How to remove previous owner's 20 years of smoking smell?

Question

Hello BP Nation,

We have a property in Gilbert, AZ purchase about a year ago.  We are looking to sell but there is an ingrained smoking odor from previous owner's 20 years of smoking.  Our agent could smell it right away when checking out the property. She recommended getting a quote from professional cleaning company that will the air ducts, vents, etc.  She also stated we will need to repaint with some kind of coating, and that still isn't a guarantee the smell will be gone.  Any other suggestions on how to remove the smoking smell?

Thanks,

Jimmy

Jimmy Hong · Answer

Understood, thanks again @Matt Devincenzo and Account Closed .

Matt Devincenzo · Answer

Yes if it has central A/C definitely get the vents and ducts cleaned, as well as having the air handler serviced and coils cleaned. the tar gets on everything so it really is just wash down everything to the best you can prior to starting to repaint. It's amazing to see this stuff, when you clean the windows there will literally be tar on the glass. So just clean clean clean, like Account Closed mentioned you can use TSP to wash everything. It's a really harsh chemical but will help strip everything off before you get to repainting.

Account Closed · Answer

I don't have any special insight as to what to do, but I just rehabbed a townhouse that smelled as though the prior owner had been smoking four packs a day for twenty years without ever opening the doors or windows. It was bad. After replacing all of the carpets, removing three layers of wallpaper, and painting the whole house, it is 95% better, but still lingeringly musty. I'm under contract; the new buyers are also smokers. So, I didn't have to take any major steps to remedy the issue, but I am interested to hear others' tips.

My real estate agent said that there is some chemical that you can put on the walls and literally watch the nicotine run out of the walls (don't recall the name). He apparently had a client that had success with it.

Jimmy Hong · Answer

Thanks Kristine Marie Poe

Roy N. · Answer

Our experience has been that in cases where there has been prolonged smoking by the prior occupants, the only way to rid the most affected areas of the odour and harmful residues accumulated on exposed surfaces is to gut these parts of the property back to the studs.

In our worse case, previous owner had smoked in the house for ~30yrs.  The room where she read had a brown spot on the ceiling over her reading chair which radiated to yellow the further you got from the epicentre.   The sheetrock and finishes in this room, and two others, were so saturated with smoke residue that we gutted back to the studs (even removing cellulose insulation that was in the external wall cavities) and refinished.   The rest of the property received a through scrubbing, "Binning" with Zinsser, and repainting along with replacement of all carpet.

If faced with this nature of contamination again, we would plan a full gut of the property (and make our offer accordingly), especially in light of some recent studies showing that painting / resurfacing only contains the toxins for a time and they eventually make there way back to the surface where they are absorbed by the new inhabitants ... especially small children.

Randy F. · Answer

There is often an oily residue in ductwork that cannot be removed. Cleaning of ductwork removes dust. Duct cleaning should be followed by running ozone thru system at all return air intakes. Remove filters and wire fan to run continuous. Close up house and let ozone machine run full blast for about twelve hours in each room with a return air duct. Smaller apts may only need machine run in one main area and will circulate adequately thru all ductwork.

I think every investor should own an ozone machine. They also work great for removing new paint smells and running them a few hours before an open house makes for a fresh, clean smell and feel for prospective buyers.

Shane Johnson · Answer

I second the duct cleaning and filter change, based on experience, and all the other threads i just read about this last night :)

Jimmy Hong · Answer

Thanks @Matt Devincenzo , @shane

@Shane Johnson undefined, and @Matt M. , so no need to get air ducts and vents professionally cleaned?