I stupidly rolled up my grandmother's wool braided rug with mothballs in it to get rid of what I thought were moth larvae. Now I can't put the rug back in the house. What do I do to get rid of the odor? anon1947

i placed mothballs in the walls of the house to rid a room of moth infestation (ceilings). are we truly in danger? i smell them a bit but not much. what should i do? dig them out or what?

Thanks to all of you who responded to what to do when my daughters handyman put moth balls in wall of attic to get rid of raccoons. Those are scary items and should be marked with a skull and cross bones. She had to move out of the house with her children. Lesson learned!

I had a terrible moth ball smell problem. I bought St. John clothing and feared moths would attack it. So, I placed multiple moth balls in a wooden chest of drawers with my items.

Well, needless to say, the entire chest of drawers reeked of moth balls, and my clothing was unwearable. The best solution I found was to use a hairdryer to blow dry the clothes and hang them to air out. After a few days the smell was gone. However, avoid getting the garments wet.

I steamed a jacket a week later, and it still had a slight odor. As for the wooden chest, I used Febreze to lightly wet the insides of the drawers and set them out to dry. The smell was gone.

I used all natural herbal sachets in the drawers and it smells wonderful. I hope these techniques will work for you.

Help! Moth balls between the walls in the attic. Four small children breathing the fumes. Dangerous?

My daughter's handyman put lots of moth balls in between the walls of her attic to get rid of racoons that had nested there. Now the entire house smells that way and so does her entire family. Everywhere she goes she takes the smell of moth balls with her. I am concerned for the kids. Will it harm them? What can she do? She can't reach the moth balls. Please help!

hi. I was reading how to get rid of mice. well i know moth balls smell bad, but you know i am so afraid of mice i will leave my home. i mean so afraid i get chills when i go in a room thinking there might be one there. so i think i can live with the smell of moth balls, if it realy works.so i am going to try it -- yeah a truck load. lol.

I found the trick that worked with my hand-me-down furniture. In the end, a thin coat of shellac was the only thing that worked. We tried airing, sanding, vinegar, and bitter tears, but nothing worked. Finally, we sprayed on some shellac and voila! I hope this helps some folks.

I used moth balls in a container on my front porch. I have had this bad smell in my home for 2 years. I finally got this container off my porch. Now the smell is taking a long time to go away. what can I use to get this smell out my home? I will try anything. I have my air on 73 degrees and a candle burning. is there any thing else to try? I wish all you luck with getting this smell away. melissa in sc

Use them in your outside trash cans. they help keep away flies and rodents.

I put mothballs in my (outside)garbage cans in the summer. They helped flies stay away and not lay their maggot eggs and kept any raccoon or any other rodent from wanting to mess with the garbage inside.

Word of advice though: Hold your breath when opening and taking the trash bags out! It stinks to high heaven! Plus, it's not very good for you to ever breathe in the fumes of mothballs.

*Guys-moth balls are toxic.* Nobody should use them. They are what killed your kittens. They are extremely harmful, do not play around with them. Their intended use was for small *sealed* areas so that one does not breathe in the toxins. Use common sense people. You can't just sprinkle them to get rid of pests as you will breathe in the same toxins that *kill* other animals.

It's easy and costs nothing (providing you have a steam iron).

Wash the garment then iron at the relevant setting. The heat from the iron releases the molecule causing the smell. You could also try this on dry clothes with the steam setting.

My advice is to set the ironing table up outdoors. As you see the steam blowing away you know the smell is going with it. Then hang the clothes outside to air. When you are sure they are completely dry, pop them into a plastic bag with some lavender and you will have your formerly unusable clothes back.(the lavender step is optional - or use a cotton wool pad sprayed with your favourite perfume - be creative)

I have just retrieved a bag full of woolen garments this way. I washed the garments then set the iron on wool/steam and was amazed at the instant results. I've just brought my woolens in from the line and there is not a trace of the smell of moth balls. (an hour ago the smell from them was making me sick)

I suppose carpets, curtains and upholstery can be steam cleaned as can vehicle interiors just remember to create as much ventilation and through draught as possible as the steam produced is carrying the smell.

I don't know about using steam on timber furniture. I read a post saying wetting timber only injects the smell further into the object, but maybe a question placed on the woodworking forums might produce a solution.

I agree with the writer who said this stuff should come with a warning and thanks to the Perth (Australia) writer who explained about the 'smell molecule' affected by heat.

Hope you have as much success as I did.

love Margaret

Brisbane Australia

Moth balls fumes are actually very toxic to humans and animals. The fumes can cause red blood cell damage, cancer, kidney and liver damage and more. They are very dangerous especially to children, pregnant women and pets.

I don't know what to suggest to get rid of the odor of moth balls, except maybe an ionizer (you can rent one if you can't afford to buy one from an equipment rental place) or buy an aircleaner.

If anyone knows how to get rid of moth ball smells where I place them around my husband's wool suits, please let me know. Will start using some other type of insect repellent, but need to get rid of the odor! Thanks.

We put mothballs next to our house to repel skunks, but the smell of mothballs is through the entire house. Is this toxic?

I put moth balls crushed into the window well to get rid of a snake. the basement smells of moth balls. I tried to seal the window with tape but still smells. I tried to vacuum up the crushed moth balls with no success. Any suggestions are welcome. can I dilute with water and vinegar or make it worse. DB

I ask my friend about eliminating odors from my carpet. She suggested I spread crushed mothballs on the carpet for a few minutes then vacuum. WHOAAA!

What a mistake. The fumes from the vacuum were awful. I'm sitting in fumes, a tiny apt., can't go to friends or motel. Have drenched my carpet in baking soda, spread newspapers on the floor, running a fan, windows open......*gasp*, *choke*. I drenched the vacuum bag in baking soda - it's in the bathroom with the exhaust turned on. *coff, coff*

We used these thing when I was a child. never remember this smell to be so gassy.

Please....

our neighbor thought he was doing us a favor and threw moth balls under our house to get rid of a skunk. I don't know about the skunk but breathing these moth balls is killing us. My question is, how do we get rid of the smell quickly as we also have 2 kittens that this could be harming.

I use moth balls under my mobile home to repel mice. There are strong fumes in the house. What do you suggest??