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Hello. I'm a first-time home buyer searching for a house in the greater Seattle area.
I saw a house for sale that is thick with cigarette (or cigar or pipe) smoke inside -- the air, walls, wood floors, rug, kitchen ... everywhere. It's really heavy and I couldn't stay inside (I couldn't breathe).
So far, it looks like there aren't any other major problems with the house.
Here are my questions:
-- Is it impossible to get all of the smoke out? (Sorry to say that smoke really bothers me.)
-- Or, if it's possible to get it all out, how is it done for all the above, and what's a ballpark cost?
Thanks very much for your help from a first-time purchaser!
We rented a home that had a heavy smoke smell when we viewed it prior to renting. We decided to go ahead with it regardless hoping the landlord would take care of the odor somehow. He did new carpet and paint (plus a professional cleaning) and the smell was pretty much 90% gone when we moved in. Some airing out and opening windows for another week cleared it out completely.
I had a different experience. The former owner of our house smoked in the basement. We spent a few hundred dollars on a special cleaning service as well as repainted and I can still smell it. I spend at least one day a month washing down the walls and ceiling with various "odor-eliminating" solutions and it's STILL not 100%. It's better, but not eliminated. I imagine the people who claim that the smell is gone just get used to it. I'm only in the basement once a week to do laundry so whenever I'm down there, I notice it. And, yes, we open the windows to air it out.
Two possible solutions. Paint everything with Killz and then re-paint. Replace carpet. Or use OdoBan, found at Home Depot, on walls, furniture, carpet. Kills all odors.
Last edited by SouthernBelleInUtah; 08-13-2016 at 07:20 PM..
I had a different experience. The former owner of our house smoked in the basement. We spent a few hundred dollars on a special cleaning service as well as repainted and I can still smell it. I spend at least one day a month washing down the walls and ceiling with various "odor-eliminating" solutions and it's STILL not 100%. It's better, but not eliminated. I imagine the people who claim that the smell is gone just get used to it. I'm only in the basement once a week to do laundry so whenever I'm down there, I notice it. And, yes, we open the windows to air it out.
Your case is probably worse since it was smoking in the basement. The smoke most likely sank into all the subfloors of the house. Odors in sub floors are extremely difficult to get out, often requires replacing them which is very expensive. There are some enzyme cleaners you can try that might work, but you still would need to rip up whatever finishing on the floors there was (carpet, hardwoods, etc) to get to the subfloor.
Two possible solutions. Paint everything with Kiln and then re-paint.
The product's name is actually Kilz. Good stuff.
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