Buying a house from a smoker – removing smell?

Hi,

We looked around a house which we quite like and would be great for us in terms of location/schools blah blah. Only problem is that as soon as the agent opened the front door I could tell the owner smoked.

I was certainly conscious of a nicotine smell going round the place, and I’m a bit concerned (having a young daughter) about buying it because of this.

Has anyone bought a house from a smoker and got rid of the smell? Any tips?

The good thing is the interior is quite dated so we would be painting it all and replacing carpets. I’m hoping with the removal of her ‘stuff’, coats of paint on the wall and new carpets a lot of the lingering smell would go?

Any thoughts?

Open the windows. Erm… no… that’s about it. Its not mustard gas! 😉

The smell of smoke isn’t going to give your child lung cancer.

Most of the smell will be in the soft furnishings – sofa, curtains etc – and should dissipate quite quickly once the house is empty. The carpets would be my only concern, but you say you would be changing them anyway, if you’re not planning to do this before you move in, I would look to hire a proper wet cleaner and give them a good going over to remove the smoke residue.

Nuke it from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.

The smell of smoke isn’t going to give your child lung cancer.

I realise that, I’m unsure whether it affects asthma sufferers or can increase chances of developing asthma etc. – don’t know. I’m also asking as I don’t want a house that always has a faint smell of cigarette smoke.

Wondered whether other people had dealt with a similar situation.

Nuke it from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.

Are there any licensing issues regarding this? I guess I’ll need to run it by the council at least.

I’d advise painting the walls and renewing the carpets 😉

Bet you’re glad you posted on such a helpful forum 😀

We moved in to house where the owner had had dogs. I’m afraid that I’m with the Muslims when it comes to dogs. They’re filthy, stinking animals, and I wouldn’t have one in the house.

The minging wet dog smell lingered in the carpets. We had them all professionally cleaned, but the smell was still there. After about a week I couldn’t stand it and ripped the lot up!

I suspect that you’ll end up doing the same yourself, so I wouldn’t bother even attempting to get them cleaned. Just rip them up and start from scratch. Smoking indoors is horrible! And I say that as a smoker

I’d take up smoking then you want notice it.

My parents bought a house from a heavey smoker. The house absolutely stank. I mean it was properly disgusting. We removed all carpets scrubbed floors bathroom etc and painted everything. When re-painting the celings it was very obvious how yellow they were from nicotine. Once all this was done there was not a noticable smell of smoke in the house.
Because the house was so smelly they got a bargain that was fixed up very quickly with not too much cost and a bit of elbow greese.

I’d rather buy a house from a dog than a smoker.

You have to clean it or neutralise it. So washing down the walls/ceilings then painting, throwing out curtains, carpets etc. With cars they ‘fog’ it – close vents and windows and stick a machine in there that fills it with an enzyme that breaks down and neutralises the cause of the smell. I did this manually on a car I bought with a blue can of Neutra-somethingorother – it was really effective- from stink to nothing in 1/2hr.

I’d rather smoke a dog than a cigarette.

Seriously now – I’d just pay for it to be professionally cleaned before you move in – we’re paying £250 for a complete clean including all carpets shampooed (including the chemicals) for a 4 bed house that is currently empty but had been owned by an old guy that lived alone and it is particularly unloved and dirty – fortunately he didn’t smoke though.

Hate to tell you but youll want to strip it all off back to plaster . Even wi an empty house wi bare floors it still smelled back

We tried scrubbing with sugar soap and painting , the smell remained — once e fresh paint smell left , soon as we removed the wall paper and painted the plaster the smell left for ever.

We had serious nicotine staining though apparently the old boy smoked like a chimney

Some of the volatiles will evaporate from the tars on the hard surfaces though the yellowing will remain and the smell will linger much longer on textiles so, as others have written, wash, paint and renew and the smell will go.

If you’re serious then;

Remove and bin all carpets and curtains, in fact all soft furnishings. Leave windows opens as much as possible.

Sugar soap all walls and ceilings, clean house using bicarbonate of soda and warm water. Leave windows opens as much as possible.

Remove all dust and debris, Leave windows opens as much as possible.

Clean kitchen/bathrooms with white vinegar and then with bicarbonate of soda and warm water

Apply 2 – 3 coats of good quality paints to all wall/ceilings and gloss all woodwork. Leave windows opens as much as possible.

New carpets and leave windows opens as much as possible.

That should fix it

Else you could buy some miracle smell masking product

I once moved into a flat that looked like something from Silent Hill. Proper grimy, and reeked of cigarette smoke. The absolute highlight was when I started to clean down the walls to prepare them for painting, and discovering that the ‘magnolia’ ceiling was actually white – there was a fairly thick nicotine coating. *blarf*

Scrub the walls and ceiling, throw out or professionally clean anything left by the previous occupiers that’s fabric (curtains, carpets, etc), and keep the windows open.

Our flat was lived in by smokers before us. A load of shake & vac (I think we did 3 passes) and washing the curtains twice was enough to make it go away.

Thanks for the replies and advice. Good to hear the general advice is that it can be done (with some effort).

I think I will go with Kona TC’s advice, except I’m going to ‘tweak’ it a little and leave windows open as much as possible – I reckon it will help the smell go better if I do that.

Lots of these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dakota-Car-ODOR-BOMB-Eliminator/dp/B006T1RBGA

If you want to be ultra anal about it, take up some of the floorboards and hoover up all of the dust/shiz that is lurking in them – tis amazing how much congregates in them.

But deffo,

Carpets – gone
Lino – gone
Curtains – gone
Wallpaper – gone – completely, back to plaster!!! (be carefull not to use too much heat as you’ll blow the plaster and then you’ll be skimming)
Ceiling paper (if there), back to plaster
Anything wood – either get rid of, or get it treated

We replaced ceilings, stripped all wallpaper and replastered. If any walls are papered i doubt you’ll get rid of the smell without drastic measures.

Have a few indoor BBQs

Had the same experience as trail rat. Sitting room ceiling was yellow with residue and had to be stripped back before we could even paint it! I think the wooden floors has to be done too but I’m not sure.

We hired a steam cleaner and cleaned every wall and ceiling = horrible mucky water everywhwere, but did get rid of the smell.