Something Smells Wrong.
You Already Know.
Professional odor removal across Edmond and the OKC metro. No judgment. No sales pitch. Just equipment that finds what your nose gave up on.
It's Been There a While, Hasn't It.
You noticed it weeks ago. Maybe months. At first, you told yourself it was nothing — the house being closed up, the weather changing, something temporary. You cleaned. You opened windows. You tried baking soda, OdoBan, a steam cleaner from the hardware store, and at least two candles you wouldn't normally buy.
It's still there.
Here's what I want you to know before we go any further: you're not the only person dealing with this. I get this call multiple times a week. And the conversation always starts the same way — "This might be nothing, but..."
It's not nothing. But it's also probably not as bad as you've been imagining at 11 PM with your phone in your hand.
You Cleaned Everything. Here's Why It Didn't Work.
The smell isn't on the surfaces you cleaned. That's the frustrating part. You did the right things — the mop, the vinegar, the enzymatic cleaner. Those work on surface contamination. The problem is that odors embed themselves in materials you can't reach with any of those products.
Carpet padding absorbs organic compounds and holds them in a foam matrix that no amount of surface cleaning can penetrate. Drywall is porous enough to absorb volatile organic compounds through paint. HVAC ductwork circulates contaminated air through every room in the house, redepositing odor molecules on surfaces you already cleaned.
Your cleaning wasn't wasted. It handled the top layer. What's left is the part that requires equipment designed specifically for molecular-level deodorization.
There's also a biological factor that nobody tells you about: your olfactory system adapts to persistent stimuli. After prolonged exposure to the same compound, your brain reduces its sensitivity to that specific odor signal. You literally stop smelling it. Not because it got better — because your brain stopped alerting you. That's not a character flaw. That's how noses work.
So when someone walks into your house and their face does that thing — you know the look — it's not that you've failed at cleaning. It's that your nose stopped doing its job, and nobody else's nose got the memo.
How We Track Down a Smell You Can't Find.
Most of what I do on an odor job happens before any equipment gets plugged in. The first step is identification — figuring out what you're smelling and where it's coming from. I show up with moisture meters, UV inspection lights for biological contamination, thermal imaging for hidden moisture behind walls, and a nose that's been professionally calibrated on hundreds of residential inspections.
Once we identify the source, treatment depends entirely on what we find:
Hydroxyl generation breaks down volatile organic compounds through a photocatalytic process that's safe to run in occupied spaces with people, pets, and plants. Unlike ozone — which requires evacuation and can damage rubber, fabric, and electronics — hydroxyl generators work continuously without clearing the house. Most residential treatments run 24 to 72 hours depending on penetration depth.
Thermal fogging forces deodorizing agents deep into porous materials — carpet fibers, upholstery fabric, drywall paper, and insulation batting — by converting them into a penetrating dry vapor. The fog reaches the same crevices and material layers where odor compounds embedded themselves.
Source removal is the step most air freshener strategies skip entirely. If a pet odor has saturated through carpet into the pad and subfloor, the pad comes out. If a deceased animal in a wall cavity is the source, the cavity gets accessed, decontaminated, and sealed. If moisture behind a wall is feeding mold growth that's producing the smell, we address the moisture before we address the odor. Treating the symptom without removing the source is how you end up calling someone twice.
Find It. Treat It. Prove It's Gone.
Step 1: Identify. I walk your house with inspection equipment and a trained nose. You show me where the smell is strongest. Between the two of us and the instruments, we find the source. Sometimes it takes ten minutes. Sometimes it takes pulling up a carpet corner or cutting a small access point in drywall. Either way, we don't guess.
Step 2: Treat. Based on the source, we deploy the right combination of equipment. Hydroxyl generators for airborne compounds. Thermal fogging for embedded materials. Physical removal for contaminated substrates. Most residential odor treatments take one to three days depending on how deep the contamination goes.
Step 3: Verify. When the equipment comes out, your house should smell like nothing. Not like chemicals, not like artificial freshness — like clean air. I verify with post-treatment inspection and airflow testing. If you can still smell it, equipment goes back in. We don't leave until the readings say it's done and your nose agrees.
What's That Smell? We Probably Know.
Pet Odors. Urine, dander, and biological waste that's soaked beyond carpet into padding and subfloor material. The pet isn't the problem — the absorption depth is. We map the contamination with UV inspection, remove compromised padding, treat the subfloor, and eliminate the odor at the molecular level. Your dog didn't do anything wrong. Your carpet pad just wasn't designed for the job.
Mold and Mildew. That musty, damp, earthy smell usually means moisture and biological growth somewhere you can't see. We identify the moisture source, address the growth, and deodorize the affected area. If it turns out to be mold behind a wall, we have a dedicated mold remediation team for that.
Cooking and Grease. Years of cooking without adequate ventilation embeds grease-borne odor compounds in kitchen surfaces, cabinetry, ceiling material, and ductwork. Thermal fogging reaches where kitchen sprays can't.
Deceased Animals. A dead mouse in a wall cavity, a raccoon in an attic, a squirrel in ductwork. The smell tells you something is wrong. The equipment tells me where it is. We access, remove, decontaminate, and seal. The smell is usually gone within 24 hours of source removal.
