Can You Help?

Re: stale cigarette smell in home

Polka Dot — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:59:11 GMT

I was so glad to see the posts, from Sunny and Pat's unregistered reader, about Odo-Ban. I felt I have been like a broken record, on the Net singing this product's praises. I have used this product for a long, long time. ( I was introduced to the product, at a demonstration at Sam's Club 15- 20 years ago?) I buy the gallon concentrated solution container. ( Still about $10/gallon and lasts forever cause a little goes a long way) Anyway, I have "rescued" a deep freezer; a used car from a heavy smoker; used in the sick room. For the car I wipe down the entire interior, (roof, seats, carpeting, panels) then used a "steam" cleaner (hot water vacuum) machine on the seats, carpet. I did this 2 times. Got rid of all the cigarette smell. Had that little Toyota for 15 years- cried when we sold it.- it went to a good home though.

You might look into having the furnace/air conditioning duct systems thoroughly cleaned by a pro.

Re: stale cigarette smell in home

cheapChic — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:46:20 GMT

when I smoked I was one bad person ok at the time I was married we did it in the house maybe a year I saw yellow when I get cleaning the house it was out side smoking period of course my dum hubby smoked in the office with the computer I had to replasce it once every two years that bozo never learned so if there is smoking 10 ft away from house not around buildings period you have to rtip out everything which is so costly its not worth it I rather have a clean period ok I have a phoibic thing going on glad I don't smoke anymore.

Re: stale cigarette smell in home

sissy — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 01:43:31 GMT

Yes Im a smoker but never inside or near the door my deli if near the door I won't serve them if they smoke near the door at least toft away from the building ... You have to have the carpet ripped out and new carpet and painting the walls you need latex that is a good paint go to lowes or homedepot for that tell them about it on your letter the paint on the walls need cleaned lff and a repaint never in my life would I smoke inside or near children.. and try different vinagers boil it with water in a pot for about ten or 15 minutes this may not help but Im afraid its been such along time that everything needs to be replaced even in my condo aprtment I moved to a non smoking place if Im desperate for a smoke I go to the parking lot out side good enough I hate the smell inside homes gross.

Re: stale cigarette smell in home

mommatothree — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:14:17 GMT

We live in a rental and the tenants before us were obviously heavy smokers. We've lived here over 7 years and I still smell smoke sometimes, especially after getting the carpets cleaned. I know that the landlord didin't thoroughly wash the walls before painting, he's not a super thorough kind of guy. We still get nicotene residue that leaches through the walls, when you wipe them down if you see light yellow residue on your rags that is what it is. When the house gets super hot it'll also set off the smell occasionally. I would recommend washing the walls down really well with TVP, although you might want to test first to see if it'll lift your paint (it might). It's heavy duty stuff and really helps to strip down walls, if you would have done that before painting them that would have probably helped some. Maybe you need to consider replacing your insulation, if hubby can smell it in the attic then I'm sure the residue has saturated it. You really do want to try and eliminate it as opposed to masking it, especially since it gets worse in the heat which means it's not airborne and is instead settled into the walls, flooring, insulation, etc.

Re: stale cigarette smell in home

gayla50 — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 21:39:24 GMT

we had a rental that was horrible .... we end up tearing out walls . and we hired professional painters ..

Re: stale cigarette smell in home

littlepitcher — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:13:24 GMT

Tar and nicotine really do soak into wallboard. We have one rental where the tenant and his crew chainsmoked for over 2 years, and three wall-washings with straight undiluted Mr Clean and two coats of primer/three coats of contractor white were applied before the tar finally stopped bleeding through the paint.

Commercial cleaning chemical houses have a special compound to remove cigarette odor, and it is not cheap. Best odor control I've found so far is Hill Mfg of Atlanta's Blue Bouquet II Concentrated Odor Control. It can be diluted as much as 1/32. I finally had to use it at 50% strength on a flooded, soured carpet which was still stinking 3 weeks dry, but one spraying and airing took care of it.

