Heavy smoker rehab

[Jeff B.]

Looking at a house that has been owned by very heavy smokers. Overall the house is in poor condition and is a short sale. Nothing that scares me, except the fact that the walls, ceilings, heating ducts, windows, EVERYTHING has a very heavy coating of cigarette smoke. What is the best way of remediating the smoke? I know I can use Kilz on the walls and ceilings, but what about the ducts and the insides of everything else in the house? Is it something that I'd have to get a company like Servepro to come in and do a thorough cleaning or are there other options?

House is in an area of 130k homes (all similar) and has a shortsale price of 70k. Rehab is probably 12k-15k plus whatever the smoker cleanup would cost. It would likely rent for 1100.

[Steve M.]

I am in the midst of one right now .... A heavy cigar smoker lived in this house for 13 years ... We are talking piss yellow EVERYTHING from all the tar in the cigars.

Do NOT use oil based or water based Primer such as kilz. The yellow tinge will eventually come right back through and the smell will have never been locked in from the beginning.

These are what you need to completely rid the house of smells & color distortions.

Zinser BIN SHELLAC (Alochol Based) Primer:
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&q=Zinsser+BIN&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=9180131921643511145&sa=X&ei=cDLZTfe6AsuDtgfX743pDg&ved=0CDYQ8wIwAg&biw=1680&bih=869#

You will also need an ozone generator. This is the one I picked up.
http://cgi.ebay.com/OZ-2000-Ozone-Generator-2000mg-hr-New-Technology-/260760622946?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb68b5762

Ozone Generators break up smoke particles, they also kill mold, mildew, & bacteria. Its actually what mold companies use when restoring a flood house, etc... (Make sure to read the safety precautions)

We are currently at about 95% fresh smelling now (and thats without being fully painted or even flooring in at this point). The only lingering smoke smell is coming from the kitchen area. We'll use another 2-3 ozone generator treatments, and paint/flooring should take care of the rest.

Here's an example of the yellow tinge I am talking about :) The wife has been blogging about this. We are doing about 90% of the rehab ourselves. We're using this house as a learning experience so the next time we need to do a rehab, we can sub it out and know exactly what needs to be done, and the time involved, so we can get more competitive bids.

EDIT: Pictures aren't working for some reason? I'll try and fix so you can see what I'm talking about

If you have any more questions, would love to help out if you need it! Best of luck!