I think that this has been discussed, but most of what I found was on fire smoke.
The house is about 60 years old and apparently had a HEAVY smoker the whole time and I don’t think that it has been painted since new.
The walls are dark brown, except in the corners and where there where pictures and there it is white.
Of course the smell is overwhelming.
What about doing this.
Washing the walls and ceiling. TSP? or somethign else. While I will tarp the floors they are hardwood and thus I need to controll the amount of water.
The priming with an oil based or shellac based stain blocker. The BIN and Zinzer websites indicated that the water based or no good on sealing smoke smells.
And which would you use. I have never used the shellac based on wonder how to apply it for large areas.
Anyother suggestions or ideas.
Thanks, Bill
Replies
I used Kilzs (SP?) to seal the walls before painting. I would try an Ozoniator. That's an air cleaner that puts out Ozone. I find that if you put it in a room and close the doors that it will rid the area of the smoke smell in a few days.
Just my 2 cents......
Tim
Some friends of ours have one of those, "Living Air" is the brand. It makes a kind of lightning storm smell.
-- J.S.
Talking about ozone made me want to remind everyone, just in case someone doesn't know, that, as another poster pointed out on another thread, ozone is not good to breathe and that it will attack things like rubber, so be mindful of where you use it.
Bill
My inlaws used to smoke 3 and 1 1/2 packs a day respectively. A couple of their daughters also smoked when they came over. The place was just a mass of nicotine!
I wouldn't go their because of the way it smelled. Then they quit, cold turkey. (damn, their went my excuse)
While they were on a vacation my wife and I went in and took everything off the walls, tore the carpet up. Threw away the drapes, cant clean them. Got rid of the couch and easy chair.
We painted the place with Kilz, two coats, not the water base either. Put on a coat of latex wall paint and the smell was gone. They have popcorn ceiling so I just rolled it on heavy. That stuff (Kilz)is runny so it was everywhere but I didn't care. I dont remember how many gallons of the stuff I went throgh but it was a lot. Did the trick though!
Doug
Had a similar situation - LOTS of TSP first. Had brown running down the walls - took 2 or 3 passes. Then the ion generator then a good sealer like Kilz.
The ion generator that's being talked about is not the Sharper Image toy thing - it's the industrial strength, seal the house, turn it on and leave for the weekend version. They did that next door and it removed all the dead rat and funky never-cleaned for 20+ years bachelor smells - great technology!
"LOTS of TSP first. Had brown running down the walls - took 2 or 3 passes."That is why I am afraid of using a water based sealer.
Well, we did keep going till there was no more nasty. That was 15 yrs ago - the paint still looks great
Try vinegar.
Stain blocking paint comes at the end, unless it's a flipper and you don't care about the future.
Are you talking about using vinegar for the wash down or "oder control".I have see numerous comments about setting out a dish of vinegar to "aborb" oders. While that might work, I suspect in this case we would have to flood the place with 2 ft of vinegar and wait 100 years."Stain blocking paint comes at the end, unless it's a flipper and you don't care about the future."That is it.But unless the wash down does miracles I doubt that will be enough just get through the week.I also found out that as latex paints are permeable that they will allow the smell through.
>>Are you talking about using vinegar for the wash down or "oder control".Washdown. I'd mix cider vinger 1/2 h20 1/2. For a big area, I would (i) open windows and fan ventilat, line the floor with plastic run up and tape sealed to the baseboard to form a "pool" and use a garden sprayer to spray the vinegar, scrub, and use a water hose to rince. Pump or wet dry the "pool" and repeat.
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Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace
Hi, Bill-
Wow! Never thought I would be able to give you advice - I'm a big fan of your postings!
Very Old House had little stalactites of nicotine dribbling off every horizontal surface, including summer beams, boxed girts, etc.
Washed with TSP - I used a B&D item called a "scum buster" - & then primed with pigmented shellac. (The one around here is Zinsser BIN).
The BIN has a pleasant alcohol smell that completely vanquished the smoke smell, but you do want good ventilation while you are using it. It's a great primer - I use it a lot.
Hope this helps!
Kate
How is the shellac to put on walls ceiling?Did you roll it, brush it, spray it (airless?)?I have only used shallac (unpigmented) on small pieces of furniture where I padded it on. I know that won't work on walls. I am worned aobut it drying on the roller as I work.
