Cigarette Smoke in Home

I can tell you, that it is the walls that smell. You can find a product at Home Depot/Lowe's/Ace Hardware to clean the walls, it is often used before applying a layer of paint. It's called TSP - and then we used a primer called Killz. It's just a few dollars for a large bucket of TSP - and use HOT water and just get a couple of large buckets and switch towels A LOT. We were lucky and the previous owners happen to leave a box full of bar towels (you can buy them at Costco and they make great all around rags) we would throw five to six in and switch as we moved along.

We had a small walk in closet that was used as an office and a smoking room. It took two-three washings before you could really tell a difference, but it's been a long time now and you cannot tell anybody smoked in there.

GOOD LUCK!!

Hi S.
Have you thought about painting. It seemed to work for my brother's house. He had rented his house out and the renters smoked inside. So we had the house painted and the problem went away. Hope it works for you!

If you bought the home there is a special paint you can get it at lowes or home depot that will take the smell out.Just ask the paint department. If you are renting ask the landlord the carpet may need to be replaced as well as using that special paint good luck

Hi, My husband works for Venturi clean- they are a carpet cleaning company, but they also have a machine that they bring into your home and let it run ( Ozone) for a number of hours, to remove smoke from all the porous areas of the house. there # is ###-###-####

I did a google search. someone said they put bowls of vinigar and water around the house until the smell was gone.
I tried the queen of clean but couldn't find a search on her site.

My mom and dad swear by this stuff called Melaleuca. Here's the website: http://www.melaleuca.com/ps/index.cfm?f=ps.search&tSe... My parents are NOT smokers, but have helped a lot of people who have moved into smoky houses. I think the Sol-u-mel itself kind of stinks (my mom actually likes the smell though), but it really does work. Wash the walls, floors, etc with it and it really helps to eliminate the smoke smell. I really wish you good luck. I know how frustrating it can be. Hope this helps.

I am a Realtor & run into this problem ALL the time..If you are renting have the landlord or property management company repaint & clean the carpets. If you bought you definately need to repaint & have the carpets cleaned with vinegar at the very least...if the smoke has been in there for years its in the drywall & its hard to get out almost like cat pee...Even if you pinesol the smell will be there...its horrbile but hard to get out..

Yep wash your walls with a mixture of tide & febreeze. I work for a fire department and thats what we have people do after a fire. You can also wash things like the carseat cover and your clothes... works everytime. Good Luck!

Leave the windows open as much as you can. If you can afford it, get a HEPA filter or one of those Ionic Breeze filters. And keep changing the filter for the vent in your house. I'd get the cheap ones and change it every week until after a week you don't see anything.

We had the same problem. A fresh coat of paint on the walls and smoke-busting candles will do the trick! Good luck!

I had this issue with a home I purchased some years ago and the best thing I found for the walls was clorox bleach in very warm water to wash the walls. Be sure and wear gloves - it worked great for me. My mom swears by using Pinesol in the carpet cleaner to get rid of the smell in the carpet, so you might want to try that too...she said it make take a few times doing it but it worked for her. I hope this helps and good luck to you.
-J.

I see u got a lot of suggestions. I don't know if anyone said this but taking out your carpet & putting new carpet. Even though u got it cleaned I am sure that did help but carpet carries everything & keeps it in there. I would put new carpet or some type of new flooring in your house rather then keeping the same one the smoker had cuz u wouldn't want your baby girl to be crawling on that.

A cheap, non-toxic fix for the smell is to place small bowls of white vinegar around the house.
After scrubbing the walls try painting with "Kilz" it covers up stains and odors better than regular paint, although you do have the "off-gassing" from the paint, I'm not sure how long that lasts.
One more thing, this might be a little pricier but maybe you could buy a few room air filters. We used to live close to a freeway and we bought 3 Sharper Image air filters to clean the smell of car exhaust from the air. They seemed to work pretty well. They also brought some peace of mind that the air we were breathing was clean. Air fresheners and febreeze are fine, but they don't really remove the harmful particles from the air, they just cover them up. If you don't want to buy the air filters new I'm sure you could find some on e-bay or craig's list.
Good luck. What a yucky thing to deal with.

