HOW TO GET RID OF SMOKE SMELL IN YOUR HOUSE

We’ve touched on this a few times in our Instagram stories, and we wanted to share with you the process it takes to remove smoke smell in your house! The house we just bought and are renovating, unfortunately, had such a bad smell of smoke in the house, that it actually smelled like an ashtray! Like really, it was EVERYWHERE in the house, and in order for us to move in and be comfortable, we had to get rid of that smell ASAP! So today, we’re going to share with you some ways that you can get rid of that smoke smell. And listen, they’re not just easy 123 tips, smoke smell is no joke, and takes a bit of time to remove!

VENTILATE

The first step is to ventilate the entire home to get the stale air moving outwards. Open all the windows, and turn on any fans, and bring in extra fans to help move the air! You can even run air purifiers with HEPA filters.

CLEAN THE WALLS

Before anything else, you need to start with cleaning the walls! Going in with a heavy duty cleaner designed for this purpose, go up and down the walls and coat them while really scrubbing them clean! When dried, go over the walls with a primer that has an odor sealant.

RIP UP THE CARPETS

If applicable, with ventilation still in progress, next step is to start ripping up any carpets or any softer surfaces like curtains, window treatments and so forth, that we’re in the house. I know, maybe you had plans to keep the carpets, but you will never have a fully smoke-free-smell home, if you keep the carpets! The smell is trapped within the particles, and cigarette residue sticks to the fabric.

CLEAN AND VARNISH WOOD FLOORS

The next step would be to clean the wood floors with a cleaner meant for hardwood, and then varnish them! This coat will help seal any odors!

CLEAN TILED SURFACES

Believe it or not, smoke-smell does stick to tile! Wash tiled-surfaces with a 90-to-10 water and bleach mix, OR water and white vinegar ( 90% water, 10% bleach) OR (90% Water and 10$ white vinegar).

HVAC SYSTEM HAS CLEAN FILTERS

After all the major cleaning, it’s time to replace any filters in the HVAC with new ones, and to make sure air ducts are open and clean.

WHITE VINEGAR

After all these steps, when the smell should be way better, it’s time to keep opening containers of white vinegar in every room of the house. White vinegar helps neutralize and trap bad odors!

Doing these steps, and sometimes even repeating them, should really help the smell dissipate and eventually vanish. But you have to remember it’s not overnight, and it may take multiple layers of cleaning! Whatever you do, keep on ventilating the room, with open windows and fans, and keep the white vinegar around!