Im working on a house (rental) for a customer that had two tenants for twenty two years and smoked. The walls are covered with nicotine stains as was the popcorn ceiling which I scraped today. I know that TSP will probably take care of the walls. But does anyone have any ideas or suggestions for the kitchen cabinetry (oak dark stain)?
Bing
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If the finish on the cabinets isn't shellac, I'd try wiping the cabs with denatured alcohol. Pipe makers recommend vodka for a solvent to clean pipes :)
Bug and tar remover?
Kitchen cabinet wipes or cleaner
http://www.furnitureproducts.com/mcart/index.cgi?code=3&cat=6
These pull off stuff like I've never seen. A couple of years ago, I got a job to clean an antique that the lady gave up on after six passes with Murphy's Oil Soap. I was using one of these wipes about every square foot and coming up dirty.
An alternative is to go to a Jan-San or carpet cleaning supply house and ask if they have a smoke remover gel. It is very similar to Cream Go-Jo. Disaster recovery companies use these.
Even using TSP on the walls won't get all of the tar out of the paint. Use an oil-based primer after cleaning otherwise you may get bleed-through over time.
I would think that just about any cleaning product would remove surface tar from kitchen cabs and anything that remains embedded shouldn't really be noticeable on dark oak.
Thats my experience too. You can scrub the walls and paint and it will still bleed through. Go with Kilz or its equivalent and you'll be much happier.
My house had nicotine stalactites hanging off all horizontal surfaces - tsp, followed by pigmented shellac. Around here it's sold as BIN, by Zinsser, although Sherwin Williams has a proprietary one as well. In my experience, neither alkylid nor latex sealers work - go for shellac!
I'm in Frenchy's camp on this...
This stuff works...well...you know... awesome.
http://www.housekeepingchannel.com/t_222-LAs_Totally_Awesome_All_Purpose_Cleaner_Degreaser_and_Spot_Remover
It melts the smoke and tobacco stains.
following up with a citrus oil cleaner always has worked for me.
A few years ago I used Febreeze on a similar situation.