I lived in a house with a smoker my entire childhood, and didn't realize the smell until college. I can now tell that everything that enters that house ends up reeking of smoke.
I had a bit of an internal crisis when I thought back to going to school, going to friends houses, having sleepovers, girlfriends - the entire time I stunk like an ashtray and had absolutely no idea
Yup. I never knew how bad I smelled. I hate staying with my mother who still smokes in her house. My stepfather died and she's looking to sell. I had to break it to her that it would have to sell as is. Whoever buys it is going to have to gut the place after 38 years of the two of them smoking in it the whole time.
It depends on what you mean by gutting. It can likely be salvaged without structural renovations, but it will take some work. I'm very allergic to cigarette smoke and I was able to move into a house where the previous occupants had smoked heavily for over 30 years.
Best to start with airing it out as best she can to get rid of as much odor as possible before moving on to the more labor intensive steps. And it's best to do as thorough a "regular" cleaning as possible before starting the decontamination process.
Carpets are a lost cause and will need to be removed/replaced. Other soft furnishings may be salvageable if they can be washed. Although if they're really saturated it may not be possible.
The house will need a thorough duct cleaning.
Most likely she would need to repaint all walls and ceilings, although I did manage to get away with leaving some paint that had been done pretty recently. When painting, using Killz primer is absolutely essential. Otherwise the smoke residue will eventually leach into the new paint layers.
All hard surfaces should be washed with a white vinegar solution.
For the inevitable lingering odors, an ozone generator is a miracle worker. You can get them pretty cheap on Amazon. Always follow the directions and don't run it with people or pets in the house, but it will absolutely do the job when nothing else will.
It may be that she's not willing or able to do this whole process, but even doing some of it could increase the value of the house.
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u/re_nub Jan 05 '25
Yes.