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Removing smoke stank from a house.

KenV

KenV

What? Me, worry?
Joined
Jul 19, 2021
Member Number
4186
Messages
52
I bought a house. It's five states away so any data here is from my Realtor....lovely place, just what we wanted, but the PO smokes. A lot. Everyone who's been in it noticed the cigarette smell right away, so I assume it's heavy. We plan to paint some areas, but might keep the carpet. What complicates things (or not, no clue here) is that most walls and all floors, everywhere but the bedrooms, are hardwood. One bathroom is wallpapered. Some ceilings are popcorn. So that's what's been smoked on.

I'd google it, but I'd like to hear from people who have dealt with it. I'm equipped to steam clean carpet, strip popcorn (if I have to) and paint walls, but I've never had a place with hardwood. I don't know, maybe I'll end up using 600 gallons of Murphy's Oil Soap and bring a kid or two for some sweet, sweet free labor. They have to pick their rooms anyway, may as well work 'em while they're there. Maybe someone here's used some space-age plug-in device with good outcomes.

My thanks in advance. Have a random downstairs bar pic. Funny, nobody notices smoke down there (looks like the downstairs bedrooms were for kids, so maybe nobody smoked down there):
631e04d9f026b8d0e7a2cl-m1014791873od-w1024_h768_x2.jpg
 
GF and I used to smoke. When we were thinking of selling the realtor said we should get rid of the smell or it would really limit the buyers.

It was spring time so we did the paint and ceiling paint then left the windows open as much as possible. It took a good 6 weeks or so but when we signed papers to sell nobody could smell anything.

I guess I am saying paint and time are your friends.:laughing:
 
I knew someone that bought a house that was previously owned by a heavy smoker. As in the once "white" walls were now a yellowish tan color.

All of the carpets and pads had to be ripped out and replaced.

Every wall was "re-primered" with some sort of sealer (and then painted to preferred color).

All of the ductwork was cleaned and some of the vents were easier to replace than to clean.

No hardwood floors or walls to deal with in that house, so I have no clue with those. Maybe need to sand & refinish?
 
I've not dealt with cigarette smoke, but I have dealt with a building fire.

My only thought is: You're not saving the carpet. Smoke penetrates into absolutely everything and it's likely after all the work you do, you'll still catch a whiff of it now and then unless you've scrubbed or sealed every surface it touched.

Forced air HVAC? It's in the ductwork, got plans to clean or replace that?
 
When I was looking I was a smoker. I walked into a house and smelt it was a smoker house. I loved the house but walked, to get rid of 'that' deep of a smell it is a gut job plus. My mother smoked in the house, I can not tell you how many paint jobs the 'nicotine stain' has leached through over the years.
 
Pull all the carpet and paint or strip the popcorn test or take precautions depending on the year built. Since you have wood walls and wood ceilings I would then use some ozone but be careful to not go over the top. Not sure how to do a house or really big area but I’m sure people on here do. Then if that didn’t work I would look at refinishing the wood. You either need to kill it or seal it in.

Or just always keep wet dogs around or a rags covered in gear oil would work as well.
 
M92PV4U said:
Pick up smoking.
Click to expand...
MPV92whatever.jpg

No.

Thanks, you guys, for everything so far, and keep it coming. I'm taking notes and making a shopping list. FWIW I've done enough drywall that if need be I'd strip/trowel the ceilings. Wife and I are big LVP fans too, so I may do the floors as well.

What I'm trying hard to remedy is the hardwoods and walls in general. I've blocked a lot of crap with KILZ and similar products over the years, but since I haven't physically walked through the place, I'm being extra thorough in my planning. ASSume the worst/Hope for the best and all.

Edit: I didn't consider ducting, but t hat's always accessible. For what I paid I don't mind digging in. Chances are I will be up in there running Cat6 anyway. 🤓
 
I'd pick up a cheap-ish ozone generator on amazon and plop it in a bad room, close the door and let it run for a day when you're not there and see what it does. I was pleasantly surprised how well the little one I got did on a really funky car I flipped.
 
As was said…
Remove carpets, scrape popcorn, clean ducts, repaint everything (use kilz first).
If real hardwood (not laminate) sand and seal. May be able to get by without sanding and just do a good cleaning.
Replace any other fabric (curtains etc.)
Ozone generator definitely won’t hurt.
The wife’s niece and husband went through this a couple of years ago and no trace of smoke smell now.
 
The place I bought had a 12x16 shed the PO hosted domino/poker nights in, it reeked of cheap cigars. Pulled the carpet out, Killz'd the walls and ceiling twice, and repainted. Replaced the window unit that was in there, wasn't any hope of cleaning it well enough. It's been fine the last several years.
 
Looks like I've seen/heard what I need to knock this out. Should get me close at the least.

I'll start with the easiest of course. Duct cleaning/removal aside, sounds like I can handle the place solo if need be.

Many thanks for all the ideas/experiences. Much appreciated.:beer:
 
Previous owner of my house was a heavy smoker inside. I left the windows open nightly for a month prior to moving in, ripped up all the carpet and padding, repainted, and had the ducts cleaned. It took several months to get it completely out, but now you’d never know just how bad it was. If I had to do it again, I’d probably get an ozone generator.
 
I bought a house from a couple that chain smoked. After wiping every surface down with bleach water, painting, and having the carpet steamed the smell finally went away. It took months before I couldn't smell it when the heat/air kicked on
 
I was in the same boat with my current house. Ripped carpet, padding and kilz oil based primer everything. I strongly suggest rolling the kilz. We sprayed it and it definitely took several years off my life.
 
