Removing what smells like minty oily pesticides

[Rocky1]

I'm in the process of wrapping up feeding and watering from my balcony and I came home today to a very smelly balcony. The floor of my balcony feels kind of oily and smells of like the minty pesticides that were used in previous buildings where i lived. While I had no notification that anything was getting applied, I can sure smell and feel something. Balcony is made of untreated dry wood. Any idea how I can get this off. Squirrels will be getting this on their feet.

We are in the middle of the worst drought in 20-25 years, so I still feel inclined to put water out, just not sure how I should do this... Brainstorming.

Knowing my first floor neighbors, I suspect that they applied something from Home Depot with a broom while I was gone. Not sure what it is. Knowing their stories in the past, they are likely to claim that they did nothing and that wildlife tracked it up here... I doubt that because there's no footprints and it's evenly applied. So in terms of dealing with them, I am going to try ordering Xfinity Home Monitoring ASAP, and send generic requests to them and my landlord asking that I receive notification prior to anyone entering my unit or going on my balcony. For now, I am thinking that leaving out the part about this crap being applied might serve the wildlife best so they are not drawn into a debate before I am prepared for that.

[Rocky1]

Update: Earlier, I tried wiping the balcony down with a bath towel. I got it wet with hot water, wiped the balcony down, then got paper towels and wiped as much as I could. Later I plan to mop with hot water (only, no soap) and then use a lot of paper towels to get as much of it as possible. I will have to buy a mop for this. Thinking a sponge mop would work well. (I didn't do a great job earlier since I was stuck using one bath towel, which gets tiresome wringing out a full size towel and wetting it & rinsing it in the shower... and limited paper towels. I saw a squirrel on my balcony earlier and he looked fine. I really hope that a bunch of them don't get sick from this. I could try hosing it off later as well.) If you've dealt with something like this before, or know how to deal with this, let me know.

[CritterMom]

Why no soap? Use soap. In fact if you have it, use Dawn. You need soap to cut the oily residue.

[ALittleNutty]

Wondering if they applied something like a wood protector to the wood since it is untreated. It's been a while since I used any so I don't remember what it smells like. If that's the case no amount of soap and water is going to remove it. Maybe just comment that you noticed a smell and were just wondering if they treated the wood to protect it. At least you could find out if that is what it is.

[Rocky1]

Wondering if they applied something like a wood protector to the wood since it is untreated. It's been a while since I used any so I don't remember what it smells like. If that's the case no amount of soap and water is going to remove it. Maybe just comment that you noticed a smell and were just wondering if they treated the wood to protect it. At least you could find out if that is what it is.


It's not as oily as wood protector. That's a good thought, but it's not wood protector as I am familiar with wood protector. I think I got rid of it. It scared me because I wasn't sure how toxic it was or wasn't. And it seemed difficult to remove.

On a lighter note, my balcony use to look like it was made from rotting wood of an old gray color with moss here and there. Since I scrubbed the heck out of it, the wood is wood colored again tan and brown. At this rate, I might even voluntarily paint it with some glaze. That would hopefully make any future applications of oily minty crap easier to clean up. And it would be a good deed on my part to help restore the property.

[ALittleNutty]

It's not as oily as wood protector. That's a good thought, but it's not wood protector as I am familiar with wood protector. I think I got rid of it. It scared me because I wasn't sure how toxic it was or wasn't. And it seemed difficult to remove.

On a lighter note, my balcony use to look like it was made from rotting wood of an old gray color with moss here and there. Since I scrubbed the heck out of it, the wood is wood colored again tan and brown. At this rate, I might even voluntarily paint it with some glaze. That would hopefully make any future applications of oily minty crap easier to clean up. And it would be a good deed on my part to help restore the property.

Well at least you got a clean balcony. :) Probably safer too since that moss can be slippery.