposition of a cardboard box over the years - I mean really, it is NOT safe to have old decaying paper goods of ANY type around, right???
