Does anyone know what will remove old nicotine stains that have build up over the years? My DS and DDIL are buying a foreclosure, and it needs a lot of work. 

There is a lot of ground in dirt on everything. Also, we need to deep clean old hardwood floors , (They may have to be refinished later ), and pine cabinets and bookshelves. Is murphys oil soap good for that?

Thanks,   Donna

donna england:

Does anyone know what will remove old nicotine stains that have build up over the years?

If they are on porcelain or sinks, denture tablets do a good job.  Youngest DD had 2 roommates that used her Corelle wear mugs for coffee & tea - - and GROUND the tea & coffee in the mug with a mortar!  She used denture tablet to clean them, & brought them home.

Murphy's oil is good butttt you need to wipe with a clean barely wet rag behind it with clean water and maybe dry clean towel to get the wood kind of dry murphy's oil is good to much of it lets say clean over and over again gives a build up in the renise water you can put half cup of white vinager to a gallon rinse water helps elimenate the build up of the soap and the film ..

I did that because Im an x heavey smoker and the nicotine stains are gross thats what got me to quit and seeing a friend die of  throat cancer and let alone yeah I did have cancer myself so at 45 I quit think of the stains its a kind of tar thats what Im told but always rinse with clean water after you do the furniture and wipe the excess water off with a clean rag then you have it made I had to do that at my house yeah its gross but better that way not to have people smoke in a home..

Thanks  zohnerfarms, I will try the denture tablets on the sink. The nicotine build up is worse in a half- bath, it is awful, the walls are partailly covered in a formica type wallboard, and I think it will have to be removed, it is so bad.

I have offered to help replaster the ceilings. Wish me luck on that one. Thanks, cheapchic for the advice on the murphys oil soap. Cleaning the woodwork should be one of the easiest of MANY projects that need done.

Donna

 I've cleaned up several vintage and antique sewing machines that were covered with a nicotine haze, and GoJo cream hand cleaner worked wonders.  This is a waterless hand cleaner usually sold in auto parts stores. It comes in two forms; the Cream doesn't have grit, the other version does. The Grit version will clean but it will also scratch, so you would not want to use it on a delicate surface. The Cream version is more gentle, but effective. The finish on the old sewing machines is called Japanning, similar to auto paint. 

Now that I've mentioned this, I wonder how this would work on the burnt on grease on a stove?  I just might have to give that a try.  

Edey

 Edey--I'll try the GoJo and denture tablets, or a chemical equivalent, on walls and report back.  Thank you for the hint--I can recall one place where I cleaned the walls three full times with Mean Green and Mr. Clean, and the smoking stains were so bad it took 2 coats of primer and three of paint to cover them!

 On some of the machines I worked on they had areas that I thought were rust but weren't, they were actually a build up of grime. It took tons of wiping, but then I tried a plastic knife and it just chipped off with no damage to the surface underneath.  I've used plastic knives on the stove top too, for burnt on grease, then followed up with a good cleaner. It went faster that way, using the knife to remove most of the grime.