If you’ve smoked in your home for any length of time, you probably noticed the lingering smell even after you quit. Cigarette smoke tends to coat everything in the home, including carpets, rugs, hard surfaces, upholstery, clothing, and more. It’s quite difficult to remove the smell of the smoke once it’s infested your living space, but it is possible.
Sometimes, the smell is too great, and a simple cleaning won’t do the job. Here, we’ll cover some ways to remove the smell completely; up to and including a full home renovation. This is an extreme measure, but in some cases, the only way to get rid of the smoke for good is to start over.
Quitting is one of the best decisions you’ll ever make, and will save you time, money, and your personal health. Products like tobaccoless chew from Black Buffalo, CBD oils, vape pens, and nicotine gum are readily available should you decide to take the first step towards a smoke-free lifestyle.
Air Purifiers
Indoor air purifiers are a great option for both current smokers and those who have quit smoking altogether. Purifiers will remove allergens, smoke, and other debris and pollutants from your home’s air, but it’s difficult to completely remove smoke if you’re still a smoker.
The problem with smoking indoors is that it tends to amplify the damage caused by the smoke. There’s nowhere for the smoke to escape to, so it sticks to surfaces and fabrics and lingers in the air. This is quite dangerous as well, as anyone inside the home will be exposed to a much more concentrated dose of cigarette smoke.
There are purifiers that are specifically designed for cigarette and tobacco smoke available, but the best choice would be to save your money and ditch the habit altogether. Even if you spend the money on an air purifier, it’s likely that some parts of your home still won’t be smoke-free, and smoking only serves to endanger your health and the health of your guests or housemates.
Deep Cleaning
A deep cleaning may help to remove the smoke for good if you weren’t a heavy smoker. This works best for light smokers or people who didn’t smoke in the home (even if you don’t smoke inside, the smell is so strong that it can linger on things you came in contact with). A deep cleaning might include scrubbing carpets, walls, and other surfaces, steam cleaning carpets or leaving baking soda overnight, or even hiring a professional cleaning company.
You’ll want to be sure you open all of the windows and let in as much fresh air as possible. A good cross-breeze will help push the smoke and its odors outside, but you’ll definitely need to scrub down the walls and floors to truly remove the smell.
Sometimes, a sickly yellowish-brown film develops on walls and surfaces from smoking indoors. This will carry a noxious odor, and when you scrub it, it can reactivate the nasty chemicals. Wear a face mask when you’re cleaning if you don’t want to be exposed to the dangers of cigarette smoke.
Replacing Carpets
Unfortunately, cleaning is not always enough to get the smell out permanently. Even a good heavy steam cleaning of your carpets might not do the job, so you’ll have to replace the carpet entirely. Smoke tends to linger on fabrics and carpeting, and it’s not easy to get out. Heavy smokers almost always need to replace the carpet once they’ve quit if they don’t want to smell cigarette smoke all the time!
This is certainly the more costly route, but you need to ask yourself what’s worse: a few hundred dollars on new carpet or exposing yourself and your family to cigarette smoke for the foreseeable future? Not to mention, the carpet likely has a film on it that makes everything it touches smell, too.
Specialized Paint
Even after cleaning the walls, you may find it’s not enough to completely rid yourself of the traces of cigarettes. In this case, you’ll need to purchase specialized paint and primer that’s designed to lock-in odors and keep those chemicals contained. Yes, you can paint over cigarette stains and odors, but don’t use any old hardware store paint!
Renovations
Sometimes, entire renovations are needed to completely rid the home of smoke. Air ducts and furnaces can become laced with chemicals from the smoke, walls and floors can be damaged beyond repair, and the smell is stubborn, to say the least.
The best path is, of course, to never smoke inside the home. If you’re a renter, you could be jeopardizing your lease, and if you’re a homeowner, you’re affecting your home’s value by as much as 29%! That’s nearly a third of your home’s value lost to a habit that only destroys everything it comes in contact with. Don’t risk your home and your health!
Article Submitted By Community Writer
