Need help cleaning a smelly odor

[Mickey527]

Ok, not really budget, but if you can come up with an idea make it less than $25 please, I am on a budget.
Ok, I was cleaning up the workroom in my basement. I have tons of junk that got stuffed down there when there was no place else to put it. In that junk was a gallon glass jug of Ammonia. I have no idea what it was bought for originally, it was left from my ex-in laws when I bought the house in 1986.
Well of course, I knocked the jug over and it broke all over the cememt floor. I grabbed a mop and cleaned up what I could but I had to keep running out of the basement because I couldn't breath.
I got most of it but now it stinks like I have 50 cats living in my basement.
I don't have any way to ventilate that room, the windows are nailed shut and covered with plexiglass. The door is over on the other side of the basement with the playroom in between the door and the workroom.
The smell has not come upstairs, but I have to do laundry tomorrow and I don't think I can spend even 10 minutes in that room.

 

[Disneyliscious]

Try covering the area in vinegar or vanilla.

If that dont work.......lay wet newspaper on it for a day or so. Wet newspaper has taken out every bad odor I've ever come across.

 

[dawson5]

it will go away eventually. Did you leave the mop & bucket in there? If so, I would try and take the head off of the mop and wash it. If there is still ammonia on the ground, try sopping it up with towels and throwing them in the washer. Ammonia smell has never stuck when I've used it for cleaning, it does seem to burn your nose though and will mess with your sense of smell for a while (kind of like bleach).

also if you have a box fan, try putting that in the room to dry the floor and move the air around. I don't know if it will go throughout the house but it will dry it.

 

[Melynny]

First of all, Don't mix Bleach with it! that make a dangerous gas! Now this will sound strange, but you could put down some kitty litter to help absorb the smell, Also put some charcoal the kind you bbq with, but not the kind with starter. All of these absorbe odors and moisture. If you are sure you got most of the liquid up, I would also try a bit of baking soda on it too, but just try it in a small section, I'd hate to start a chemical reaction.

good luck!

 

[dfchelbay]

I'd cover the entire spill area in baking soda. Leave it for a few days, just pop in to smell if the amonia odor is still around. Then, when the baking soda has absorbed all of the odor, vacuum up the baking soda and dispose those vacuum contents in the trash outside.

 

[patsal]

Since it is a cement floor, once dry sweep the area. Then try the baking soda or kitty litter as mentioned by previous posters. Give it 24 hours, and then sweep it up. See if anyone has an air purifyer that they can lend you and pop it down there for a day or two.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

Please, OP, get a professional to handle this. Ammonia gas is noxious, caustic and combustible and you just spilled quite a bit of it on a porous surface. If the smell in that room is so strong that it's burning your eyes and lungs to be in there, your body is telling you something. I don't think that a Disney message board group is the correct source for the advice that you're seeking. You might want to contact the chemistry department of a local college for instructions on how to proceed. Even if they can't give you instructions on how to clean it up, they can direct you to someone who can do it properly for you.

 

[SandrA9810]

Well it's very possible some one else has accidently spilled ammonia and had to deal with the very same problem.

I would try kitty litter/absorber.... nothing fancy, just something to help soak up the wet stuff. Baking soda is a good neutralizer. Battery acid once spilled in the back of our van on carpet and we used baking soda to keep the acid from spreading to the rest of the carpet.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

You don't neutralize a base with another base. Sodium bicarbonate is the wrong choice for this chemical spill.

The OP does not say whether this was a bottle of household ammonia or anhydrous ammonia. And it was a large quantity that was spilled in a small, unventilated space on a porous surface. The vapors are strong enough to drive her from the room. She should seek an answer from someone who handles this kind of stuff on a regular basis.

 

[Blue.Fairy2]

Vinegar will neutralize ammonia.

 

[rbork]

If you still have the now "empty container" that the chemical was in, look on the bottle. If it's the original container, it will have contact and spill information. Hopefully you can determine the specific name of the chemical.
Look up the MSDS on-line for clean up help.
I second, be very wary of what chemicals you mix. Also open a window. If it's nailed, un-nail it. That's a fire hazard right there.

 

[Blue.Fairy2]

If you still have the now "empty container" that the chemical was in, look on the bottle. If it's the original container, it will have contact and spill information. Hopefully you can determine the specific name of the chemical.
Look up the MSDS on-line for clean up help.
I second, be very wary of what chemicals you mix. Also open a window. If it's nailed, un-nail it. That's a fire hazard right there.

I agree un nail the windows!

She mentioned the ammonia has been there from the eighties I do not believe spill info was required to be listed then.

 

[rbork]

Perhaps OP can get the complete chemical name from the old container and then look up MSDS.