Mystery Smells. You can't identify it. You can't find it. It comes and goes. This is the most common call we get. The answer is almost always one of three things: hidden moisture, an organic source in an inaccessible space, or an HVAC system recirculating contaminated air from a single source point. We figure out which one.
Mustiness. The "old house smell." Usually a combination of stagnant air, accumulated dust in ductwork, and low-level moisture in building materials. Not dangerous, but not something candles can solve. A combination of deep cleaning, HVAC treatment, and hydroxyl generation changes the baseline air quality permanently.
Smoke and soot from fire damage — including secondary smoke that traveled through HVAC. For heavy smoke cases, I have a dedicated smoke odor removal process.
The Questions Everyone Asks (But Feels Weird About)
admin@4d : ~/faq $ query --id=01 "Why does my house smell even after I've cleaned everything?" ▶ ENTER
Because the smell probably isn't on the surfaces you cleaned. Odors embed themselves in carpet pads, subfloor material, drywall, and HVAC ductwork — places you can't reach with a mop and a candle. We use hydroxyl generators and thermal foggers that penetrate those materials at a molecular level. Your cleaning wasn't wasted — it just couldn't reach what's causing the problem.
admin@4d : ~/faq $ query --id=02 "How much does professional odor removal usually cost?" ▶ ENTER
Most residential odor jobs in the OKC metro run between a few hundred and a couple thousand dollars, depending on the source and how deep it's penetrated. We'll give you the number before we start — not after. No surprises, no "well, we found more damage" escalation. If you send us a photo and describe what you're smelling, we can usually give you a ballpark before we even come out.
admin@4d : ~/faq $ query --id=03 "Can you figure out where the smell is coming from?" ▶ ENTER
That's actually the most important part of the job. We show up with moisture meters, UV lights, thermal cameras, and a nose that's been professionally trained on hundreds of odor inspections. If it's a dead animal in a wall cavity, we find it. If it's pet urine that soaked through the carpet into the subfloor, we map exactly where it is. The equipment doesn't guess — it measures.
admin@4d : ~/faq $ query --id=04 "Is the smell in my house dangerous?" ▶ ENTER
It depends entirely on the source. A musty smell could mean moisture and mold behind a wall — that's a health concern worth investigating. A pet odor embedded in carpet pad is unpleasant but not dangerous. A chemical smell could be anything from a new product off-gassing to something that needs immediate attention. We identify the source first, then tell you exactly what it means for your health and your home. No guessing, no scare tactics.
admin@4d : ~/faq $ query --id=05 "Will air fresheners or candles fix the problem?" ▶ ENTER
No. Air fresheners mask the odor — they don't eliminate it. Think of it like spraying cologne on a gym bag. The bag still smells. You've just added cologne to the situation. Professional deodorization eliminates the odor molecule itself using hydroxyl generation — which breaks down volatile organic compounds — or thermal fogging, which penetrates porous materials and neutralizes at the source. When we're done, your house smells like nothing. Which is exactly what a house should smell like.
admin@4d : ~/faq $ query --id=06 "I've had this smell for months. Is it too late to fix?" ▶ ENTER
No. And you'd be surprised how many people tell us they waited. The truth is, odors don't get harder to remove with time — they just get more embedded. The fix is the same whether it's been three weeks or three months: identify the source, treat the material, neutralize the compounds. If anything, calling now saves money compared to waiting longer. The source of the odor doesn't stop doing whatever it's doing just because you stopped smelling it.
admin@4d : ~/faq $ query --id=07 "Do you judge people's houses?" ▶ ENTER
We once tracked an odor to a raccoon skeleton inside a wall cavity behind a bookshelf. We've extracted carpet pads that weighed twice what they should because of the amount of biological material absorbed. We've defogged homes where the previous occupant smoked indoors for decades and every surface had a yellow-brown film. Your house smells? So did the last five we worked on this month. We don't judge. We measure, we treat, and we eliminate. That's the whole job.
Ready When You Are.
You've been thinking about this long enough. Here's how easy the next step is:
Send us a photo. Whatever you're seeing — stained carpet, discolored drywall, the area where the smell is strongest — snap a picture and text it to us at 405-896-9088. We'll tell you what we think it is and what the next step would be. No obligation. No sales pitch. Just an honest answer from someone who's seen a few hundred of these.
Schedule a free inspection. We'll walk your house, find the source, and give you a scope and a number before anything starts. If it turns out to be something you can handle yourself, we'll tell you that too.
Or just call. 405-896-9088. A human answers. Probably me.
My name is Phil Sheridan. I run 4D Restoration out of Edmond, Oklahoma. I'm IICRC certified. I handle every odor job personally — not a crew, not a subcontractor. Me. Because odor work requires a diagnostic mind, not just a machine operator.
Send Us a Photo. We Respond Same Day.
Whatever you're seeing — snap a picture and text it over. We'll tell you what we think and what the next step is. Free. No pressure.
"They do exactly what they say. So professional!"
— M.R., Norman, OK
"They showed up very quickly, explained everything clearly, took great photos and notes for insurance."
— Brittany Venable