Need To Eliminate Mystery Odor that Causes Alergy Like Problems
John,
"Smokey-acidic" - are you the original owner, and can verify no fires, etc? (People don't always tell the truth when they sell a house).
In my own experience, allergen control is a two-part job
1. Using a purifier/ionizer to oxidize odors and electrostatically sweep particulates from the air (like a magnet in a box of loose hardware - clump the micro-particles that normally float on air currents together so they "fall-out", to be swept, vacuumed or filtered by step #2. My experience is with the EcoQuest purifiers, and I like the ones with needle-point ionizers. I don't have a lot of experience on the RCI technology, can't comment on it. New EQ purifiers run ~$700-1000 USD, depending on capacity; you can probably find used units (older models) on eBay or craigslist for much less, but you'll be doing your own service unless you know a dealer or handyman who will do repairs for you. (and this can get pricey in a hurry too).
2. Use an ultra-high-filtration vacuum cleaner (or a whole-house unit that vents outside/downwind from your house) to remove the "fall-out" and embedded dust/dander/other accumulated crud from upholstered furniture and carpeting. I don't know what kind of "carpet cleaning" you used - some systems just pump hot water into the mud and microbes already in the base of the carpet, **** some of it out, but leave a layer of now-moistened crud in the bottom to grow stuff that you may be reacting to. Some use steam, which is better (kills more of the cooties instead of simply re-hydrating them), others use chemical powders to adsorb dirt and then get vacuumed-out. Just understand, unless the size of the dirt being vacuumed is big enough to be strained-out by the filter media, you'll be inhaling it again when it comes out the back of the vacuum-cleaner, so the really-tiny stuff goes through regardless, which is why you want an ionizer that will clump the little stuff together (and increase the effectiveness of your filter media). Having an external (outside the living space) exhaust on the vacuum would be even better, but probably more spendy and less convenient to routine housekeeping.
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Thanks for using Fixya.com,
Jon
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