Cleaning smoke smell out of house (wall cleaning solution)

[maroonandwhite]

The house we are purchasing was unfortunately a smokers house. The house is well maintained and clean (minus the smoke of course) and has newer carpet in the bedrooms, hardwood in the living room and linoleum in the kitchen and bathrooms. We will be cleaning the walls, cabinets and other surfaces and I am wondering if any of you guys have done this before. I have read online to use ammonia, vinegar, baking soda, etc. We will also be cleaning the carpets after the walls as well as removing the blinds and replacing them with 2" blinds. I know sealing with Kilz and painting after cleaning would help but I probably won't be painting anytime soon. I hate painting and it's the last thing on my list for this new house.

 

Edit: See last post for update.

Edited November 14, 2014 by maroonandwhite

[MacGyver]

There's really not a better solution than Kilz.  You can try other stuff, but you'll wind up coming back to painting surfaces with Kilz.

[maroonandwhite]

Yeah I mean we WILL Kilz and paint eventually I just don't want to repaint an entire house before we move in. I am hoping we can get the smell out for the most part by cleaning and airing out. I plan on letting the HVAC fan run constantly with the windows open to vent it out. Luckily we are in a rental now so I have the option of cleaning before we move in.

[peejman]

Painting the whole house, cleaning the carpets, upholstery, curtains, and anything else fabric is really the only way. Its a bear of a task to make that smell go away.

[maroonandwhite]

Oddly enough when I was in college we smoked in our apartment but was able to remove 90% of the smell by running an air purifier and cleaning the carpets and furniture. Did not even touch the walls. Luckily I have the advantage of having all new smoke free furniture and belongings. My wife is a cleaning MASTER so I have no doubt it will be as clean as humanly possible.

 

What would you guys recommend we use as a cleaning solution? Some online suggested vinegar and baking soda but if I recall don't most 3rd graders use that combo to make bubbling volcanoes? Ammonia and vinegar would seem to be a good combo but I don't know if it will hurt the paint.

[Wiljo05]

Depends on the paint on whether the Chem mixture will harm it. Find a small place, most think of a closet first, but usually those are painted flat white with builder grade paint. If the closets are the same color give it a try. If not, start I'm a small inconspicuous spot and see if it makes the paint bleed or come off on the rag

[10-Ring]

I've moved into a couple of houses with this problem.  Paint now, don't wait, it will be much easier without stuff in the house.  Then shampoo all of the carpets.  Keep the doors and windows open for a couple of days when the weather is nice as well. 

[buck1032]

I ran into the same scenario in a house out in Imperial Beach, CA in the early 90's. The house was inhabited for 30 plus years to a retired smoking Master Chief. We cleaned the house top to bottom with ammonia and it worked well cutting the smoke build up and smell. It took the better part of a week of hard cleaning but it worked. We cut it 50/50 with hot water as we went.

[maroonandwhite]

Dang it guys you are telling me what I don't want to hear. I HATE painting.  :rofl:  I'll have to discuss it with the wife and see about painting now. Having to Kilz the whole house it what I hate the most. I guess it doesn't have to be a perfect cut in job though on the primer.

[xRUSTYx]

I did a Rehab on a house a couple years ago.  Was planning to turn it in to a rental, then ended up selling it.

 

Here's a breakdown of what worked with pictures and descriptions :)  Hope this helps :)

 

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/67/topics/78889-smoker-rehab-keys-to-success-with-tobacco-smoke--before-after-pics?page=1

[maroonandwhite]

I did a Rehab on a house a couple years ago.  Was planning to turn it in to a rental, then ended up selling it.

 

Here's a breakdown of what worked with pictures and descriptions :)  Hope this helps :)

 

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/67/topics/78889-smoker-rehab-keys-to-success-with-tobacco-smoke--before-after-pics?page=1

I have looked at the Ozone generators. I hope I don't need that but if I can't get the smell out I may just buy one.

[bersaguy]

Last house my Grandson moved into was a smokers house and he asked me what he could use to clean the walls and get the smoke color off of them. I told him the same thing I have used for years. It is a product call Spic-n-Span and I have used it to wash walls in a lot of homes in my life and it has never let me down yet. That and some hot water and a big sponge or 2 will normally get the job done. Oh yea that and a little elbow grease that is....................jmho

[felinesNfreedom]

See if you can rent an Ozone machine. My office has two of them, we use them on smoke/fire damages. They work really well. You will still need to seal the walls/studs. I purchased a smokers home and sealed all the walls and ceiling then Ozoned it and you would not know they ceilings where yellow when I purchased the home.

[peejman]

Baking soda and saw dust does a good job of getting smoke smell out of car upholstery. Took a couple applications, but it worked. If you really don't want to paint (I hate it too), I'd wash the walls down with a simple green solution. That might be hard to do on the ceiling, especially if they're textured.

