removing smoke smell from a house
 

Has anyone ever tried to get the smoke smell out of a house where people had been smoking indoors?

I've got a rental house and my tenants of 2.5 years are moving out. The big surprise for me is I found out they've been smoking inside (were not supposed to) and now I'll have to get rid of the smoke smell before I rent it out again.

My current plan is to wash down the walls, ceiling, and kitchen cabinets. Then if it's still around, paint over everything with Kilz and repaint over that.

Has anyone had to do this and if so, what did you do, was it successful? Is it better to hire a smoke remediation company, or are they going to do the same stuff and charge a bunch for it?

Success to me is walking into the house and not being able to tell it was smoked in. That may not be realistic though.

I'd burn it down & start over.

Open the windows.

I'm not very good with advice.

replace all carpet and re-paint all interior walls.

It really depends on the severity of it. If it is only slight, a fresh coat of paint and cleaning the carpets should be enough. If it's heavy the best way is to Kilz the walls and ceilings, then paint.

Yeah, if it's bad you'll probably need an odor sealing primer like Bug said. 2.5yrs could get bad if they were home a lot.

Forgot to mention, it's all hardwood so no carpet to worry about.

Renting to someone with no sense of smell might be a plan as well?

Along with everything else that was suggested, hire a company to do a thorough cleaning of your air ducts. Once they're done, spritz a new filter with a pleasant scent and install it.

:thumb: Even better and less expensive. As Bug say's with the Kilz and then paint.

Or just rent it to another smoker.

:thumb:

I'm hoping that once they clear all their stuff out it won't be too bad. I'm sure a lot of the smell is held in their furniture and other soft things. I don't think they smoked in their the entire 2.5 yrs either. The last time I was in the house before discovering the smoke was about a year ago and I didnt notice anything then.

10 gallons should do ya....

http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/3407/febreeze.jpg

Yeah, jokes aside I thought about that. Thing is, it seems like a lot of smokers don't actually smoke in their house.