Would you buy a Klean Kanteen that had been smoke damaged?

[laurac5]

...even after it was professionally restored?

I ask because my insurance company has had all of our possessions cleaned after our apartment fire, and the results are pretty good, but my pregnant mama heightened sense of smell says that there's still a faint smell of something vaguely smoky on everything. So we are planning on selling everything if we can't convince the insurance folks to replace it. But of course we're going to sell things honestly, with a disclaimer about how things were smoke damaged and then professionally restored.

So my question is -- does anyone buy natural products that have had smoke exposure, even after they're professionally cleaned? I'm thinking items like the Klean Kanteen, Safe Sippy, and the Arms Reach Co-Sleeper.

Thanks for your opinions!

[KristyDi]

I don't know what they use in professional cleaning of smoke damage, but in general I would be more inclined to buy things that I could wash for myself, especially if they were non-porous. So Kleen Kanteen, maybe. But a mattress, probably not.

ETA Have you tried sunning the items? I had a school issued laptop bag that reeked of cigarette smoke once that I washed then let dry in the sun. I was amazed that the smell disappeared.

[laurac5]

bumping for more responses!

[Katie T]

Hard items like the clean canteen and maybe even safe sippy ( I have never seen one so can't say for sure) I would take cause I could wash them myself.

If the cosleeper could be cleaned really well (like get the smoke smell gone) and buy a new mattress I would buy it cheap. Does the cosleeper have the black soot all over it or did that come out with the professional cleaning?

Our neighbor just had a fire and everything was covered in soot and they spend days scrubbing and airing everything and saved all but couch and pillows and such. When they were taking everything out it was covered in oily looking soot. They were uninsured though.

Sorry to hear about your fire, how scary.

[noobmom]

Nope because Klean Kanteens aren't expensive enough for me to buy used unless it's a great deal (like under $5) and I wouldn't want it to smell. However, I have a super sniffer even when I'm not pregnant (I could smell a gas leak that my DH and the two guys from the gas company couldn't smell...but their detector picked it up).

As for the Arm's Reach and whatnot, I would never put my baby in one that had been smoked damaged, even if it was restored because then I would be worried about the chemicals or process they used.

[laurac5]

Thanks for all of your responses so far!

I wanted to add that we will be trashing the Arm's Reach no matter what... I couldn't sell it to anyone in good conscience after all that smoke exposure. (Even though the cleaning seems to have gotten almost everything out... just too much chance that there's still something there that would harm the baby.)

[Ruthla]

Why not just keep the kleen kanteen as a spare and buy yourself a new one anyway?

honestly, how would you "professionally clean" a metal water bottle anyway? Run it through the dishwasher instead of hand washing it? that doesn't sound too complicated and I could easily do it myself.

I'd probably pick up a kleen kanteen for $1 or $2 at a thrift store if somebody donated it, but I can't imagine going to a garage sale or answering a craigslist ad for a small item like that.

[zebra15]

Because DS and myself have severe asthma the answer is an overwhelming NO.