Should I buy this smokey house?

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AnonyBrew

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I've been house hunting here in Arizona for the past few weeks and we've found a perfect house for us except for one thing. The current owners smoke in the house and the entire thing reaks of cigarette smoke.

If the house wasn't perfect for us I'd easily move on, but there's so much I love about it I really want to put an offer in. I'm just so worried the smoke odors will never totally go away if I were to have it professionally cleaned & de-oderized.

Has anyone had an experience where they were able to totally eliminate a whole house of smoke odors either themselves or professionally?
 
arturo7 said:
You could always take up smoking.
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There's that, or you can have the house cleaned and painted. I moved into a house once that had some long time, heavy smokers living in it. The walls were a yellow color, except for where the pictures were hung. Even after washing the walls very well, I could still see the ghosts of the pictures, so I painted the walls and ceilings. I didn't notice the smell after that.
 
zerorez can do wonders cleaning carpets and tile, as for the rest of the house, scrubbing the walls and ceilings then repainting, as well as having the ducts cleaned would be a good start. I might take a stab at it if the house is perfect, but there is going to be a lot of work to get most of the smell out, maybe contact one of those fire cleanup companies and see what they can do. might be the best solution to take out any carpet and replace it with new carpet and pad or put in tile. I could help with either, I did it professionally before getting into automotive.
 
azscoob said:
zerorez can do wonders cleaning carpets and tile, as for the rest of the house, scrubbing the walls and ceilings then repainting, as well as having the ducts cleaned would be a good start. I might take a stab at it if the house is perfect, but there is going to be a lot of work to get most of the smell out, maybe contact one of those fire cleanup companies and see what they can do. might be the best solution to take out any carpet and replace it with new carpet and pad or put in tile. I could help with either, I did it professionally before getting into automotive.
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Well thanks for the offer for the service, but we'd be hiring a company like ServPro or something to do the work and making the seller pay for it either through a lower offer or directly in the contract.

I'm just looking to see if anyone can "guarantee" the odor can be removed and if anyone's gotten rid of it. Painting and replacing the carpet are options we would consider again making the seller pay for it one way or another.

If the seller isn't willing then we'd have no deal of course.
 
what area is the house? we were renting before moving out to the sticks, the house was in the farmhouse meadows off warner and gilbert across from lowes, I tried to buy the house, but to no avail, still one of the best houses we ever lived in, and a great location.
 
How about a whole-house ozone generator? You can rent them. You would need to do this before you move in because high concentrations of ozone are not good for people or pets.
 
I lived in a house formerly occupied by a heavy smoker. We ended up washing down the walls with "fake" TSP and using Kilz as a primer. In most places, it worked well. However, in a couple places (like the bedroom, where the old woman evidently smoked like a chimney), the stuff was absorbed into the plaster walls and started to bleed through after a couple years.

The other thing is to make sure to replace anything and everything that can absorb smoke odors-- carpets, curtains, etc. That did a lot to help in our case (besides, the carpet had burn holes all over it from where the senile old woman dropped her butts).
 
i think once they remove a lot of the furniture that absorbed a lot of the smell, and your air the house out good, it will help a lot.

we had a car once that a pretty smokey smell, we dusted it in bakingsoda and let it sit for a day or so...than shampoo cleaned everything, got rid a lot of it. does it have a lot of carpet, would you replace anyway? or a lot of tile or wood?
 
azscoob said:
what area is the house? we were renting before moving out to the sticks, the house was in the farmhouse meadows off warner and gilbert across from lowes, I tried to buy the house, but to no avail, still one of the best houses we ever lived in, and a great location.
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The house is in the Clemente Ranch area between Dobson & Alma School south of Germann.
 
bkov said:
i think once they remove a lot of the furniture that absorbed a lot of the smell, and your air the house out good, it will help a lot.

we had a car once that a pretty smokey smell, we dusted it in bakingsoda and let it sit for a day or so...than shampoo cleaned everything, got rid a lot of it. does it have a lot of carpet, would you replace anyway? or a lot of tile or wood?
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There is a mix of carpet & tile. One living area is carpeted and all the bedrooms are too. Everything else is tile.

I'd have no problems requiring the seller to replace all carpeting and I think they'd expect to do it.
 
If it were me I'd just replace the carpet with wood or something after buying the place and make my bid accordingly. Scrubbing the walls and ceiling down and repainting will do well with that part.
 
Soperbrew said:
I'd have no problems requiring the seller to replace all carpeting and I think they'd expect to do it.
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Why on Earth would they expect to pay for new carpets? Because you just told them you don't like their filthy habit?

You can put in a lower bid with no reason. If you give a reason, it is usual for the seller to claim that your reason for a lower price was already taken into account in the price. Many smokers are already fed up with smoking nazis and all the recent public smoking laws. They are relieved that they can at least smoke in their own home if they wish. Then along comes someone who demands they replace their carpets? You will most likely just piss them off and make them more likely to reject a reasonable offer.

I don't smoke indoors because, yes, it is a filthy dirty habit. I woukld take exception though to anyone behaving like you are about to when there are more diplomatic options available. Remember this is still THEIR house. :)
 
Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:
Why on Earth would they expect to pay for new carpets? Because you just told them you don't like their filthy habit?

You can put in a lower bid with no reason. If you give a reason, it is usual for the seller to claim that your reason for a lower price was already taken into account in the price. Many smokers are already fed up with smoking nazis and all the recent public smoking laws. They are relieved that they can at least smoke in their own home if they wish. Then along comes someone who demands they replace their carpets? You will most likely just piss them off and make them more likely to reject a reasonable offer.

