Buying Smokers House - Cleaning Options

Kat1e

We are looking at buying a property that has been heavily smoked in. The stale smoke smell is really really strong. The furnishings in the property are pretty good though so we wouldn't be looking to change them immediately. We're thinking about using a company to professionally clean the house before we moved in. We've found a company online that says it can guarantee 100% cigarette smoke odour removal. Has anyone else used a company for this issue and if so were you satisfied with the end result? What kind of costs were involved as funnily enough they are not stated on this particular site?

AdrianC

If you're buying a property, furnishings wouldn't normally come with it - and the smell will be strongest in any soft furnishing.


I guess you're looking at https://www.idealresponse.co.uk/cigarette-smoke-odour-removal/ or similar? That is NOT going to be at all cheap...


"Guaranteeing" 100% is strong wording, and I bet there's a lot of small print around it. You can probably do as good a job by simply stripping everything soft - carpets, curtains etc - out and binning them, then giving the entire place a VERY good wash-down with a strong sugar-soap solution, stronger than if you were simply decorating. I suspect the first few washes will result in truly horrible water in short order.

Slinky

We borrowed an airbed off a colleague of my husband once. His colleague was a pipe smoker. We only spent one night on it and that was enough. You will struggle to remove smoke smells to the point a non-smoker can't notice them.


We had a tenant smoke in one room only of our house, it lingered long after he'd gone.


Don't know why you're assuming the furnishings (unless you're talking about carpets and curtains) are staying in the house? But believe me, you won't want them.

LandyAndy

As others have said, throw away everything soft and scrub everything that's left. Good luck. I wouldn't consider a house that had been heavily smoked in.

pinkshoes

A friend of mine bought a house that belonged to an old couple who were VERY heavy smokers.

After scrubbing walls and floors (all carpets, curtains etc... binned) the smell was still there and it had soaked into the plaster in the living room.

He ended up having to replaster the lounge!!!

poppasmurf_bewdley

I was a smoker when I moved into my first Housing Association flat.

I gave up smoking after about four years of living there, but ultimately got fed up with the pervading smell.

In the end, I had to re-emulsion the walls, wash the curtains and have the carpets cleaned before the smell eventually went away. Fortunately, the sofas, etc, were mainly leather so much easier to deal with.

System

If the current occupiers are heavy smokers then no amount of cleaning will remove the smell.


If the carpets are of a good quality you have a chance of removing the majority but it will always be in the background. The walls and ceiling will have to be sealed and painted.

[Deleted User]

Odour removing substances like baking soda and white vinegar are good to use as they eliminate odours rather than just masking over them like some other cleaning products.

Use a white vinegar / water mix to wipe all non-fabric surfaces down (worktops, windows, appliances etc)

Shampoo your carpets either by renting a cleaner or getting a professional in to do it.

Sprinkle baking soda over your carpets and leave for a day. It will soak up any odours and moisture. Repeat if needed.

BarryBlue

LandyAndy wrote: »

As others have said, throw away everything soft and scrub everything that's left. Good luck. I wouldn't consider a house that had been heavily smoked in.

I'm with you there. Smokers' houses are disgusting and the smell pervades for ever, even in plaster. We would not even consider buying such a place. When we have looked at properties in the past, we have on occasions turned up for a viewing and not got beyond the hall when it is so obvious. One couple answered the door and were both puffing away, and seemed a bit surprised when the viewing didn't get past the front door.

What is annoying is that it is a waste of everyone's time to turn up for such a viewing. Estate agents should make it clear prior to viewing that a property is smoke-tainted so that you can eliminate it from your search straight away.

bouicca21

Friends bought a smoke tainted flat. No soft furnishings. Sugar soap (lots), elbow grease and fresh paint did the trick.

Candyapple

You need to get money taken off the asking price or be prepared to pay out a lot of money yourself. The house we bought was heavily smoked in by not 1, but 3 smokers. Every. Single. Room.

We are non-smokers. We cleaned the house from top to bottom doing 1 room per day and going over it multiple times and this was over 7 days. I am OCD with cleaning and I bet you most cleaners wouldn’t even bother going to the depths I did. I’m talking from the ceiling down to every wall, every orifice such as radiators, light bulb area, doors, crevices you name it. Washing down the surfaces with multiple cleaning fluids, airing the rooms and then repeating. I can show you videos of the nicotine/tar stains running down everywhere. The smell was horrific. Ours was wooden flooring downstairs and carpet upstairs.

We had to throw away all the blinds and curtains they left behind and ended up ripping up all the carpet even though we paid £200 to get them professionally cleaned. Even now, months later, when we walk into the house, that faint smell of stale smoke lingers. Doesn’t matter how long you keep the windows open for – nothing gets rid of it. We thought we would test out repainting a room upstairs to see if that would help – nope can still smell faint smoke.

We are going to have to re-plaster every single room, re-skim the ceilings, redecorate with new paint etc. and put down new carpets upstairs and wooden flooring downstairs. So factor that into your costs. If you are a non-smoker, trust me it will annoy you so much to be in your lounge trying to relax and all you can smell is stale cigarette smoke.