Help remove the smell of cigarettes from the walls

[Chriss Mattew]

Hello everyone! I know that the forum is related to woodworking, this is my hobby! But my question is not related to this topic, I rented a room at a very attractive price, but it is in a terrible state, it feels like 100 packs of cigarettes were smoked here a day, I have already removed all the wallpaper but the smell does not go away https://backyardconstants.com/ they wrote that it was possible to treat the walls with some kind of solution, but they did not indicate which one, I tried the primer but the smell remained !!!! SOS !!!!

[George Yetka]

Paint it and replace carpets

[roger wiegand]

Kilz primer (the shellac-based one) on the walls (and ceiling) prior to painting. Discard anything fabric (eg rugs, drapes, anything upholstered)

[Frank Pratt]

You need at least a couple of coats of paint, but not just any paint. It needs to be smoke seal, or a paint specifically made to seal odors & stains. Smoke smell will go right through regular latex house paint.

[Aaron Rosenthal]

Roger is correct. Kilz, alternatively Bullseye 1-2-3, Fresh Start (Benny Moore) or the sealant of Sherwin Williams (can't remember it's name)
Dump all soft surfaces, get everything scrubbed down with a vinegar based cleaner.

[Bill Dufour]

Wash the walls and ceiling down with vinegar. Leave plates of vinegar out in all rooms to vaporize.
I used a tank sprayer and a gallon of vinegar on a shag rug where the previous renter had dogs.
Bill D

[Alan Rutherford]

Get rid of anything fabric if you can. Baking soda is the traditional DIY deoderizer. I would rinse any surfaces you can with a strong solution of it. Leaving some behind in absorbent materials like rugs and curtains probably won't hurt but if you can't rinse it out or wipe it off, don't go wild with it. Can't hurt to do the wails before you paint them as long as they dry completely and aren't damaged by the water. They say you can leave dishes of it out to clear the air. That seems like wishful thinking but easy to try. You can soak sheets or towels in the baking soda solution and hang them like curtains if you're really desperate.

Then paint as already described.

[Rick Potter]

You didn't mention about getting permission to do it, so, just in case.........

Step one is to get written permission of landlord to do the work. Any changes are usually prohibited in the lease. Removing wallpaper is a big deal. Finding out that wallpaper was his grandmothers heirloom hand crafted wallpaper could get you on 'Judge Judy'.

[Adam Herman]

https://www.honeywellstore.com/store/products/honeywell-quietclean-tower-air-purifier-with-permanent-filters-hfd230bv1.htm

we had a smoke incident, and a couple of these took care of it quickly. get the charcoal pre filters. we now run them all the time and both breath better, sleep better and take less allergy meds.

[Frank Hagan]

Ozone generators are used in smoke damaged buildings and also in vehicles to get the smoke smell out. It's a lung irritant so you can't use them with people in the room. Check with a disaster recovery company like ServPro to see if you can rent one from them. Or you can buy a small unit from Cabela's for about $100.

[Frank Pratt]

Ozone generators are used in smoke damaged buildings and also in vehicles to get the smoke smell out. It's a lung irritant so you can't use them with people in the room. Check with a disaster recovery company like ServPro to see if you can rent one from them. Or you can buy a small unit from Cabela's for about $100.

For getting rid of odors, ozone is very hit & miss, usually miss. That's what the fire & flood restoration guys told me. And if there's enough ozone to break down the smelly compounds, there can be degradation in other surfaces in the home. It's actually pretty nasty stuff.

[Lon Crosby]

Ozone is used routinely in the hotel / motel industry and the used car industry. Yes, there is a human safety issue so read before using.

[Frank Hagan]

For getting rid of odors, ozone is very hit & miss, usually miss. That's what the fire & flood restoration guys told me. And if there's enough ozone to break down the smelly compounds, there can be degradation in other surfaces in the home. It's actually pretty nasty stuff.
They do use it in cars, running the machine a few hours with the air circulating. Some restoration companies have a room they will put furniture and other large items in and use ozone to remove smell. It's pretty effective for the cases I've seen. I had a client that was a restoration company and I saw some pretty amazing results.

[Chriss Mattew]

Thank you so much! We will now order soil

[Frank Pratt]

They do use it in cars, running the machine a few hours with the air circulating. Some restoration companies have a room they will put furniture and other large items in and use ozone to remove smell. It's pretty effective for the cases I've seen. I had a client that was a restoration company and I saw some pretty amazing results.

That's basically what a couple of restoration guys told me, but they said for some reason it just doesn't work in many cases. Probably has to do with the amount of stinky stuff that has built up on and in surfaces.

We went through this whole exercise when my FIL, who was a very heavy smoker, died & we had to sell his house. The ozone didn't help at all and that was with many days of running the generator.

[Alan Rutherford]

Ozone, at best, will help the air smell better. In the OP's situation, he's going to have to remove or encapsulate (paint) the residue as much as possible first and that's not going to be completely successful. After doing that if he stays in the place long enough in a year or so he'll be able to tell us what worked and what didn't.

I don't want to link to another site here, but if you Google "ozone EPA" (without the quotes) and look for the EPA's position on ozone generators as air cleaners, you'll find an in-depth discussion of their effectiveness and health risks.

[Jon Grider]

Lots of good remedies here. My anecdotal experience comes from a truck my son bought for a bargain price a number of years ago. Someone or something had died and decomposed for a while in that truck. The smell was horrendous. What worked was "Odoban" from Sam's club. We sprayed everything, fabric seats, headliner, carpet and all hard surfaces as well. After a couple of apps, the smell was gone. If you go this route, read the directions, IIRC the fumes are not healthy and take a while to dissipate.

[Leo Butler]

TSP (tri-sodium phosphate) is a very good smoke smell/stain remover. If you've removed the wallpaper and applied a primer to the walls and ceiling already, this won't help now. It will still help on any cabinets, doors, appliances, etc. Everything will be permeated by the smoke particles. Between the recommended primers and a FULL cleaning, it should improve the situation a lot but it will probably be a while before your nose can't detect anything.

Some friends of mine bought a house owned by a heavy smoker, and they had to have the "popcorn texture" on the ceiling removed, washed down all the walls with TSP which they said quickly turned the water in the bucket brown quickly, then primed and painted. Not fun, but it worked.

Good luck!

[Rick Potter]

I remember in the 1960's, washing the walls in the kitchen/living room of fire stations, and seeing yellow runnels of nicotine running down the walls. The walls in those days were all painted in Zolotone Whimsey Green gloss. With the battleship tile floors, we could actually hose them off. Extra 10 points if you know what Zolotone was.

I have clear memories of walking in to those rooms and seeing the smoke level, clearly just above the heads of the seated firemen. Many of these guys were WWII vets, one was on the Arizona. Our retirement system seemed to be based on the average fire guy dying within about 5-6 years of retirement, mandatory at age 60.

The good old days. Young guy, working at a hot house.

[Bill Dufour]

The heating ducts and air handler will be coated inside.
Bill D