Buying a house previously owned by a heavy smoker?

Eldi_Dos

Start from top down, remove all insulation and any pipe lagging in the loft and let air till October before replacing, if there is an extractor fan leave on as much as possible and as others have said Sugar soap and elbow grease. Personally I would renew radiators as no matter how much you clean them when heating comes on they seem to release that smoking smell. Will not be a quick fix but house sounds as if it worth the effort.

Martin_the_Unjust

deannagone said:

Martin_the_Unjust said:

‘To remove smoke (and the smell) from walls, furniture and floors, use a mild soap or detergent or mix together 4 to 6 tbsp. tri-sodium phosphate and 1 cup household cleaner or chlorine bleach to every gallon of warm water. Wear rubber gloves. Be sure to rinse surfaces with clear warm water and dry thoroughly.’

Thats advice for cleaning smoke damaged walls and surfaces after a fire, should work equally well in the circumstances you describe.

……The OP was asking for how to clear cigarette smoke from a property, not smoke damage from a fire.

I am fully aware (more so than you apparently) of what the OP was asking thank you.
My original post contained practical advice on how to remove cigarette smell and smoke, the dangers of cleaning up after a house fire are irrelevant to this thread.

GDB2222

MIL was a heavy smoker, and we could not even give away her furniture. The property itself was an easier matter. We washed then sealed all the paintwork, followed by two coats of paint. Carpets and curtains were thrown out. Likewise, light fixtures and anything else that could easily be removed. The biggest problem was the built in wardrobes and kitchen units, which we just kept washing. Lots of stuff had a thin layer of tar on it. 

LAD917

I once bought a house from two smokers who had six Rottweilers in 900 square feet.... Got an amazing price on it.

Adding another vote for Zinsser, and for sealing every paintable surface of the house with at least two coats.  You will likely need to change or paint (if possible) wardrobes and kitchen cabinets.  I agree with the poster who said change the radiators (I learned the hard way).  If you have wood floors, you probably want to sand and refinish them.

Be careful about tile, too.  Most natural stone is porous to some degree, and the smell can linger in there.  Whenever it rained, my kitchen would reek of cigarette smoke and wet dog smell even after doing all of the above. The only solution was to retile the floor.

All in all, I'd say this is a manageable situation, but be prepared for a game of "whack a mole" with the smell still emerging from time to time.

Cakeguts

We bought a house from an ex smoker  and the smell and the nicotine linger. 

What concerns me more about what you have written in your OP is that this house sounds too good to be true.  You don't get a big detached house in a large garden in a good area at a reasonable price even if it needs updating.  So there is going to be something that is putting people off and you will need to find out what that is.

Examples,

Electricity substation in garden or close to garden.

Overhead electricity cables from close by pylons

Neither of these have been proved to be health hazard but they will tend to hum so if you don't like intrusive noise that is a problem.

Main road/motorway close by use google maps satelite to check.

School nearby behind the fence/ or next door. Noise and inconsiderate parking.

Noisy shops or buildings behind house or planning permission for large block of flats nearby.  Someone posted about a flat that they had made on offer on a few days ago that had both of these behind the block as well as a cinema that I think is used as a gym.

Check local authority planning permissions.

There is a stream next to or through the garden or the house is build on a flood plain.  Both of these will increase risk of flooding which will make buildings and contents insurance much more expensive.

It is under an airport flight path. You may not realise this at the moment because of the reduced number of flights but next year you might need to wear earplugs inside the house. There are flight maps you can look at.

Because you already know that this house is priced cheaper than it should be for the area it is good idea to find out why that is before you make an offer because if the problem is putting a lot of people off then it might actually be too expensive.

Skiddaw1

For what it is worth, when I quit smoking many years ago I washed down all the paintwork with sugar-soap, had a good old scrub of all the wood work (we had wooden floors in the house we were living in at the time), washed or replaced all the rugs and curtains and cleaned all the windows. I wasn't that heavy a smoker and I didn't smoke in the kitchen or upstairs in the house, but I was amazed (and horrified) at the amount of nicotine staining there was. The odour soon cleared.

Ricky116

Has anyone used/can recommend a professional anti-smoke treatment company that could do a full top-to-bottom clean and de-odorisation service?

Ricky116

Oops, forgot to say in manchester! Cleaning painting plastering recarpeting seems very daunting, but I'm very worried about the smoke from the previous owners 

Anyanka1

Just googled Zinnser... If it's so great (as it seems to claim) why do you need to do all this cleaning before you use it?  Surely, after sugar-soaping etc. any paint would do the job?

Good luck, OP and let's hope it is only the nicotine which is driving down the price; I can imagine it would put off many potential buyers.

GDB2222

No, the tars from the smoke will bleed through most paints.