New house- inherited bad smells

brownsauce

Hi

I've just moved into my first home today. Unfortunately there were bad tenants in there and the whole house stinks of wet dog smells and smoke.
I've just hoovered the front room and it's filled an entire nag with dust and hair. The smell is still lingering.

Any ideas?

pollypenny

We had a similar thing. It was straight out with the carpets left behind. Lots of airing. Then new paint seemed to do the trick.

rosie383

After a relative of mine died, there had been some mess and the place reeked. I sprinkled copious amounts of bicarb all over the carpets, left it overnight and hoovered it up the next morning with amazing results. Better than any of the carpet cleaners had done.

Evil_Olive

I use a strongly scented cheapo bio clothes washing powder (smartprice or everyday value or similar) and scatter it over the carpet, brush it in lightly with a soft broom, leave overnight, or longer if you can and then hoover up. Might be worth a try.

If not, a steamer might get rid of a more stubborn smell and will sanitise the carpet as well. Check that the carpet will take it first.

From what you say about the amount of ick your hoover got up, the dirt that's causing the smell is probably very ground in. To get rid of this I think you might need to use a vax or other carpet washer type thing to get as much as possible of that dirt out.
Or else get rid of the carpets completely as pollypenny says?

SpikyHedgehog

The other thing to do is wash down all the walls, skirting boards, doors... I remember having to help do the deep clean of the 'front room' when dad had a lot of smoking friends round, & the buckets of soapy water needed changing more in there than as we did the rest of the house.

Are the curtains, blinds etc yours (& therefore clean) or did they come with the house (& thus need cleaning/replacing)?

Callie22

We've just bought a house and we've inherited some 'interesting' smells. We completely scrubbed the house from top to bottom at least twice, and then we cleaned the carpets with a carpet cleaner - we're planning on doing some work in the house and we didn't want to replace the carpets and then have them ruined, so what's there will have to do for now. After a few goes with the carpet cleaner (and scrubbing by hand in some places) they're smelling much fresher.

We also painted right through after scrubbing the walls - again it's a temporary fix but it really did help the smell, as did getting rid of the old vertical blinds. Also, don't underestimate how much of a difference you can make by airing the house. Get the windows open as much as possible and it does make a difference (although it's a pain at this time of year). Regular cleaning does help too - our bathroom was vile but we bleached it to within an inch of its life and now, when we're cleaning it regularly a couple of times a week, most of the smell has gone.

[Deleted User]

If the house is rented the landlord should have had the place cleaned before you moved in. Did you rent through an agent??? If so contact them and ask for the house to be cleaned.

bluebag

Washing down walls and paintwork with sugar soap will help get rid of the nicotine smell and stains.

Bicarb sprinkled on carpets, left overnight and hoovered up next day. Leave a few bowls of cheapest vinegar out overnight too to absorb smells.

brownsauce

Thanks guys. We borrowed a friends carpet cleaner and im gonna do clean it with that tomorrow. I think it's mainly the walls that are smelling now. I'll try the sugar soap during the week on the walls.

Debran

Make sure you wear rubber gloves if using sugar soap.

hieveryone

Lots of bowls of white vinegar dotted around the place, maybe with some essential oils added. Replace frequently.

Vinegar smell will dissipate leaving a 'nothing' smell.