I roll it. It's a bit drippy, but at the stage my house was in when I started, that hardly mattered. It is a pleasant shade of white, with an almost eggshell texture, & I have sometimes just used a couple of coats as ceiling paint. On the other hand, it is a very grippy primer, & overcoats well w. latex.
I have also used universal colors to tint it, as the antique colors I'm using for trim are pretty deep.
It dries fairly quickly, so can be repainted in the same day.
Best luck!
I looked at the label at the store.It talks about 45 minutes dry time. Must have a lot more retarders in it them basic shellac.
Yes - all they have in common is the smell, as far as use characteristics. I really like the pigmented one, as if you couldn't guess from my posts (hee-hee)
Maybe have inhaled too much?
Used to clean a bar. The walls were literally brown with tar.
TSP with hot water, I used an immersion heater I rigged up out of a 120v water heater element to keep the solution piping hot, and just enough dish washing detergent to help the water solution soak in a bit. A professional grade wall washer, looks like a drywall sander with a smaller head, and a half dozen cotton washer pads saved my back and really increased the area I could cover. A very good investment available at the janitorial supply house.
I didn't get it perfectly clean, I was told it was 20 years of smoke grime, but got about 95%. Once the tar was removed the smell was much weaker. The TSP also acted as a deglossing agent, so watch what the TSP gets on, and once the walls were allowed to dry the paint covered the slight remaining staining very well. Not bad for discount white latex. Once painted the smell was unnoticeable.
Well after some problems with the sellers it seems that the deal is back on.Found that much of the walls are covered by a heavy paper and then painted over. In at least some places it was starting to peal. If it is all as loose as that then you will just peal it off and start with clean walls. But there might be bad plaster that needs fixing.
But there might be bad plaster that needs fixing.
If they are in fact plaster walls you're probably right. I dont know if I ever peeled paper off of old plaster walls and didnt find some needed repair.
Doug
And if it's drywall, it's even worse. How do you separate the wallpaper from the drywall's paper, or even tell the difference?
-- J.S.
You're right, if they didn't put sizing on you wont be able to tell the difference!!!
Doug
Bill,To get the wallpaper off use Wallwik. Its very simple and will get all the glue off, though you might have to score pretty hard to get through the top layer of paint.If you in a "cooling climate" I would not recommend using BIN as it is a vapor retarder and would be on the wrong side of your wall. Look at an oil based primer instead like KILZ or Cover-Stain. I don't think those are vapor retarders, but you ought to check. I know 1-2-3 is not, but that's latex. If the vapor retarder is not a problem, BIN is a good choice.Baking soda is the ultimate de-stink-ifier. You might have to set out a lot of bowls of it to start absorbing some smell. You might be able to mix up a solution of it to wash down the walls, though I've never tried it.
have ya thought about the sponges that the fire restoration folks use?
they are supposedly dry but you just wipe the walls with them takes the soot and smell off
i dont remember what they are called but a crew next door to a job of ours came in wiped the walls one day,painted next day and you could not tell there had been a fire in the room
heres a link to one http://www.baneclene.com/catalog/chemical_sponges.html
Due to recent budget cuts the light at the end of the tunnel will be turned off until further notice.
Edited 10/4/2005 6:17 pm ET by mrmojo
Bill,
I'm in the same boat, right now. An uncle , longtime pipe smoker passed away. I,m the one left to clean up the mess.
First, get rid of all drapes, window coverings. You can get them cleaned, but the staining won't go away.
Remove any furniture. Wood can be cleaned. Upholstered, is questionable, and best left to a professional.
The professional we are using, said to skip the TSP step. Just wipe down the dust, and apply the Kilz- original.
I've done fire restoration, and Kilz works.
Any unpainted woodwork, should be cleaned, with the TSP. It also wouldn't hurt to re- varnish after. Probably needs it anyway.
Ozone machine is the last step, after all is sealed up, and everything else holding the odors is cleaned or removed. You don't want to be in the house with that machine. Should clear up the problem. I like the ozone machines, because it gets into the cracks, electrical boxes, etc.
Good luck, remember your not alone. We've been at it for 2 months, just getting rid of 50+ yrs. of stuff.
Brudoggie
Re:"The professional we are using, said to skip the TSP step. Just wipe down the dust, and apply the Kilz- original."Depends on how bad the buildup is. If it is thick enough to scratch with a thumbnail the paint might not stay put. Shame to have it blister or peel.