Re: stale cigarette smell in home

karenteacher — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:01:52 GMT

Newspapers - crumpled up to increase the exposed surface area - is also very good at absorbing odors, as is activated charcoal, along with the baking soda mentioned previously. If your husband is smelling smoke odor in the attic, then it's probably in the insulation - so whatever you use needs to be used there. Be very careful of fire risk, however, if you put anything - especially paper - in the attic.

Re: stale cigarette smell in home

ajiis54 — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:58:23 GMT

Air Purifier is absolutely the simpliest step to remove smoke permanently. i've bought one for vehicles here: http://www.flpcorporate.com/cgi-bin/products.pl?products.category=Air%20Cleaners&_layout=Air%20Cleaners&_cgifunction=search and it works absolutely great

Re: stale cigarette smell in home

sewingirl — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 00:39:57 GMT

My BIL lives in an apartment building where one of the units had to be stripped back to the studs to get rid of odor. The previous tenant had smoked in there for over 20 years. The manager told him that it was cheaper in the end to do this, than spend lots of time trying other sloutions that might not work, they needed that unit rented to pay the bills. Sometimes, maybe nothing else will work.

Re: stale cigarette smell in home

Pat — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 20:42:04 GMT

(Posted for an unregistered reader)

When we bought homes with cigarette odor: we put out "OdoBan", "removed" all old carpet/pad/fabric & tossed it & "scrubbed" every surface we could access, then we "painted" every paintable surface. Cigarette smoke leaves a film on things, & you can see your cleaning water discolor as you are scrubbing surfaces. Scrubbing seems to be one of the best ways to remove the film (& scent).

In one (odoriferous) trailer the wood paneling was pulled apart from the wall. I put OdoBan on pieces of tissue paper & put it behind the panneling before fastening the paneling to the wall, & put pieces of tissue with OdoBan throughout the trailer, including in the floor vents, (we weren't using the heater.) When we were done I removed any bits of paper lying about & the paper in the vents.

Using an ionizing air cleaner may help. Febreze is helpful in dispensing odors too. Depending on what is under the house, a check under there could be helpful. OdoBan (again) can be placed in crawl space. If the crawl space is deep & has plastic covering the dirt, it might be helpful to replace the plastic...

Ann

Re: stale cigarette smell in home

Sunny — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 21:23:13 GMT

I've used this product called OdoBan which I purchased at my local Costco. My car had the stale cigarette smell from the days when I smoked. I put half a cup into a plastic cup and placed it on the floor of the car for a few days and it absorbed the smell. I did the same for my garage that had a musty odor. A co-worker placed a cup in with a television tightly sealed in a trash bag to remove the cigarette smell from the television. Another wiped her walls with it to remove cigarette smell to sell home.

Its made by Clean Control Corporation.

Re: stale cigarette smell in home

TizzyLizzy — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 02:37:02 GMT

I hate to say it, but you may always smell it from time to time - especially if you've never personally smoked and/or have a sensitive sniffer :-) It almost seems to get into the actual wallboard and framework of a house. I've used lots of bowls of vinegar throughout the house, washing down every surface reachable, putting in moisture with a humidifier and pulling it out with a de-humidifier, but like you, I can still smell it when the place gets hot or when I've been away a few days and first come in the door. And we've lived here over 20 years!

If your hubby smells it upstairs, could it be in the insulation? Maybe you could replace that a little along and that would help... I wish I had more advice for you...Liz

Re: stale cigarette smell in home

Pat — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 19:45:42 GMT

Is the house carpeted? If it is, try sprinkling baking soda over it and let it set over night, then vacuum it up. If that isn't it, try setting several shallow dishes (like dessert plates) around with white or apple cider vinegar in them. That should absorb the odor over a couple of days.

I'm sure there are other ways of doing it, though.

stale cigarette smell in home

brenda — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 19:31:59 GMT

I just bought a house that has a really bad stale cigarette odor. I've painted the walls and ceilings with two coats of paint, and replaced all light fixtures, flooring and window treatments. I thought that would do the trick, but the house still smells, especially in the afternoon when the house warms up. I thought it might be coming from the air ducts, but my husband doesn't smell anyting in there. He does smell it in the attic, though. Has anyone succeeded in removing the smell completely? Could it be in the walls? Please help