My advice would be to have a professional company come in. That is one of the hardest things to get rid of and it may require that you completely replace the carpet and paint everything. I would probably do that anyways. Depending on how severe it is, you may even have to change out duct work and everything from the smoke being circulated through the AC. I suffered severely from a cigarette smoke allergy as a child and I would be concerned that your daughter may develop one if the smell is still that strong. It may be a bit pricey to take care of it but you can't put a price on your health!

S.,

My husband did painting 10 years ago and he said really the only way to get the smoke smell to go away compleatly is to use KILLZ on the walls they sell it at The Home Depot and to remove the carpet. If you are renting your home the Home owner might replace it for you.

Good Luck I couldnt imagine how dirty that must feel....
Renee

smoke is very hard to get out. if you are renting then you need to cotact your landlord. if not, i think the only thing to do is either call a smoke cleaning company or take the carpets out and replace them and wash then repaint the walls. if the walls are yellow it may have been soaked into the drywall and may have to replace hem. if it si premeating into your clothes then the child is obvisoulsy breathng it in.

I would suggest contacting a company that specializes in smoke removal - like those that come in after house fires. They would have the expertise and technology to rid it completely and safely and guarantee it. If you are renting the house, it may be something the landlord can help cover. If you purchased it, you may want to look into your home insurance or talk to your realtor or your home owners insurance about options since it impacting your health.

Best,
C.

If you can afford it, you might consider getting the air ducts cleaned. That can make a big difference. Put on a coat of Kilz on the walls and re-paint. If you have any wallpaper, I'd try to steam it and take it down because the paper will hold the smoke smell. For the carpet, you could try covering it with baking soda and letting it absorb some of the odor. If it's possible, you might lift the carpet up and pour the baking soda on the pad as well. You could do this before bed and vacuum it up in the morning or go out for the day. You can get a 5 pound bag of baking soda at Costco for about $3. It might help, but if you've already had the carpet cleaned, my guess is that the odor is embedded in the fibers and you might have to replace it altogether.

I hope you can get the smell out of your new home. I also have a very hard time with cigarette smell and I can only imagine how awful it is to live with it everyday. Best of luck.

This happened to me! We rented our house when we moved to England for a year and they chained smoked in it! Anyway, we cleaned the carpets and the walls etc. and nothing worked. Finally I got the air ducts cleaned and they super blasted it with some chemical and it finally went away!! Let me know!
J.

S.,
Go to Sears or Home Depot and get a wall washing solution as if you were going to paint the walls and wash them all down. I use a star mop which has a micro fiber ( like terry cloth ) pad that attaches with velcro and is flat. It's om a pole which eliminates a lot of up and down on a ladder! This mop makes washing the walls much easier. You can always use a rag and elbow grease. The current brand I am using is called TSP prepaint surface preperation pre-paint surface preperation. The most important thing when washing walls is to start at the bottom and work to the top to avoid streaks being made that won't come out! You will be surprised at how nice your house will smell after doing all of the walls!! It will take the nicotine away at a minimal of expense!! Good luck.
J.

S.,
I am so sorry that you are having problems with the cigarette smell in your home. Im sure its frustrating! I am with Gold canyon candles. I have several smoking customers that tell me "Cozy Cabin" works wonderful for removing the cigarette smell. I have not personally tried it, because I don't smoke. You can check out my website at www.mygc.com/tonibarreras Go luck and if you have any questions you can call me at ###-###-####

I am so sorry to hear about your situation- that is not fun and I am sure it is not healthy for your family. Did you get a chance to repaint? I would start there and get a good primer and good non toxic paint. SInce paint now is just as bad. Do you own the home or rent it. You will have to hire a vent professional that can get into all the vents and clean ever inch of them, just changing the filters will not get rid of it.
We had this problem in an apartment we rented a while ago and we could not get it out since we did not own it- we did everything to make it work but was not happy since our health was being jeapordized.
I know it is a cost but worth your health to get a professional vent cleaner out there and repaint the whole house- if you own it or plan on staying very long.
Best wishes,
D.

Some friends of mine moved into a house that had been badly abused by the previous renter also a heavy smoker. They had to prime and paint the walls to get rid of the yellow and the smell.

