Smoker Rehab: Keys to Success with Tobacco Smoke! (Before/After Pics)

[Steve M.]

This house was finished quite a while ago, and I meant to post a topic on this, but I completely forgot until I started going through some old photo's on the SD card.

Background of the House: 14 years old, original owner, heavy cigar smoker/alcoholic that would literally put cigar butts out on the carpet and left THOUSANDS of bottles (empty and half full) everywhere spilling over. I felt overwhelmed at first, but quickly changed my tune once we figured out what worked.

We were originally going to make this house a rental, but decided against that about 30 days in to the rehab. It was a bit further away than I had wanted, and the neighborhood was a bit rougher than I had originally hoped. Either way, we turned it in to a flip, and I'm happy we did.

Getting Rid of Cigar/Cigarette/Tobacco Smoke:
1) Ozone Generator: You absolutely NEED an Ozone Generator. Don't fall for the $1000+ gimmicks. We got ours on ebay, from a place that makes them. We paid $229. Good for up to 3500 sq feet or so. Warning: Ozone can be hazardous to your or your pets health. Please make sure to read warnings & allow enough time for ozone to dissipate before getting back in house.

2) B-I-N Shellac-Based Primer (Zinnser Brand) This will seal absolutely everything. As many know, tar from tobacco smoke tends to peak through after several weeks/months and your white's start to yellow. Shellac Paint absolutely seals everything up. 16 months AFTER sealing with BIN, there was still no yellowing.

3) Time: This is in regards using the Ozone Generator. To fully eliminate, we used it on/off for about a month. We moved it room to room, and eventually set it up to the HVAC intake and had it pumped through the entire house. Along with the Shellac-Based Primer & new flooring -- Smoke smell & stain's were no more.

Some Before & Afters are below. Being our first LARGE rehab, we decided to keep things relatively simple. Rehabs from here on out should be quite a bit prettier & unique :)

These first few will show what sort of damage yellow/brown cigarette smoke/tar can really do. The pictures after are simply before and afters!

Enjoy & special thanks to J Scott! Had a few q's along the way that he was more than happy to help with!

And Before & Afters :)

Any questions, please feel free to ask! I hope this helps others that may be considering heavy smoked in homes :)

[Steve M.]

Thanks Jon,

Sure, I can give an abbreviated cost breakdown, with a quick summary of what & why.

First, bought this house in April of 2011. My goal was to have it rented prior to August. I wanted to try and do as much work as possible, as I have absolutely ZERO construction/remodeling background. I wanted to use this house as a learning experience. Bidding/Negotiating process, laying paint, flooring, etc... I figured 3-4 months was plenty of time to get the house ready.

In the first 30 days, I had a VERY uneasy feeling with the neighborhood. The *hood* checked out find on zipskinny and from my own research (the housing market) -- but I couldn't shake the feeling. Fast forward 2 months -- A crackhead (literally) moved in next door. I was very concerned for the property at that point, and I wanted to move it instead of hold on to it.

Cost Breakdown
Buying Price: $110,000 [cash purchase]
Rehab: $26,500 [cash]
Holding Costs: $3,100 [Tax/Insurance/Utilities]
Selling Price: $158,000 [ARV: $160k] [Tax ***: $186k]
Concessions/Commission/Fee's: $10,700

Profit: $7,700

Pretty darn good considering I didn't go in to it wanting it to be a flip. I was hoping for $10k+, but just being positive after my first I consider a success.

Quite a few things learned along the way, and I held it MUCH longer than I wanted to. I held it for a total of 15 months. [Wedding, Wife Pregnancy, Birth of First born, running my own business] all took priority. I could do the same rehab today and have it done within 30 days. Luckily, we paid cash for everything so our holding costs (although 15 months long) were relatively cheap. Spent way too long originally trying to clean everything (cabinets/flooring/etc...) when it would have been smarter to simply replace.

Unexpected Expenses:
1) Shellac Primer is TWICE as expensive as your standard KILLZ.
2) HVAC/Water Heater needed to be replaced
3) Hidden subfloor leak in kitchen & near fireplace

Everything else was relatively straightforward.