Smoke Removal - any experience?

I hope this is the right place to ask this. I've been searching for an answer to this question online all day and I'm not finding a lot of information. So I feel weird asking this on a cat forum, but since there are a lot of members here I thought someone might have some experience.

Has anyone ever successfully removed the smell of cigarette smoke from your home?

We recently moved and are currently living in a hotel and searching for a home. The only house that my husband and I are agreeing on is a FANTASTIC house...except that it smells like cigarette smoke. We don't smoke, and I have allergies and sinus problems that have resulted in 3 different surgeries...and the smell of smoke is an irritant to them. I can handle a restaurant or a friend's house, but for my own house its unacceptable because of my sinus problems. (I also don't like the smell, but my health is my main concern at the moment).

The real estate agent said that there is some kind of professional oxygen cleaner thing that can be set in the house, run for a few days, and the smell will be completely gone. The former owners have already replaced the carpet and cleaned the house. Plus, it sounds like the former owner actually gave up smoking several years ago...but the scent is still lingering. Its not the strongest smell of smoke I've ever smelled, but its enough to bother me enough to not want to buy the house because of it.

We don't want to put in an offer on the house, only to find out that we can't withdraw the offer without a penalty, and that the house still smells like smoke - meaning that the oxygen thing didn't work.

So does anyone have any experience with these cleaners? Is this a lost cause and the smell will never go away? Any experience or advice would be welcomed!

My mom and older sister are landlords (they work in a large firm that rents apartments) and they have both been complaining how hard it is to get rid of cigarette smoke.
What I've been told is to either paint the walls (and possibly ceiling), or rip out the old wallpaper and replace with new one or paint. The floor should be replaced too, specially if it's a carpet. Replace with laminate, plastic carpet, hardwood or tiles. There seems to be no easy way out, at least if you want the smell to disappear within a year or two..

My parents smoked in their home for several years. They decided to paint the living room eventually and upon removing the pictures from the wall, realized how yellow it made everything. They scrubbed the walls and cleaned everything but the smell was still there. It really didn't go away until every room was repainted (yes, the ceilings too) and old wallpaper removed. Any slight odor was from the carpets, which were eventually removed. (A very good carpet cleaning should help that, if carpets can't be replaced for a time.)

There is a product called AtmosKlear that got skunk spray out of my mom's car interior. I'll bet it would do the trick on smoke odor as well. http://www.5starshine.com/info-atmos...liminator.html

And an article in relation to the product and cats: http://www.cat-lovers-only.com/atmosklear.html

Good luck! Hope you get your house soon!

The best way I know of is to scrub the walls and ceiling (if it isn't a popcorn ceiling) with TSP and then re-paint. Also replace the carpet and the carpet padding.

Having lived most of my life with a heavy smoker (Mom--unfortunatley, the smoking killed her in June), I've had to get rid of the awful smell, too.

Try Kilz primer (you can also have it tinted your paint color, I believe). I never tried it for smoke, but it is made to cover up very strong odors of any sort. I've used it for covering a dog/cat urine smell that soaked into the concrete sub-floor of my house (left by the previous owner's pets), and 2 coats knocked out the smell entirely. It does smell strong while drying, just be aware of that with your allergies.

You may also want to try a strong solution of white vinegar and water to wash walls, etc. You can also launder curtains, etc. with this.

Right now I sell paint for a living and help professional cleaners with the problem all the time. Plus I smoke and successfully cleaned a home prior to its showing. The person who bought it also had allergies and never even mentioned anything about smoke smell after I cleaned it.

TSP (tri-sodium phosphate) will clean the nicotine stains off the wall. Once those are washed, use a primer by Zinser called BIN. It is the only primer rated to seal in damage due from smoke, and in fact it is used by professionals that clean up a house after a fire. BIN is a shellac based primer and brushes can be cleaned with denatured alcohol or an ammonia/water solution. Paint with normal paint when done. KILZ DOESN'T WORK!!!! Trust me on that one - it's the most overrated primer out there.

If there is wallpaper, the product recommended to me by professional cleaners is Mean Green. I smoked heavily in my office at the old house and had wallpaper in that room. The Mean Green got both the nicotine and smell out.

All other hard surfaces can be cleaned with Mean Green also. If you find that it has absorbed into wood, if it is a stained surface, you can use Shellac to cover that surface and lock in the smell. Otherwise use BIN and paint over the surface.

You don't need to replace the floor, etc. Soft surfaces, if they hadn't been replaced since the person stopped smoking in the house can be washed, and if the smell is not removed, replace them (like curtains). It is a good thing that they replaced the carpet already.

And to go off on a tangent for a moment, Zinsser BIN is the only product rated to cover up pet odors (like cat urine). It's worth the $40+ a gallon.