Wow i am so sorry you are dealing with this i also have had this experience and we needed to resolve it before me son came home from the hospital as he was diagnosed with RSV and baby broncitius at birth and it would take months for his lungs to regain normal strenth...we had to bleach the walls it was the only thing that would eat away the nicotine stuck on the paint that was on the wall. also will all the allergies we have in my family the best thing i have found is frebreez after bleaching the walls i would freebreez every single day eventually it will go away. I would also like to point out that the living conditions do not sound resonable and you may need to have your landlord treat your home. Hope this helps its probably very frusterating it was for me.

S.,
We used to smoke way back..... you need to use vinager and water solution on everything including the blinds. You can paint your walls with Kilz first before your color goes on. Clean carpets ect... Good luck!

Hi S.,
I use to work in the apartment industry, so we dealt with this kind of thing all the time. The best way to get the smell out of the walls is to paint over them. You can try cleaning them really well, but if that doesn't work, you may want to look in to painting them. Also, you may want to try using an air purifier. They can be a little pricey for the good ones, so if you have a friend that has one maybe she'll let you borrow it for a few days to see if it's worth getting one. We have one and the brand is called Flair and we love it. I don't think they have that brand anymore which is sad b/c we've had ours for 5 years and it still works great. I hope this was helpful. Good luck.

A possibility to eliminate the odor would be to rent an ozone machine or contact one of the restoration companies about coming to your home with their equipment.

Cigarette smoke is difficult to eliminate - especially if it has seeped into the drywall. You may have to use "kilz" ( find it at Home Depot) and then paint the walls.

Good luck.

L.

It doesn't usually come out.. but you could look into having a professional cleaner come in who specializes in that sort of thing.

That is definitely not good for you or your children's heath. Kudos for being concerned about it.

S., Sorry to say that the only thing that helped me when we bought a house like that, yellow walls and ceiling, was to repaint EVERYTHING. From floorboards to popcorn ceiling. Every surface besides the floor was painted. The few places that had carpet were replaced and the tile was stripped. It has been a year and I can't imagine having to live in the smoke all this time.
It was expensive but worth it. Good luck.

I have heard that lime juice is a good 'deodorizer', squeeze some in a bottle (with or without water mixed in) and spray on carpets (just a mist, doesn't need to be soaked), blinds, you might even want to try washing the walls with it. This advice came from a specialist who works with kids with autism who tend to have various sensitivies, esp. to smells.
I have also used baking soda, sprinkled on dry, to remove odors from carpets, furniture, even my car. Shake it on, rub in lightly, leave on for about an hour or so, then vacuum it up ... along with the odors.
If all else fails replace the carpet and blinds and start fresh.

Good Luck,
M.

S.,
You are doing all the right things; it will take a while.
One thing that I found when this happened to me was placing
little unscented candles all over the house and letting them
burn (while I was present, of course) all day! This helped
more than I could have imagined...
G. (wife, Mom, Grammy)

My Grandmother had this problem when she moved into her new house. She put pans of Charcoal all over the house to help absorb the smoke smell. We also washed all of the walls with Pine Sol and bought those air fresheners for the Air Vent.
We changed the Air Filters once a week and put a new air fresher in there too when we changed them.
It took awhile but we finally got rid of the smell and smoke and yellow walls. So keep cleaning and stay with it.

Good luck

Cigarette smoke is ikcy and hard to irradicate. If you own the home (or even if you are renting most landlords allow walls to be painted over if the color is the same or similar) I suggest repainting the walls. That tends to freshen things up. I would also try an air purifier to help eliminate additional oders. New paint costs less than new carpet, but new carpet would only help as well. Good luck!

S. L,
My husband and I own an air and water purification company called Health By Choice. We have a top notch NASA certified air purifer that will take that smoke smell right out of your home And santize for germs and viruses while doing so. We do a free 7 day home trial for homes in the valley. Give us a call - you have nothing to lose but smoke.
D. - ###-###-####

i have had good luck with vinegar. I've heard you can leave a bowl of it in the middle of a room but i haven't needed to do that.

Oh S. that is gross, I know. They have special air purifiers that will get rid of the smell. It is an Ozone machine. They work great. I am sorry that is all I know.