By Fatima Puri
A smoker’s home can be a massive deterrent to potential buyers. Not only does smoking leave strong smells in your house, it can also stain walls, cause wallpaper to peel, and stick to furniture. Trapped nicotine residue, known as thirdhand smoke, can pose a threat to anyone living in the home. Here are five ways to get rid of signs of smoking from your home to make it appealing to buyers.
Steam clean carpets
Carpets trap nicotine residue more than anything else in the home and can protrude lingering odors. If you have a carpeted home, take the time to deep clean it with a powerful steam vacuum. Use carpet shampoo and routinely go over areas where smoke stains and odor are most prevalent. Hire a professional steam vacuuming company if you need help.
Replace old wallpaper and paint over walls
Stained, peeling wallpaper discourages people from buying your home. Replace old wallpaper with an elegant new design. Pick a print and color that complements any aesthetic. If your wallpaper is slightly stained and salvageable, spray a mixture of vinegar and water on your wall and wipe away with a clean, damp sponge. Clean walls before painting them if they need a fresh coat. Use a paint primer to create an extra layer to cover old smoke stains.
Purify the air
Smoke travels through air vents and fans. Clean out your air vents and replace HVAC filters to optimize clean air flow in your home. Air purifiers can be a costly but provide both a quick fix and a long-term solution for removing smoke odor from the home. High-end air purifiers can eliminate the particles and chemicals that create smoke odors down to the molecular level. Invest in an air purifier with an HEPA filter designed to deal with chemical odors for immediate relief. Most such air purifiers will include a thick bed of activated carbon.
Wash upholstery and curtains
Like walls and wallpaper, smoke toxins can be entrapped in fabric furniture. Consult an expert before cleaning your upholstery as some pieces may be ruined if washed. Most furniture tags include labels which let you know how to handle cleaning them. If you cannot vacuum or wet your furniture, try placing it outside in a dry and sunny environment. Wash curtains to remove smoke smells or replace them.
Don’t smoke inside
Practice smoking outside the home if you are an avid smoker. Indoor air is 3-5 times more polluted than outdoor air, which means smoking indoors leads to greater toxic buildup and pollution. Smoking outdoors can disperse the smoke and odor and will be worth it in the long run.
I showed a home this weekend and the home’s smell from smoke was almost unbearable making my eyes water. This home was empty too, so you imagine how badly the smoke has penetrated the home. The Listing Agent and Sellers could use your article!
Wow! That’s no good….hopefully they do something about that smoke smell!
These are great suggestions. We recently moved into a home that suffered from many, many years of smoking. We had a local Chem-Dry company clean the carpets and it helped so much!
When my wife and I decided to buy a home in Fredericksburg, there were only three homes available in our price range ($300,000). Two of them were clearly the homes of smokers. In one home, the acids from the smoke had eaten away at the wood crown molding. The third home, by far the oldest of the three, was recently remodeled. We bought that one.
how would you handle cigarette smoke coming from the condo below you? This unit smells as if a smoker lives there but the smell is actually from the unit below…