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HA get 2 cats and a litter box that is a hoot.
I would say clean what you can and paint the rest. It could be dampness coming up from the basement through cracks in the floor so seal them. Old carpet, furniture anything made out of fabric can hold smells so clean it or toss it. If it was a smoking room the stink is in everything including light fixtures, plugs, etc..
If it is damp anywhere in the house try a dehumidifier. Above all Clean.
if you have a crawlspace under the house open it up and see if you smell the same thing there, you are prolly getting a musty smell, make sure the crawlspace is dry and you have thick plastic laid down and take the big ass landscape nails they are like 12 inches long and some fender washers and stake the plastic near the foundation walls as tight as you can , if you have gutters , get some extensions to route the water away from the hosue, if you don't have gutters, get some, You want to keep as much water from around the foundation as you can. wash the interior walls with TSP to get rid of any old smoker odors.
You could try getting a few bags of charcoal, split them open and leave them in the room for a few days. I did that when I had rental property and it worked pretty well to remove various smells.
We live in a 100y/o house. The smell is in the surfaces: Floors, walls, ceilings. Not just soft surfaces, but the hard ones too.
We sanded and refinished the hardwood floor. Smell highly diminished.
We re-sheet rocked painted some rooms, including the ceiling. Smell completely gone.
Any chance that you have any rooms, even in the basement with old asbestos floor tile? My house was built in the late 50s and had it throughout the basement. The house had an "old house" smell until I had all of the old tile removed, the floor scraped and painted or re-tiled. Made a huge difference.
Clean the house well ;thenrent a ozone machine but follow directrion especially about not running when you are there.IU have seen house floored that Ozone machine is last thing professional restores use
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