How do I get stale cigarette smoke out of my apartment?

February 18, 2009 1:30 PM

How do I get stale cigarette smoke out of my apartment?

My husband and I quit smoking 1 month and 1 day ago. We feel much better now. :)

But we used to smoke in our apartment and, 1 month and 1 day later, it STILL smells like stale smoke. The smell is not overpowering, but it's there and it's gross. More importantly, the scent is still a trigger for cravings.

We've been keeping the windows open 24/7. We washed the floors and vacuumed the carpet. But the smokiness is still there.

Any advice on getting the smell out for good?

posted by jdruk to home & garden (15 comments total)

Ozium
posted by kid_dynamite at 1:32 PM on February 18

Wash the curtains. If you can take the covers off the sofa and chair cushions, wash those too. Shampoo the carpet. Wash the walls down. You want to get the residue off everything you can.
posted by cabingirl at 1:33 PM on February 18

Replace the carpet, replace any soft upholstered furniture that can't be washed, wash and paint the walls and celling, and wait another year.
posted by 517 at 1:36 PM on February 18

definitely paint the walls...this helped a ton in my apartment. However we did have wood floors (no carpet) and the former roommate/smoker took his furniture with him when he moved out. So perhaps we had it easier than you in getting rid of the smell.
posted by dm_nyc at 2:21 PM on February 18

You can find this stuff called Zeolite at many big box stores (Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, etc). It is some kind of volcanic rock that absorbs odors. My mom told me about it and I sorta wrote it off as hippy-dippy product, but ended up trying it when a stanky roommate moved out, and it did a great job.
posted by radioamy at 2:26 PM on February 18

Oh, and congrats on quitting!
posted by radioamy at 2:34 PM on February 18

definitely paint the walls...this helped a ton in my apartment.

If you do this, you might want to try adding a small bottle of vanilla extract to each gallon of paint that you use. I have heard this helps considerably with the lingering odor.
posted by UrineSoakedRube at 2:57 PM on February 18

Replace the carpet, replace any soft upholstered furniture that can't be washed, wash and paint the walls and celling, and wait another year.

This is excessive. As another recent quitter, I know whereof I speak. Just get some Febreeze for the furniture and some strong scented candles. Even plain candles burning seem to help dramatically with smoke smells, and if they also add some sandlewood or lavender to the air, you're golden.
posted by CunningLinguist at 3:00 PM on February 18

Get a carpet service in to do their thing - it'll help a lot.

Definitely clean any upholstery or window dressings.

Vinegar takes cigarette smell out really well, so anything it's safe to use it on, use it.

The other suggestions regarding wiping down furniture, walls, and anything else that comes in contact with the air are good ones, too. Windows, for example, hold onto smoke residue fairly tightly - bunched up newspaper and vinegar will get rid of it quickly and easily.

Using cover-ups doesn't solve the problem and can even create a weirdly funky soup of odours with a bitter undernote that could eventually wear on you, if you're at all sensitive to scents.
posted by batmonkey at 3:25 PM on February 18 [1 favorite has favorites]

There are special cleanup services that specialize in cleaning up crime scenes, disaster areas, and other "big deal"- type things. They have the know-how (and industrial equipment) to take care of this problem.

It might be a nice "yay, we quit!" gift to yourselves to engage such a service. Congrats, by the way!

Not sure where you are, but ServPro is pretty national, it seems. There are, of course, tons of others!
posted by charmcityblues at 4:59 PM on February 18

The store owner where we bought our Lampe Berger told us that her parents owned a motel and used the Lampes to get rid of the smell of cigarette smoke in the rooms.
posted by angiep at 5:34 PM on February 18

My house was previously owned by champion-level smokers who lived here for 40 years. These are unexpected things that I had to clean with windex/all-purpose cleaner and then vinegar because I found them to contain smoke residue:

The windows, inside and out including all surfaces.
The light fixtures.
The metal surface of the radiators.
The appliances (washer/dryer, outside of refrigerator, etc.)
The tops and bottoms and sides of interior doors.
Inside of closets.
Tops of cabinets.
Moulding.
Every single surface in the bathroom, including the ones you can't see, like the underside of the cabinet.

Nthign to repaint. Slap on a coat of Kilz first -- it's like super-primer that covers odors. Don't just vacuum, clean the carpet. Rent a steamer and go at it.

We remodeled, too, so we pulled up all the worn carpets and yanked down drop ceilings and such. I won't describe what the wallpaper paste smelled like as I scraped it off. But it was a major contributor in me finally quitting my "when-drinking" smoking habit.
posted by desuetude at 7:01 PM on February 18

Don't forget the bedroom! Wash your blanket and bedding, and buy some new pillows. Sprinkle the mattress with baking soda and vacuum it. If you were heavy smokers, the 'clean' clothes in your closet and drawers might carry a smell and could use a wash, too. Go around and give everything a whiff. Sticking a box of baking soda in the closets would probably be a good idea.

If you can't shampoo the carpet right away, try sprinkling baking soda over the carpet, letting it sit for a few minutes, and vacuuming again.
posted by lizbunny at 9:41 PM on February 18

Previously
posted by Neiltupper at 11:47 PM on February 18

When you re-paint, use the primer called Killz
posted by Flood at 9:46 AM on February 19