Cleaning smoke smell out of house (wall cleaning solution)

[JPR1959]

Most stores offer paint with primer already in them.  Two coats and you should be good.  My old house had popcorn ceilings, and I painted everyone of them before I moved in.  I hate painting now with a passion.  I pay people to paint now.

[maroonandwhite]

Most stores offer paint with primer already in them.  Two coats and you should be good.  My old house had popcorn ceilings, and I painted everyone of them before I moved in.  I hate painting now with a passion.  I pay people to paint now.

But do those paints have "real" primer in them? That always seemed kind of suspicious to me.

[Ted S.]

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

 

Scrape it off and kiltz then refinish it or just paint the ceiling with kiltz and leave it alone (unless you don't want a white ceiling anymore, then just paint over the kiltz).

[JPR1959]

But do those paints have "real" primer in them? That always seemed kind of suspicious to me.

Do you want to paint the walls 3 times?  I'd try the primer based paints, and say it looked great after two coats.  If my wife complained about it, I'd hand her a brush. :ugh:

[maroonandwhite]

Do you want to paint the walls 3 times?  I'd try the primer based paints, and say it looked great after two coats.  If my wife complained about it, I'd hand her a brush. :ugh:

:rofl:  Riiiiiight. She will honestly do most of the painting but I will help. My concern is just crud bleeding back through the paint. If we clean the walls that shouldn't happen but you never know.

[FUJIMO]

The house I am typing this from was a foreclosure. Needless to say the former tenants were not happy about having to leave and left every door and window open for about 2 months. It became a haven for every animal that could walk ,crawl and defecate.

I used oil based kilz on the entire house floors to ceiling where possible. Backed that up with commercial primer (wasn't a 2-n-1 at the time ) then painted it according to the room. The ceiling I left kilz where I could and just painted over it with ceiling white where guests would send the difference. And to tell you how much I avoid painting, I agreed to and installed crown moulding in lieu of painting the living room and kitchen. :)

[FUJIMO]

And another note on the ceiling (as I stare at it now) I used a 1/2" knap roller and lathered that filthy bastard with kilz. Had a couple stalactites to clip once done but she's just as pretty today ;)

[Peace]

^^ 1/2" nap roller on ceilings.  yup.     You can scrape the popcorn off, but it is a pain, pain, pain.pain.pain.pain.pain.pain.   aerated, if you mess it up, then you have to do sheetrock repair. ... then paint it.

[Hozzie]

If it is an option and the house is empty, it may be worth considering have someone come in an spray the ceilings.  Do all of the prep work yourself if you need to cover floors and windows with plastic and if you are really painting everything else, you don't have to worry about the walls.  As a matter of fact, some of the overspray may even help you a bit on the walls.  Painting ceilings is the worst part of the whole job.  If I was to consider spending a little money anywhere and saving my back, it would be by bringing someone in to do the ceilings.

[runco]

My inlaws built a 2nd house in their subdivision to flip, but ended up renting.  Did a rent to own deal with someone, who was major smokers.  In the end, after 12 mos of living in the house, the people had to vacate.  What a terrible mess/smell.  In the end, all of the carpet had to be replaced, all of the walls had to be repainted, and even the ceilings.  All of the cabinets, doors, and anything else that was not painted, or replaced, had to be wiped down.  Even considered replacing all of the hvac duct work.  Finally, in the end, after all of the hard work, I say 98% of the smell was gone.  I on the other hand who is not a smoker, still could smell something. 

 

Funny thing is, the next buyer which the deal went through, was a smoker.

[Peace]

I sprayed every square inch of our house before we moved in.  If I could cut in worth a flip, I could've been through faster rolling.  When you are doing finish coats, prep for spraying takes a long, long time.  ... maybe spray your primer and have a paint party to roll/brush the finish coats.

[peejman]

I think I'm about to have to do this in my kids bathroom. The whole room smells like pee and it's driving me crazy!

[maroonandwhite]

Well we just about have it clean and I can tell the smell is fading. I cleaned the carpets yesterday and the wife has cleaned every room but the living room top to bottom. I am for sure going to Kilz and paint the ceilings and probably just kilz everything. It's almost scary how nasty this house was even though it seemed relatively clean. It really does feel like a different house now that it's clean.

[wileecoyote]

If anyone ever has smoke, pet, or other serious odors inside a home, you need to use a commercial ozone generator and run it for several cycles when the house is closed up and vacant. It removes / destroys the odor causing particles, doesn't filter or mask them. It's hard to find a high strength commercial generator without spending a fortune, especially in the US where they are somewhat regulated, but I have a great unit and it works perfectly. It generates so much ozone you need to be careful, because it is not good for breathing in such high concentrations, and it can attack and break down most types of rubber materials. So you just set it up on a 2 hour timer in a central room with the hvac fan running and then go shopping. It smells like a rain forest after a thunderstorm when you return.