I don't smoke indoors because, yes, it is a filthy dirty habit. I woukld take exception though to anyone behaving like you are about to when there are more diplomatic options available. Remember this is still THEIR house. :)
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Simple fact is, many, many people will not want to live in a house that smells like cigarette smoke. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to expect to have to either reduce the price, or pay to have the house cleaned and refreshed in order to sell it. If they don't want to do that, then there is the option of waiting until smokers put in a bid.
 
Homercidal said:
Simple fact is, many, many people will not want to live in a house that smells like cigarette smoke. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to expect to have to either reduce the price, or pay to have the house cleaned and refreshed in order to sell it. If they don't want to do that, then there is the option of waiting until smokers put in a bid.
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I understand that. I just don't think it is necessary to explain the reason the first time you offer a reduced amount. I just think there are more diplomatic avenues open for that first bid. If they don't accept, then sure, be more specific.
 
Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:
Why on Earth would they expect to pay for new carpets? Because you just told them you don't like their filthy habit?

You can put in a lower bid with no reason. If you give a reason, it is usual for the seller to claim that your reason for a lower price was already taken into account in the price. Many smokers are already fed up with smoking nazis and all the recent public smoking laws. They are relieved that they can at least smoke in their own home if they wish. Then along comes someone who demands they replace their carpets? You will most likely just piss them off and make them more likely to reject a reasonable offer.

I don't smoke indoors because, yes, it is a filthy dirty habit. I woukld take exception though to anyone behaving like you are about to when there are more diplomatic options available. Remember this is still THEIR house. :)
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Yeah I'm with you on the approach. I wonder if the sellers bumped up their list price knowing they'd be replacing carpets.
 
Ugh, dude... Okay, I'm a smoker but I think smoking inside your house is friggin' disgusting. Yes, I will smoke inside a casino because, well, you can! But in my own house that I have to smell every minute I'm home? No thank you.

I'd recommend cleaning your carpet and then getting Dutch Boy Odor-Absorbing paint.... yes, that's right: odor absorbing. Awesome. It also is mildew-resistant and zero-VOC (not volatile.)
 
Soper after with what I know of you and you Boss, I think she'd go crazy trying to get rid of the smell. A smoke ridden house across the street was bought about a month ago and they ripped out the carpets, painted everything. I went over a couple of days ago and I could still smell smoke.
 
Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:
I understand that. I just don't think it is necessary to explain the reason the first time you offer a reduced amount. I just think there are more diplomatic avenues open for that first bid. If they don't accept, then sure, be more specific.
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For one, you should be asking a reduced amount in the first offer, especially in this housing market. However, I don't think it's a huge insult to say you don't care for the smell. I think that most smokers understand that non-smokers don't like it.

And if it were me, I would not worry about it. I'd likely be painting walls, if not tearing some of them out anyway. And the carpet would be a problem, but a good cleaning would be in order anyway.

But many people aren't interested in that sort of redecorating or remodeling.

Cigarette smoke is not that hard to get rid of compared to, say, a carcass.
 
Two things - first, a family member has been a painter for 40-some years and claims that you can never completely get rid of smoke. He's been back into houses applying coats of paint year after year trying to help out to no avail.

Second, talk to a real estate agent, but I believe there are ways of making contingency offers. Such as XXX amount to buy (from you for the house), but YYY allowance for carpet replacement/painting/whatever (from them for stated activities that you accomplish). I can't remember the details of how I made this work for me a few years back, but there's something like it out there....
 
I visited the house again today with the guys from ServPro to get their take on it. Of course I got the sales pitch and didn't come away with a 100% confidence that it could be completely taken out.

They're going to send a quote to my realtor, but I think we're moving on. Too bad because I really liked the house. Brand new high eff. AC unit & everything.
 
When we purchased our house they did a fantastic job of masking the odor of smoking. We actually didn't realize she smoked until after closing. Still don't know how she did it. that being said, she apparently only smoked in her bedroom, which after a few days smelled horrible of smoke.

I am a cigar smoker, and it still bothered the hell out of me, can't imagine my better half having to deal with it. Washing the walls twice helped a bit but obviously it was going to come back. We used kilz. The odor blocking type. We did two applications of two complete coats. Then paint. We are still here over three years later, and not even the faintest hint of it. Hopefully it doesn't ever come back.

She lived in the house for about 10 years and I would assume always smoked.
 
its really easy to fix this , replace carpet and window treatments , prime and repaint , clean ducts , run an ozone genarator for a few days, you will never know there was any smoking , and painting when the carpet is out is a breeze
 
I de-toxed my truck successfully. One of the key elements is getting the heating system cleaned, including any heat exchanger. I used vinegar in the truck.
 
You should just move on with the smokers and acclimate yourself to it while the transaction is still in escrow.
 
If I were selling the house and the buyers were snarky about it, I'd probably accept their offer and celebrate with a big cigar party in the house right before I move out. :D
 
Soperbrew said:
I visited the house again today with the guys from ServPro to get their take on it. Of course I got the sales pitch and didn't come away with a 100% confidence that it could be completely taken out.

They're going to send a quote to my realtor, but I think we're moving on. Too bad because I really liked the house. Brand new high eff. AC unit & everything.
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The quote came back from ServPro at just under $6,000 for a full de-oderizing treatment which included painting the walls.
 

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