|
Post by fridaycat on Jun 10, 2018 6:55:17 GMT
Would you? Have you? Were you able to get the smell out entirely?
We walked through a home today and it has many great features with one huge negative: the owners have chain smoked here for 14 years. It reeks.
Doing a bit of internet research hasn't helped. Responses, amount of work/cost involved are all over the place. I am so afraid even with painting with a sealant and installing new carpet won't be enough. Some people on the internet are saying it may need gutted down to the studs! And a quote from Serve Pro for smoke removal is $15k!
Do any peas have experience with this? It's a great house in a great neighborhood, if not maybe a tad too small as well.
|
|
Gennifer
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,003
Jun 26, 2014 8:22:26 GMT
|
Post by Gennifer on Jun 10, 2018 7:04:02 GMT
I don't think I could. I would be too afraid I would never get the smell out.
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
May 13, 2024 10:17:33 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2018 7:17:13 GMT
I've bought and rehabbed a few homes like that. We rip out all the carpet and any other flooring except tile. We kilz the concrete and the walls and ceilings. We do new tackstrips even. The walls get primed before painting. We clean all the vents and obviously change A/C filters.
These methods have worked for us and I'm super sensitive to cigarette smoke. We've never had to go down to studs.
|
|
muggins
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,861
Jul 30, 2017 3:38:57 GMT
|
Post by muggins on Jun 10, 2018 8:52:38 GMT
Nope, it permeates everything - walls, ceiling, wood, flooring. No amount of painting or other treatments will get rid of it permanently. Steer clear.
|
|
wellway
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,766
Jun 25, 2014 20:50:09 GMT
|
Post by wellway on Jun 10, 2018 9:03:38 GMT
The combination of a tad small and heavy smoker would be a non starter for me.
|
|
|
Post by darkangel090260 on Jun 10, 2018 9:05:26 GMT
my mom is a super heavy smoker and you cant even tail. I have a friend who gets in a mood everytime she smells it and she could not even tail.
|
|
|
Post by LavenderLayoutLady on Jun 10, 2018 9:37:56 GMT
My parents did.
At first they thought they'd just need to deal and paint and replace carpets.
During high humidity (after the new paint and carpet) you could still smell cigarette smoke oozing from the house.
They eventually ripped out drywall and sanded down and refinished hardwood floors.
Cost way more in time and effort than they expected.
|
|
|
Post by mikklynn on Jun 10, 2018 11:17:44 GMT
I would not buy it. My super power is my sense of smell.
I can still smell it in the used car my sister bought ten years ago.
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
May 13, 2024 10:17:34 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2018 11:25:14 GMT
I did.
A couple coats of kilz primer and all new flooring helped. The hardest was the kitchen.
There's now an additive you can buy for paint that is supposed to help cover the smell.
On really hot and muggy days, a slight smell of smoke came through. A duct cleaning company helped with that. I cleaned the windows daily for a month. I was still getting a slight yellow tint. It will take a lot of cleaning and pulling up everything.
|
|
|
Post by baslp on Jun 10, 2018 11:52:14 GMT
Unless it was the house of my dreams, I wools pass.
|
|
|
Post by mustlovecats on Jun 10, 2018 12:07:07 GMT
I must be the odd one out because we did and we didn’t have to do anything extensive. She owned this house for six years and we bought it in one of those markets where you make an offer the minute it goes on the market so we didn’t have time to sniff around too much until we got here for our inspection and found the place full of ashtrays and we could smell the smoke. We had the carpets shampooed and we did the normal move-in cleaning and never smelled a whiff of smoke since. I think most of the smell was in her stuff and her furniture.
|
|
|
Post by hockeymom4 on Jun 10, 2018 12:11:22 GMT
I would not. Our last 2 real estate agents both sad they would not sell the home of a smoker... too hard to sell
|
|
|
Post by Really Red on Jun 10, 2018 12:21:44 GMT
My aunt was a chain smoker. My uncle, who did not smoke, had a stroke and went into a home. My aunt passed away from a massive heart attack and my other aunt and uncle went up to care for my stroke uncle. You couldn't even get within 50ft of the house before smelling the smoke, but with a lot of work, it is now smell-free. It took about 2 years to do all the work (obviously wasn't done speedily), and it was HARD. Removing all the carpet, curtains and repainting the walls were the biggest things.
I can assure you it was not as simple as airing it out, even after all that was removed. It had to be repainted. Every single spot in the house.
