How do I keep my great, great aunt's bedroom from smelling so long?
She uses a potty chair in her room, but most of time we change her in bed. We share the same room you can say. My husband put up a false wall with a pocket door so mostly if her bedroom smells, mine will too.
You know what surprises me about this post? Is that ur caring for a great-great Aunt. Where are her womans children, her grandchildren? Why are u the chosen one?
I commend you for taking on this responsibility. I would not expect my girls to care for a great or great-great Aunt.
You need to clean the potty chair really well, bleach and water perhaps. Shower your aunt often and keep her as clean as possible. Even a sponge bath daily is a good idea between showers. Change her clothes daily. And change the sheets often too. Remove dirty soiled clothes from the room. Wash, and then wash some more. And yes, open a window when possible, during the day if it is warmer. Air fresheners only mask odors.
If possible, change the flooring from carpet to some type of hard flooring--laminate or even vinyl. Mom had carpet and when they pulled up part of it--whoooeeee..awful. For one thing, carpet simply doesn't last for 25 years with hard use and steam cleaning, at some point, just makes it worse, actually.
In my daughter's new-to-them home, we put out bowls of charcoal briquettes all over the house. They slowly absorbed the odors. Vinegar can spill, but it also works well.
I'm all for open doors for a length of time each day no matter the weather. Mother's windows were painted shut. And she'd get angry if we 'broke open' the 'seal'. Every time I cleaned (which was not often enough) she'd get mad b/c I insisted on opening the windows.
Vinegar in bowls. My Mom had a blowout. I cleaned with bleach and PinSol the smell would not go away. A friend told me bowls of vinegar. Actually for Moms room it only took a bowl. Within a couple of hours the smell started to disappear. I left it for two days, no smell. You may want to just leave a bowl in her area and one in yours since this is an on-going thing and change them when the smell seems to be coming back. I think I used a cereal bowl.
We do open the windows but not for long. Come winter we won't be able to do that. As one knows with the elderly, can't open the window to long even if it's 70° because comfortable temp for us is probably to cold for them.
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I commend you for taking on this responsibility. I would not expect my girls to care for a great or great-great Aunt.
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In my daughter's new-to-them home, we put out bowls of charcoal briquettes all over the house. They slowly absorbed the odors. Vinegar can spill, but it also works well.
I'm all for open doors for a length of time each day no matter the weather. Mother's windows were painted shut. And she'd get angry if we 'broke open' the 'seal'. Every time I cleaned (which was not often enough) she'd get mad b/c I insisted on opening the windows.