Removing smoke odor secrets?

[gassy]

So the house we're moving to this week has a very heavy cigarette smell. I've Googled the subject so I have some ideas but thought I'd throw it out here since you guys rock. We plan on washing all the walls, cabinets, etc. with vinegar and stuff first. I've seen products like Nok Out online but have never used them. Ideas? TIA

[masraum]

Paint including the ceiling, steam clean the carpets, and replace/clean anything that you can't paint or clean. I'm guessing that's not really what you were looking for.

The problem isn't just the smell, but everything will be covered in a yellow layer of tar.

[Rick Lee]

If it has window treatments, they'll have to be removed too. I don't think you can get the smell out of the carpet. It has to be replaced and the whole place repainted. I've looked at a lot of places that looked great in pictures and smelled like a kennel or ashtray once inside.

Take everything fabric inc carpet and toss it. Seal all walls and ceilings with 2 coats of Kilz or Zinser sealer/primer. Use the alcohol or oil base version - not the water based. Wash all hard surfaces with TSP solution. Seal floor slab or wood substrate with oil base sealer.

[TSNAPCRACKLEPOP]

sorry, i gotta agree with these guys, plus I use simple green on metal surfaces, spic and span solution in spray bottles.

Ive bought xray machines and other stainless and metal equipment from old docs who smoked, and had to completely disassemble to get it all out!!

I no longer buy it if its been smoked on.

[gassy]

Thanks guys--I think I'm in for a bit of a treat...

[crb07]

Also try an ozone machine. We used one after our small house fire, only one room damaged by fire but entire house filled with smoke. Painted entire house and then ozoned entire house. Ozone is dangerous, you can not be in house if it is a powerful machine, which is what you need. No problems in our house. We do not smoke and I am very sensitive to the smoke or any smoke smell and nothing. I think painting and maybe even prioming everything first is key.

[ben parrish]

Wash the walls down with a TSP mixture. Do this prior to painting..you will be amazed how much tar washes off the walls along with the smell.
Ben

[trekkor]

This might work...


Seriously, oil based sealer/primer is the best advice.
I was on a remodel once, the place smelled like a casino.

Like it was mentioned, it has to be oil based.


KT

[GH85Carrera]

It is just amazing how bad cigarette smoke can get into a house. The house we live in was built by smokers. We had to paint the walls, clean the carpets and replace all the curtains. They were here for less than a year. It took us three years to get to the point where we did not smell it on a rainy day.

[afterburn 549]

Vanilla.......add some to the paint

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by ben parrish

Wash the walls down with a TSP mixture. Do this prior to painting..you will be amazed how much tar washes off the walls along with the smell.
Ben

yeah, all fabric, wallpaper has to go

Protect yourself appropriately when doing this sort of cleaning work

[trekkor]

You may have to replace the duct work, too.


KT

[LWJ]

+1 on what Mark Wilson said. I own a rental property that had HEAVY smokers in it for 15 years. The walls ran yellow when I washed them. Three washings. Kilz sealer. New carpet. New fixtures. Bunch of other stuff. Smelled / looked great.

Good luck.
Larry

[speeder]

I've worked on a few places that were smoked in heavily. The key to it, as others have said, is the cleaning before you paint. Even aside from the smell, every can of paint in the world tells you that it needs to be applied to a "clean dry" surface. After years of smoking in a house w/o proper ventilation, there can be quite a coat of greasy tar on all surfaces. It's almost like kitchen grease on an oven hood.

I always use diluted Simple Green, (just a pail of soapy water), with a 3M or similar scrub sponge. Works great. I did some rooms a few years back on a house that had been smoked in for 60+ years by the same person. (Plus maybe her parents). The former owner had lived in it from birth to death, she was an only child and inherited the house from parents who died). It was real bad but had also never had anything done inside so it was mostly original paint from the 1920s. The trim was in amazingly good shape other than smoking stains. Oil paint is the best, especially from the old days. Lasts forever in protected conditions.

Here are a few pics, removed wallpaper and did a lot of plaster repair as well as painting. Repainted all trim in oil, it was like doing the first repaint on an original paint 1928 car.

Before:



After:

[speeder]

Looking at photos now, I think that top "before" pic was taken after trim was washed. Take my word for it though, it had a coat of yellow grease on it.

[red-beard]

I bought an old farm house in Massachusetts in 1992 and the previous owner was a heavy smoker. The downstairs bathroom was so yellow it wasn't funny. I found the the attic some of the original wall paper in rolls. The color was visiably different.

Washed everything with vingar solution. Removed all wall paper. hardwood floors refinished. Kilz on everything. New Wall paper in a lot of places. New paint everywhere else (some rooms were green!). No smell afterwards.

I wonder if I would have even considered a place like that today. In the late 80's and early 90's, somking still took place in the offices, etc. When I divorced in the late 90's, I had to strip when I got home from the clubs, because of the smoke smell. I never remembered that in the college.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by speeder

I've worked on a few places that were smoked in heavily. The key to it, as others have said, is the cleaning before you paint. Even aside from the smell, every can of paint in the world tells you that it needs to be applied to a "clean dry" surface. After years of smoking in a house w/o proper ventilation, there can be quite a coat of greasy tar on all surfaces. It's almost like kitchen grease on an oven hood.

I always use diluted Simple Green, (just a pail of soapy water), with a 3M or similar scrub sponge. Works great. I did some rooms a few years back on a house that had been smoked in for 60+ years by the same person. (Plus maybe her parents). The former owner had lived in it from birth to death, she was an only child and inherited the house from parents who died). It was real bad but had also never had anything done inside so it was mostly original paint from the 1920s. The trim was in amazingly good shape other than smoking stains. Oil paint is the best, especially from the old days. Lasts forever in protected conditions.

Here are a few pics, removed wallpaper and did a lot of plaster repair as well as painting. Repainted all trim in oil, it was like doing the first repaint on an original paint 1928 car.

Before:



After:

where are you getting oil base paint? I restor a Greene and Greene a while back and had hell getting oil based paint. I was able to get it from another county. Not today anymore.

Jeff