If they replaced the carpet that should help. However, I venture a guess that they painted the walls with a paint that doesn't mask the smoke. There is a special paint that you can use that will actually cover the nicotene stains and mask the smoke that has seeped into the pores of the wall. That's likely where the smell is coming from.

We used Kilz when DH bought our old place. Well; he had it before we started dating, he just hadn't finished fixing it up then. It did help with the smell and the discoloration of the walls. We never replaced the floors; but I don't remember any smell from them. I can't stand the smell of cigarette smoke. But worse for me is coming home from somewhere and smelling it on your clothing...esp coats! Fortunately it's illegal to smoke in an enclosed public space here.

Originally Posted by Brooklet425

The real estate agent said that there is some kind of professional oxygen cleaner thing that can be set in the house, run for a few days, and the smell will be completely gone. The former owners have already replaced the carpet and cleaned the house.

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The professional oxygen cleaner your agent is referring to is called an ozone machine. It be set up through a fire/smoke/water damage professional like ServiceMaster or Servpro. No pets or humans can be in the residence while it is running. This is the last step after cleaning, replacing carpet, and painting.

Also, everything Momofmany is true. Zinser Bin and Mean Green are the primo products for this purpose.

That being said, the success rate is not 100%, but it is your best bet. Good luck!

Originally Posted by Rockcat

The professional oxygen cleaner your agent is referring to is called an ozone machine. It be set up through a fire/smoke/water damage professional like ServiceMaster or Servpro. No pets or humans can be in the residence while it is running. This is the last step after cleaning, replacing carpet, and painting.

Also, everything Momofmany is true. Zinser Bin and Mean Green are the primo products for this purpose.

That being said, the success rate is not 100%, but it is your best bet. Good luck!

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I had ServiceMaster out to my house before I put it on the market. I have an air purifier with the ozone setting and asked them about it. They told me it was more important to do the other things (zinser BIN and Mean Green) than the ozone treatment. I used it in my home, but honestly didn't notice any difference with it. The realtor came in after the treatment and told me to open up the house for a few days because she could smell ozone in the house. It lingers a long time.

Never a house, but yes to a car. Gosh, I wish I could recall the name of the active ingredient, I believe bi or triethylene glycol.

Only some air-sanitizers use it since its more expensive. Ozium is a popular one used in hospitals, and Oust is the cheapest commercial one I know of.

In any case, we used Ozium and just hyper saturated the car through a cracked door and then just closed the door and let the fog work its magic. Did that several times, and then cleaned the haze off the windows. Seemed to do the trick.

As mentioned, you don't want to breath it, but ozone is a very effective scientifically proven treatment as well. It also degrades very quickly, so hours later your home is perfectly healthy. If an ozone machine is smelt long afterwards, then most likely it was other outgassing from the machine rather than ozone itself. Buddy bought a cheap air-purifier a while back, and oh my gosh did it stink up the place!

I had a roommate that smoked so heavily I had a sheet and blanket over his bedroom door and I could still smell the smoke! It would trigger my migraines, I would wash them atleast once a month and the water would turn brown/orange ....
When he finally moved out, I had to do a rigorous cleaning of the walls, closets, and especially the floors, and can I tell you how yellow/brown the water was . The walls were stained by cigarette smoke, I did Fantastic with bleach cleaning of the walls, including inside the closets, before I primed and painted. I also cleaned the hardwood floors with Fantastic with bleach before several cleanings with Murphy's Oil Soap. It took several weeks of repeated cleaning, especially the floor, before I could spend anytime in that room. Now it's my work studio ........

Originally Posted by Momofmany

I had ServiceMaster out to my house before I put it on the market. I have an air purifier with the ozone setting and asked them about it. They told me it was more important to do the other things (zinser BIN and Mean Green) than the ozone treatment. I used it in my home, but honestly didn't notice any difference with it. The realtor came in after the treatment and told me to open up the house for a few days because she could smell ozone in the house. It lingers a long time.

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It is the last step for that reason. The source of the odor must be removed. If cleaning & painting takes care of the problem, ozone is not necessary. A home should always be aired out after treatment.

When I worked for Servpro I was told that professional equipment was much more effective than the home version. Of course, they would say that though.

You didn't notice any difference, but your realtor did? I wonder if that's what she was really smelling. Could it have been the fragrance of your cleaning products? IMO, ozone smells like the air after a thunderstorm.

Hi hope this helps

wash the walls and scerting boards down with sugar soap if there painted wall paper not sure how to treat that and have the carpets cleaned then buy some bicarb soada and open them up and leave a box or 2 in each room this will remove anything left from the wash and carpet clean.

Also open all the windowes and doors as often as possible and the smell will be gone in no time

There are professional companies that specialize in smoke odor removal. I don't know what it costs. . .but maybe you can make it a condition of your offer? I know you can ask for lots of things before putting in an offer, and since that would help them sell the house even if you decide not to buy it, the sellers shouldn't object too much.