Wipe down walls with vinegar/baking soda mix several times to get rid of most of the nicotine. Paint over with at least 2-3 coats of oil based Kilz or similar. Nicotine will bleed thru the paint in bathrooms after some steamy showers no matter what you do. I would replace the drywall in the bathrooms due to this.


Flooring, light fixtures, outlets/switches, etc will all need replaced.
 
Wash everything with TSP before doing anything. The nicotine is also behind all the cabinets. So have fun with that.
 
I didn't read all of the comments above. A house in my neighborhood was a smokers house since it was new in the 60's. It sold when it was roughly 40 years old. The new owners did the whole prime with special primer, paint, remove all carpet, insulation, hvac, ducts, etc and replace. They could still smell the smoke a little bit and it began getting consistent. They realized on contractor they talked to who gave them the advice that you need to just remove the sheetrock because it has absorbed so much smoke it would always be there was right. They did an ozone and some other stuff to get rid of as much as possible and put it on the market. The new owners ultimately ripped all of the sheetrock out and had it redone. The smell was gone. I think this depends on how heavy the smoking was and how long it was done for. I assume this is worst case, but I would be prepared before spending a bunch of $$ to find out it didn't work.
 
Id see if your realator can set you up with local house cleaners to scrub every square inch, someone to shampoo the carpets, and someone to rent/plop an ozone machine, and get the ducts cleaned before you even step foot in it.

Wether it works or not you will have saved yourself a couple weeks work solo to know what your actually working with and you can check a lot off the list.
 
It sold when it was roughly 40 years old.
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That's true enough. The house I referenced was less than 10 years old. Can't imagine what it would have been like with 4 to 5 times as much smoke contamination. Makes sense the sheetrock would need to be removed, probably would have to "Kilz" the framing before re-sheetrocking as well.

When I was in 8th grade my parents rented a house for a couple of months while looking for a house to buy. The previous renter was apparently an old cat lady. As soon as the windows were closed for any length of time you could smell the cat urine. The owner had replaced the carpet, but cheaped out and didn't replace the pad. Finally, he agreed to replace the pad, when they pulled it back you could see where the urine had stained (soaked into) the concrete. Even after replacing the pad, you could walk across certain parts of the living room (where it was the worst) and smell cat urine. We ended up moving out sooner and just stayed with family a few months until they bought the new house.

Dealing with unwanted odors in a home that has been abused can be frustrating to say the least. Good luck!
 
I'm redoing my mother's kitchen currently and behind the wall cabinets where there was space between them the blackish/gray smoke funneled in was on the wall from her burning candles all the time. So may want to investigate that area as well. And check your bathroom vents and kitchen hood vent to see if they are vented to exterior if not I bet you will get a whiff when the wind blows from the insulation being tarred up around them and air comes back through those useless check flaps.
 
I have no idea how bad it is but I would clean the carpets, wipe down the walls with a cleaner, then try the ozone generator first. If you have to paint and prime use an alcohol based primer, more expensive than kilz but more effective to you will use less and is seals 100%.
 
KenV said:
I bought a house. It's five states away so any data here is from my Realtor....lovely place, just what we wanted, but the PO smokes. A lot. Everyone who's been in it noticed the cigarette smell right away, so I assume it's heavy. We plan to paint some areas, but might keep the carpet. What complicates things (or not, no clue here) is that most walls and all floors, everywhere but the bedrooms, are hardwood. One bathroom is wallpapered. Some ceilings are popcorn. So that's what's been smoked on.

I'd google it, but I'd like to hear from people who have dealt with it. I'm equipped to steam clean carpet, strip popcorn (if I have to) and paint walls, but I've never had a place with hardwood. I don't know, maybe I'll end up using 600 gallons of Murphy's Oil Soap and bring a kid or two for some sweet, sweet free labor. They have to pick their rooms anyway, may as well work 'em while they're there. Maybe someone here's used some space-age plug-in device with good outcomes.

My thanks in advance. Have a random downstairs bar pic. Funny, nobody notices smoke down there (looks like the downstairs bedrooms were for kids, so maybe nobody smoked down there):
631e04d9f026b8d0e7a2cl-m1014791873od-w1024_h768_x2.jpg
Click to expand...
Cool place



i use this


3D23629C-FA39-4D36-860A-33AF8D342D41.png
 
Dad bought a house to rent out that the previous lady smoked in. You could see a perfect outline of every knick-knack, picture frame, and anything else that was hung on the walls, there were 52 in the living area. The master bedroom had a decent white paint directly above the ceiling fan, then a dark brown ring at the edges of the blades that slowly faded as it went out to the tar covered walls, and a small black circle where the ash tray on the night stand was. We ripped up all the flooring in the house and OSB stunk of smoke/nicotine, as you were standing in a room, didn't even need to get your nose down t the floor. Even after leaving windows open and fans running for a few days. The tar would bleed through a couple layers of Kilz in some areas

From my experience, not just the house above:
Pull all flooring and trim pieces.
Wash walls.
Wash all hard surfaces and hope it's enough.
Clean duct work.
Kilz everything that is going to be painted or covered (not just a thin, single layer).
Don't forget doors, outlet/switch covers, windows, lights and fans, cabinets, counters, etc.
After washing everything, you can try to air out or Ozone to get anything lingering.
 
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