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
May 13, 2024 10:17:34 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2018 12:36:31 GMT
Home improvement show showed they had to replace the vents in the hvac system "Nicotine coated"
|
|
|
Post by buddysmom on Jun 10, 2018 12:45:49 GMT
I wouldn't chance it.
A few years ago we were looking at cars. They had a fancy, used convertible sports car outside, top down.
Got in it and you could immediately smell the smoke. That is why they had it outside-- to "air out."
And it obviously didn't help.
|
|
|
Post by PenandInk on Jun 10, 2018 13:03:11 GMT
DONT DO IT!!!
We bought a smokers house by accident. We were planning for a cross country move and just ready to fly east to house hunt when my mom took a bad turn. She lived 3 hours from where we were moving. We ended up house hunting during her funeral week.
Just a little backstory to explain why I wasn’t really myself. At any other time, I think I would have noticed the smell. The house we liked had very strong cinnamon scented plug-ins all over the house, and I kept asking what she was trying to cover. They had a very old dog, and I just figured it was to cover old dog smell. There were no pee stains in the hardwood floors or on the carpet, so I figured it would air out. The home inspector didn’t mention anything, and it wasn’t until the walk through, when she’d pulled out most of the plug ins, that we realized what was wrong. Smoking doesn’t need to be disclosed in New Jersey, so we were out of luck for any compensation.
We cleaned all the carpets, washed all the walls, had the ducts cleaned, and had every square inch of the walls, trim and ceilings primed with Kilz Max, and then painted. We have a 3 bed 2 1/2 bath townhouse with a basement and loft. I’d say we spent around $17,000 cleaning the smell out. I can still smell it on really hot days. We had a finished basement when we bought the house, but we had to tear out the carpet and throw away the ceiling tiles when we moved in, and haven’t re-done it, so that’s more expense we will have someday. The ceiling tiles just soaked up that cigarette smell.
If you got a really good deal, and could afford to tear out every piece of carpet and paint every inch of the house, then maybe I would consider it, but otherwise, I’d pass.
|
|
|
Post by genny on Jun 10, 2018 13:04:26 GMT
My sister bought a rental property from the estate of a person who had passed away. She had been a heavy smoker. When the pictures were removed from the walls you could see the nicotine on the walls in squares around the pictures. She replaced the carpet and padding in the entire condo, cleaned the walls before priming them with Kilz and re painting, cleaned vents, replaced filters etc. It still smelled like stale smoke, but was very faint and you couldn't smell it all the time. It eventually faded and you couldn't smell it at all within a couple of years of a non smoker living there not adding to whatever lay beneath the surface.
When our friends had a house fire they were able to recover some things in the part of the house that hadnt burned but were permeated with smoke. They rented an ozone machine and kept those things in a closed room in the apartment they lived in temporarily. I couldn't smell even a whiff of smoke on that stuff and I hadn't believed they would ever get the smell out it was so strong! Maybe you could look into renting one of those machines?
|
|
caangel
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,454
Location: So Cal
Jun 26, 2014 16:42:12 GMT
|
Post by caangel on Jun 10, 2018 13:15:50 GMT
Nope. I can remember when we were house hunting. The relator opened the door and the smell of smoke just hit us. I refused to even go inside. I didn't want to see the house because heaven forbid I actually liked it. We turned around and went to our next stop.
That and backing up to a major street were my deal breakers.
|
|
|
Post by crazy4scraps on Jun 10, 2018 13:16:30 GMT
We have dealt with it, both at the lake cabin that we inherited from MIL and also her condo when she passed away. For the lake cabin we pretty much washed every square inch of the wood log walls and floors with TSP, got rid of the curtains and the rug, and most of the old furniture that had soaked up a lot of smoke smell (she only smoked in one small room, next to the patio door so the stuff closest to that was the worst). After that we aired that section of the cabin (upstairs, not connected with a stairwell) for years and we still aren’t using it because that part needs to be renovated. But it really doesn’t have a smoke smell anymore.
Her condo was a different story. We had to paint all the walls and ceilings with 2-3 coats of Kilz Max followed by two coats of paint. We ran a professional ozone machine in there for about a month. Ripped out every inch of carpeting and replaced with new. Removed all fabric window treatments and replaced them with plain inexpensive sheers, and took down and washed the plastic slat vertical blinds and put them back up. It was a LOT of work but the condo sold fairly quickly once it was all done. Thankfully the estate paid for it all so it didn’t come directly out of our pocket.
