Getting rid of cigarette smoke

Emily_Joy

The house looked nice on the rightmove, but during the viewing it became apparent that the current owners are heavy smokers and have been smoking all over the house for about 15 years. I do not smoke (and never did) and my partner has an asthma. We cannot afford to have cigarette smoke in our home. My questions are (1) would it be appropriate to offer lower price taking into account we have to sort the problem out? (2) how much is it likely to cost to get rid of the smoke? The house in question is a detached from 1960s.  The (total) floor area is about 130 square meters. There are carpets on the first floor, but not on the ground floor.

JuzaMum

The smell/toxins will have permeated every porous surface, plaster, floorboards, etc. It's a pretty major refurbishment to get rid all that. I too hate the smell of smoke and have an asthmatic family. Unless the house is really special I'd keep looking. It's not just the cost it is also very stressful going through major works on your home.

RedFraggle

Cost of opening windows zero. That's the smoke gone. 
Cost of professional clean. Depends on area but couple of hundred tops for the average house. 
Getting rid of the lingering smell is more of a challenge. 
Impact to house value, none imo.
Impact on desirability, depends on the individual. 

anselld

It will need to be fully redecorated and new carpets and curtains, but then so will most places you would look to buy unless new build.

powerspowers

We redecorated our old house due to years of tenants smoking. There was woodchip everywhere that was stained brown. I remember sitting on top of a ladder trying to steam off the woodchip with brown nicotine condensation and running down my arm. It was absolutely minging and it would have to be the perfect house for me to do it again. I’d be looking at around £10k knocking off for decorating costs and like previous poster said, it’s disruptive and only you know if the property is worth it to you. 

MikeJXE

New soft furnishings, strip wallpaper scrub and redecorate 

Wait for time to pass 

ThisIsWeird

anselld said:

It will need to be fully redecorated and new carpets and curtains, but then so will most places you would look to buy unless new build.

I'd have thought that this would do it. 

The redecorating would need to be more intensive, of course - presumably all walls sugar-soaped, very possibly Zinssered, and then painted. All floor coverings renewed.

I would call this a great opportunity! The smell will surely put a lot of people off, and unless the house has clearly been discounted to allow for this necessary work (not even smokers would want to move into that!), then be looking to get a hefty discount based on the above - £10k min?

As Anselld says, you'd likely want to do this anyway to a new home, but most wouldn't be discounted to allow you to do so. This place potentially gives you the opportunity to have it exactly the way you want, at potentially no cost.

I'd call up a few recommended local painter&decorators, and ask them about smoker's damage/smell - they will surely have come across this a few times? Ask how they'd tackle, an assurance it would work, and come back here with what they say - I'm sure there's folks here who can advise.

(Perhaps also ask on the DIY forum here, as there's practical folk on there. But please mention it's a duplicate thread, and add the link to this one.)

mi-key

It's not really that hard to do. Steam clean carpets and curtains ( or get a company in to do them ), repaint walls if really bad. The smell will dissipate over time anyway. Wallpaper is a bit more of a pain as it tends to hold the smell more than paint. Those plug in air fresheners are also quite good for masking the smell until it fades.

It's all easy enough DIY stuff to do, and doesn't cost that much. 

MikeJXE

Thisisweird  said

I would call this a great opportunity! The smell will surely put a lot of people off, and unless the house has clearly been discounted to allow for this necessary work (not even smokers would want to move into that!), then be looking to get a hefty discount based on the above 


Smokers won't notice it smells 

mi-key

If you really love the house other than that, don't expect too much of a discount. It's pretty normal once you move in to change the carpets and curtains and decorate to your taste anyway, which will eleminate most of the problem, and buyers don't expect a discount for changing cosmetic things.

Also... could be the next person to view it is a smoker and not bothered by it, or a non smoker who is planning on refurbing anyway....

strawb_shortcake

We went to look a house to rent years ago which had previously been occupied by heavy smokers, every surface was stained from cigarette smoke including all the gloss work, we passed on that one also partly to have burnt mattress in the neighbours garden!

But I've also not bought a car in the past due to the smell of smoke so don't think I'd buy a house if it was that bad