[hipower]

Kilz is probably the best method, as it and a good paint will stop almost all odors from bleeding thru.

Also in the mix, if you are going to consider painting, check for a paint with mold/mildew resistant additives.

We used it on a garage with two rooms that have had had odor problems from water damage. They had a definite heavy musty odor.

It worked great. Just smelled like a good paint job. And a lot of the new paints don't have the usual old heavy fresh paint smell.

[TrickyNicky]

This might sound kind if weird but I've been told it works very well. Mix 1-2 teaspoons of vanilla extract into 1 gallon of paint. Apparently it won't effect the paint (though some sites say only us it with colors) but apparently removes paint odor and replaces it with vanilla scent. If your going to be painting anyway it might help?

[maroonandwhite]

So we FINALLY closed on the house yesterday and after getting in and removing blinds and all that along with the walls being bare I will be painting for sure. And I'm gonna do it the right way. We will be cleaning the walls with TSP then priming it with oil based Kilz.

 

My new question is what paint brand you guys would recommend. I have read online that Sherwin Williams is about the best but I don't have any illusions of doing it all in one coat and if I can save $5-$10 a gallon with Lowe's or Home Depot brands I'd be happy. What say you?

[peejman]

If you're changing the color, forget about "1 coat coverage".   I painted my whole house when we bought it with the Lowes Valspar brand paint... 23 gallons of it.  We painted everything but the ceilings and I wish we'd painted them too.   It was fine paint and has held up to 2 little boys pretty well.  I went with Lowes because I had about $400 in gift cards saved up. 

 

edit... I did not prime the walls, we just cleaned them with windex and a rag and painted over the existing paint.  I only primed a few areas where I had to do some sheetrock repairs. 

Edited November 14, 2014 by peejman

[Peace]

Paint every square inch - ceilings too, carpet replaced, hardwood refinished if necessary. - or just new poly.... and then have your duct work cleaned. every. square. inch. congrats! and good luck. pain now, joy later. ...or pain now, pain later. your choice :)

[Peace]

we loved sherwin williams eco friendly line. i do NOT like their alkyd acrylic stuff - do NOT like it. We painted our last house with SW and this one with Porter. 6=1/2dozen. upper end Lowe's paint should be just fine too.

[Hozzie]

Sherwin Williams has great paint, but you need to get thier better quality paints and they aren't cheap.  

 

I agree with someone above that two coats will be necessary.  i would personally forgo the priming since you have wiped the walls down.  Paints today have much better coverage than they used to have and two coats will be needed either way.  I also agree, do the ceilings now and do them first.  It's a pain, but you will be glad when you don't have to come back and do them later.  

 

I also like Valspar for wall paint. I will buy nothing but Sherwin Williams ProMar 200 for all trim.  

Edited November 14, 2014 by Hozzie

[maroonandwhite]

Sherwin Williams has great paint, but you need to get thier better quality paints and they aren't cheap.  

 

I agree with someone above that two coats will be necessary.  i would personally forgo the priming since you have wiped the walls down.  Paints today have much better coverage than they used to have and two coats will be needed either way.  I also agree, do the ceilings now and do them first.  It's a pain, but you will be glad when you don't have to come back and do them later.  

 

I also like Valspar for wall paint. I will buy nothing but Sherwin Williams ProMar 200 for all trim.  

So you think as long as we clean with TSP we can forgo priming? I just don't want anything bleeding back through our paint. I mean some of these paints have primer in them supposedly. We will also be painting the trim if I didn't mention that but that shouldn't need priming.

[maroonandwhite]

Also my ceiling is the textured kind. Not the popcorn stuff but almost like plaster. Whats the best way to clean/paint that?

[peejman]

Also my ceiling is the textured kind. Not the popcorn stuff but almost like plaster. Whats the best way to clean/paint that?

 

 

Clean it?  Nearly impossible.  My previous house had that crap.  Best we ever came up with for cleaning was one of those swiffer duster things.  It'll knock off lots of little pieces of the stuff.  Well.... it does that if you're me and pissed about having to do it in the first place.  Painting it isn't easy either, use a heavy nap roller and be prepared for little pieces of it to get stuck in the paint and roller. 

 

The guy who thought textured ceilings were a good idea needs his peepee whacked.  :stick:

[maroonandwhite]

Clean it?  Nearly impossible.  My previous house had that crap.  Best we ever came up with for cleaning was one of those swiffer duster things.  It'll knock off lots of little pieces of the stuff.  Well.... it does that if you're me and pissed about having to do it in the first place.  Painting it isn't easy either, use a heavy nap roller and be prepared for little pieces of it to get stuck in the paint and roller. 

 

The guy who thought textured ceilings were a good idea needs his peepee whacked.  :stick:

Yeah I don't have high hopes for cleaning it. It's probably just going to have to be primed and painted.