Rental smells like cigarette smoke! How to get rid of the smell?

[Jorge J Gonzalez]

Just bought a new rental but the previous owner smoked a pack a day.  The whole place smells like cigarette smoke.  Painted the whole place but didn't even change the smell.  The carpeting is only about one year old and I don't want to replace it if I don't have to, any suggestions?

[Nathan Gesner]

Try using an ozone generator.

I bought one to use with rentals. It removes odors from smoking, pets, food, teenage boys, etc.

I purchased an apartment complex and one of the units had smokers in it for over 30 years. I had the walls steam cleaned, removed the flooring, and washed everything. It still stunk to high heaven. Every time I went in the place, my mouth would have an odd taste for hours.

I ran the ozone generator for 12 hours then aired the place out for a couple hours. I did it a second time and now the smoke odor is completely gone.

I've also used this in rentals with pet odors. It always dramatically reduces the smell and usually gets rid of it completely. When turning over a unit, I charge the Tenant $50 for every treatment. My generator paid for itself in a couple months and now it's a profit machine!