Buying a smokers house

poppasmurf_bewdley

When I gave up smoking (32 years ago now) I had to wash all the curtains, clean the carpets and paint the woodwork and walls before I finally got rid of the smell of stale tobacco.

Best thing I ever did though! I worked it out that I have saved more than £30k at current prices. How's that for saving money?

soolin

I rented a place that previously had been rented for 40 years to a heavy smoker many many years ago, luckily it was for only a few months and the landlord was happy to get us to do major repairs in return for stupidly low rent.

It was lucky they did as we had to strip everything, including paper from the ceiling. We got the floorboards professionally cleaned as the smell even lingered there, every bit of painted door frame or door had to be burnt back to wood before repainting. We transformed a brown dingy cave , even the bedroom was thick with tar, into a bright shiny living space that looked twice as big.

I would think twice about buying from a heavy smoker unless the house price reflected serious work needing to be done. I would not pay top whack for a nicely decorated refurbished house knowing I was going to have to strip it all out.

carefullycautious

If it is double glazed with White PVC windows don't forget to wash them all. I moved into a flat where the occupants sat by the windows to smoke, there were cigarette burns on every one on the inside. The windows were filthy and it took me ages to clean them, shudder!

I would never go into anywhere again where there was nicotine stains yuk!!!

whomy5

Hi,


we bought our house last year and are still in the process of doing it up as like other posts have bought it from a man who had lived in it 35 years and smoked and it needed completely updating.


Like others have said plenty of sugar soap and elbow grease should do it, we have got rid of all the curtains that were left, carpets removed too its amazing by just removing these things took away the smell. We've had various parts of our house decorated and so far the worst has been the kitchen which has taken some effort to get rid of the nicotine stains but luckily the house no longer has any odour of cigarettes anymore, I wouldn't let it stop me buying a house if you really like it.


Good Luck"

flora48

We bought our house 3 years ago, the old boy who had lived there had smoked 80 a day and it was very evident. However it did not put us off as we were planning a refurb anyway. As soon as the curtains and carpets were in the skip the smell drastically reduced and after all the wallpaper, all15 different designs, was removed and all walls and ceilings emulsioned over there is not a trace. If this is the house you want go for it but be prepared for hard work and/ or extra costs and offer accordingly.

Bantex_2

I wouldn't worry about decoration, chances are you will be dead within a year of moving in.

moneyistooshorttomention

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

When I gave up smoking (32 years ago now) I had to wash all the curtains, clean the carpets and paint the woodwork and walls before I finally got rid of the smell of stale tobacco.

Best thing I ever did though! I worked it out that I have saved more than £30k at current prices. How's that for saving money?

I am relieved to hear that painting woodwork was sufficient (rather than having to strip off all paint first and then repainting woodwork) and that cleaning the carpets was also sufficient. I am replacing every single carpet in the place and just painting the woodwork in the ordinary way and am a little concerned, at present, that I still catch occasional "whiffs", when there are two old carpets to throw out and a bit of woodwork still to repaint at present.

I am anticipating that all the smell should have gone once those last 2 carpets are gone and the last of the woodwork painted.

I've put up what I call "fake ceilings" affixed to all the original ceilings (as they all had anaglypta on and this was commonly advised as the best way to deal with them).

Hopefully, that will be enough to complete the "make the place fresh" project. I've had to do a lot of work to the place as it is that doesn't fall within the realms of what I consider "reasonable", so really would not relish having to go even further to make the place be "normal".

Soleil_lune

The smell will linger for weeks. But it will go.

patricia..xx

I think it could linger a fair while. We looked at somewhere that had been empty about a year, no carpets or curtains and you still noticed it. Either it had faded, or the guy was a pipe smoker, as it didn't offend me like smoke normally does, just reminded me of my grandad.

I suspect the place we saw needed all the plaster off and the floorboards up - there were no soft furnishing for it to be lingering in. It was a shame as that tipped it from a project (shove in bathroom, kitchen and carpets) to a strip it back to its bare bones house. It was priced way above what it should have been