My sister also bought a house like that seven years ago, and they basically had to do the same thing. Eventually they replaced all of the flooring (carpet to hardwood), painted every room, replaced all of the window treatments. But they were going to do all of that anyway since the house hadn’t been updated since the 1970’s and it was ugly. They recently sold it for a boatload of cash.
|
|
|
Post by KikiPea on Jun 10, 2018 13:18:44 GMT
No, I wouldn't. I have only looked at 2 that were absolutely awful, and we turned around and walked right back out.
|
|
|
Post by pierkiss on Jun 10, 2018 13:25:10 GMT
I couldn’t do it. I remember when my parents bought our house in MI. One morning I woke up and my dad was perched on a ladder scrubbing the beams on the vaulted ceilings in the living room. All the rags around him were this grody yellow brown color.
I’m honestly not sure why he bothered, as my mom still smoked at the time.
I am super sensitive to smoke. I would be terrified that I wouldn’t be able to clean the house enough to make it go away, and I’d be stuck living in a house that reeked of cigarette smoke.
|
|
|
Post by auntkelly on Jun 10, 2018 13:25:37 GMT
I'd move on to the next house.
There are too many unknowns. How much will it cost to get the smoke smell out of the house? Will it start to stink again on humid days?
Even in a tight market, there are always other houses I can fall in love with.
|
|
|
Post by littlemama on Jun 10, 2018 13:28:24 GMT
I would not buy it, or if I did, the cost of smoke removal would be on the sellers.
|
|
|
Post by **GypsyGirl** on Jun 10, 2018 13:29:03 GMT
I've been on the selling side of a house where two chain smokers (my parents) lived for 13 years. I had purchased the home for them to live in after retirement. There is no way I would willing purchase a home that had been owned by heavy smokers. It was an expensive endeavor that involved having every square inch of that house cleaned top to bottom, repainting the entire house, having the central air/heat ducts cleaned and the vents repainted. They also ran an ozone machine. Even with all of that, I could detect a faint odor of smoke when I entered through the sun room, which is the room my father used to smoke in the most. Others swore they couldn't smell it, but I sure could detect it. My only saving grace is that I had already pulled all the carpet a few years earlier and installed wood-look vinyl flooring.
The house did sell in just 6 weeks, which was a quick time for that location and time. But having seen the amount of work and money it took, there is no way I would willingly go through that. Not even for the house of my dreams.
|
|
J u l e e
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,531
Location: Cincinnati
Jun 28, 2014 2:50:47 GMT
|
Post by J u l e e on Jun 10, 2018 13:32:55 GMT
I wouldn't do it. Just reading this thread is gross to me. And I feel exhausted from just reading about the work and expense. Blech.
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
May 13, 2024 10:17:34 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2018 14:29:27 GMT
If the profit margin was good I might consider it. Being able to a house that was worth $600,000 for. $200,000 would be a go for me.
|
|
|
Post by danalz on Jun 10, 2018 14:42:42 GMT
Absolutely not. I can't stand a faint smell of smoke and noamount of cleaning would totally eliminate it.
Any strong smell would turn me off. When we were house hunting 3 years ago we opened the door to a house and our realtor said, "What is that smell?" I laughed and said, "that is the pungent smell of curry.". An Indian family owned the house and everything was permeated with curry smell. It gagged me and all I saw were $$$ we would need to spend together the place. The house never did sell and it's been off and on the market since then.
|
|
Just T
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,544
Jun 26, 2014 1:20:09 GMT
|
Post by Just T on Jun 10, 2018 14:46:17 GMT
I don't think I would, unless it was super cheap and I had the time and money to redo everything. Smoke smell permeates every nook and cranny. My husband bought a car that was owned by a smoker. Man, did that thing reek. We had it professionally detailed and then put open bags of charcoal in the back seat on the floor and in the trunk. Switched it out several times until we got rid of the smell. That was 4 years ago, and on hot, humid days (of which there are many where I live!) I still get a faint whiff of smoke.
So, with this experience, I would have a really difficult time buying a house like that, no matter how much I loved it.
|
|
|
Post by AN on Jun 10, 2018 14:59:56 GMT
No. 15k sounds cheap to me for smoke remediation. I think it could easily go way higher if you ended up needing to replace drywall, paint, possibly duct work, obviously flooring.
What's the size of the house? New flooring and paint/kilz alone would easily be 15k on a 2000 sq foot house, without any special remediation.
|
|
|
Post by cannmom on Jun 10, 2018 15:13:37 GMT
No, I would not. Do some research on third hand smoke. Not worth the health risks and expense to try to clean it and remove the smell and toxins.
|
|