How to get skunk smell out of your house

So I should probably tell the whole story because it was traumatizing and I still can taste the skunk smell a little, but what's the point if you don't get the whole scoop, right?

Last night I had just put Clementine down for bed when I smelled the skunk. I was thinking, "Great. Someone hit a skunk out by the road. Lovely." But the smell kept getting stronger & stronger. I then started to worry about the dogs. That one of them decided to bother a skunk and then got some on them. Well, I didn't know how right I was. I left the back bedroom and headed for the kitchen (this was only, maybe 60 seconds after I first smelled it) and was accosted by the worst smell IN THE WORLD!!!

You "think" you know what skunk spray smells like, after all you've driven by it on the road, right? You are dead wrong. I mean you are so wrong you don't even KNOW the extent of your wrongness. The smell is worse than anything I could have even dreamed of. Take a mixture of burning rubber, onions, and vomit, then multiply by 100. I was so close to retching I had to leave the area immediately.

So anyway, what apparently happened was Peaches had found a skunk and they exchanged words. Thank the good Lord up above, Clementine had previously closed the door to the laundry/mudroom (see previous post). If she hadn't Peaches could have come inside the rest of the house and we *would* have all been retching. But for the most part the stench was contained to the laundry/mudroom, kitchen, breakfast area, office and dining room. Yes. ALL those rooms were bad and she didn't even go in them. The rest of the house was bad, too, but not AS bad. We managed to make sure she did not come in the house (or garage) again and yes, she slept outside.

We did a few quick internet searches and discovered this "dog cleaning" solution. Mix hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and dish soap in a bucket. We used 16 oz of peroxide, about 1/4 cup of baking soda and 2 tbp of dish soap the first time. We doubled it for her second and third bath. We also used that solution to mop the floor in the laundry/mudroom. That solution breaks up most of the oils in the skunk spray and worked pretty well. I also pretreated Peaches' coat with a spray bottle filled with white vinegar that night. We didn't give her the baths until the next day when we could catch her. She kept running away, so we gave up.

Next take the spray bottle of white vinegar and spray, spray, spray. We sprayed everywhere we thought there might be skunk oil and all surrounding areas. And then kept going. Febreeze also worked well for the air and curtains. We used up a whole bottle. Then today, we used more febreeze and then incorporated Lysol. The Lysol worked great. Also, I put out small bowls of vinegar all throughout the house and left that overnight. That helped absorb some of the smell.

And, here we are 24 hours later. The house is very well aired out and doesn't smell like skunk anymore! Yay!! Every once in a while I catch the faint scent, but it seems to be going away more and more. Peaches still has the aroma and therefore will be spending her days and nights outside for the next week, probably.

Oh, yeah, be sure to wear gloves while doing all this cleaning and washing of dog. We got that tip from here: ‎de-skunk your home along with others and were so glad we did!!