We just bought a nice home that was lived in by heavy somkers.
We'd like to try our best to remove the smoke smell.
So far we've arranged to have the carpets steam cleaned and de-odorized.
We're going to wash the walls and floors and cabinets. Any tips?
The ceilings are textured (1970's sharp and pointy) any tips on cleaning the ceiling?
Next we're going to paint. Any tips on the primer? Killz? I heard adding vanilla to the paint helps too.
Thanks fellow DIYers.
JaKe Seattle
Cleaning the carpets didn't help in our house. Replacing the carpet and the pad made a huge difference. Painting came later, but by then we didn't notice the smoke any more because we had replaced the carpet. For us, I think the carpet was the major offender.
Yep, I had a house where previous owner had a dog. We tossed the carpet. Smell went with it. Carpets hold smells quite well, and I dont think a steam cleaning will get it.
On the painting- (BTDT) Absolutely must use KILZ (or equal) as a primer, even on the ceilings. If you don't, not only will the odor gas out but the nicotine will bleed the new paint, no matter how many coats you put on.
Jim
My mother was a HEAVY smoker, no glue how to open a widow. The smell was so bad went she sent gifts to my kids we threw them out. She passed away couple years ago I fixed her condo up to sell. Washed walls with TSP ( just brown from smoke) then sprayed walls with Killz then painted. Removed all carpet and padding and replaced. Went over kitchen lino. with Pergo., tiled the bathroom floors and spent countless hours cleaning. When I was done you could still get a odor of smoke. About 6 years before all this I sealed the walls painted and replaced all the carpet. The only other thing I might of done is to seal the floors when the carpet was out. You might consider that if you replace the carpet I had to do that in a house we bought from pet odor.
Lots of fresh air when doing the work. Open the house up as much as possible. Use fans to force air into the house. Better if there is a crawl space access inside, put a fan in the attic and open a couple of windows on the other side of the home. ( ye ole house ventilator trick, blow the fan into the attic )
Clean the HVAC system if there is one. If the duct work is not long you can do it yourself. I used a extending painting pole and a lot of bleach and orange clean. Took me 2 days, for me the time is cheap. Call a pro for a price. Immediately change the a/c filter.
I find if your not going to remove the "popcorn" then spray it. Works better than a roller for painting. Rollers get to heavy and can knock off the texture. If you spray it plan on 3 light coats. If it looks good in 2 then they were not to bad.
I agree on the carpet, ditch it.
Or just take up smoking and live there!
On 22 Jun 2005 08:58:18 -0700, " snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com" scribbled this interesting note:
First, you need to remove the carpets and pad. Clean, sweep, mop, get rid of all the dust. Wash the walls and woodwork with TSP or use laundry detergent mixed with bleach in hot water. Take down all light fixtures and wash them. Twice. Three times if they need it. Remove all switch and plug plates. Even inside that it will smell and be dusty. Blow them all out with compressed air. You are almost ready for paint. Almost. Do the usual prep work on the walls, and prime with a stain blocking primer. Killz is one variety, there are others. Spray the ceiling with that same stain block primer. Paint the ceiling with the color of your choice. Paint the walls with the color of your choice. Also the woodwork (I prefer oil based, semi-gloss enamel for the woodwork, other don't. That is up to you.) Clean the A/C. You might need the ducts cleaned. The coils may need to be removed and cleaned. But maybe not. Don't forget the insides of the kitchen cabinets. They'll stink too. No matter what the floor under the carpet looks like, plywood, hardwood, concrete, it isn't a bad idea to seal that as well with whatever sealer might be appropriate, but only after you've mopped it several times with hot water and bleach. Bleach is your friend when doing this kind of work. Keep the windows open. Replace all window treatments (curtains, blinds, etc.) Buy all new plug and switch covers (or wash the old ones in hot water and bleach.)
You can get rid of the smoke smell, but you have to work on it. That stuff coats everything. If you can see it, if air can get to it, so can the smoke. To remove the smell you either have to remove the stuff by scrubbing it clean or you have to seal it in and go over it.
Do it right the first time. Don't just clean the carpet because that won't work. Replace the carpet, or better yet, replace the carpet with an impermeable surface like tile, pergo, etc. This not only will keep the smell from coming back, but cuts down on future dust problems.
If you don't do it right, you'll still smell it and never be happy. Take a little time and elbow grease (amazing stuff, elbow grease!:~) and remove the odor.
-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)
Yep. Carpet and accoustic (cottage cheese) ceilings.
In other words do everything one would do for sanitary reasons anytime they moved into a house or an apartment that had been occupied by smokers or non-smokers. PERIOD.
On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 15:17:41 -0500, "Hound Dog" scribbled this interesting note:
You got it.
-- John Willis (Remove the Primes before e-mailing me)
You are going to have to toss all the carpet and any padding. Use and oil based paint for first coat and repaint everything. Seconf coat can be anything.
Been there, done it
LB
Best thing to do is take up smoking......
;-]
Burn the place !!!!
The fire will kill the smoke odor............
On Wed 22 Jun 2005 08:58:18a, snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote in alt.home.repair:
Repaint all painted surfaces. Kilz will definitely help. Rent an ozone generator and use it at a high setting (the rental company can probably recommend settings and timing). Make sure that neither you nor pets are present while it's running.
For sanitary reasons you always replace the carpet when you move into a new home?
Wash with non-sudsing ammonia/water solution and/or TSP. Use any quality high-hiding primer, then good paint. Two coats of primer may be needed to stop bleed-through.
New home, No! Used home, Yes! How often do you move anyway?
Several years ago, 3 skunks got into a fight underneath the raised foundation of the house I was renting. I probably don't need to explain how bad the smell was. There's also nothing that lingers quite like skunk.
An aquaintance of mine who is a real estate agent who once had to clean up a house for resale after the owner expired and the body was not discovered until the neighbors notice the smell recommended a company called Servepro to deskunk my house.
They came and sealed up the house and sprayed this grey smoke stuff that smelled like baby powder into the house. After a carpet clean plus this treatment the skunk smell was entirely gone, even to my very sensitive nose. I didn't even have to take the clothing out of the closet-the stuff that got treated in the house had no smell, whereas the stuff I removed fomr the house before the treatment, and triple washed in cold water and the stuff I dry cleaned still had this faint whiff of skunk.
I suspect that if it can take care of skunk and dead body (and I know they also do this for cleanup after a fire) that its should also work for smoker. A number of professional cleaning companies offer this type of treatment.
You might want to check out the cost of this before you rip out all the carpeting and redo all the walls and ceilings of your new house, unless you were plannning to do that anyway.
Rented a unit from smokers. Febreezed absolutely everything - walls, carpets wood, etc. And borrowed a Living Air Classic on purify for 4 hours per room. sweet smelling ever after. ____________________ Claudia Totus Tuus
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