Cleaning a smoker's house

May 26, 2025 12:22 AM

Razade

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193384

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371

Dislikes

16

That will be expensive.

10 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

That house is a biohazard. Gut and reinstall. The good news: gutting all that drywall gives you a great opportunity to update the insulation and electrical!

10 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

When my great aunt died back in the 70s in Paddington, we went to clean her house. I remember it vividly (though just a lad) because there was a beautiful amber chandelier in her living room.

Then we cleaned it.

It was actually clear crystal, not amber. She was a 2 pack a day smoker, and that place was just filthy. My dad tossed out pretty much everything…

10 months ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

Just bulldoze the place and start fresh. You can't fix that

10 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

the smell will never go away ... the only way to clean a smoker's house

10 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 1

imagine the smokers lungs

10 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

our chain-smoker has been gone over 10 years, on hot and humid days the window frames weep a little nicotine to this day.

10 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Used to wash windows, that yellow/brown water would run down the windows and wreck all our towels. Even for monthly contracts!

10 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Ooph. Ruined a classic (both the house and the song).

10 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 1

Is my dude spreading chemicals over his head without eye and skin protection? Damn that's ballsy.

10 months ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

Imagine what the smokers lungs look like

10 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

The 80s and 90s were very brown decades. Not because everyone was suddenly obsessed with the cheap plastic wood-like paneling, but because this is what every other surface looked like - in homes or restaurants.
I'm glad that's changed.

10 months ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

wouldn't you want to, I don't know pull the rug, throw out the curtains etc before doing this?

10 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I really want to know what's in that cleaning solution.

10 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Now do the lungs

10 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

And to think these assholes used to complain when people told them not to smoke.

10 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I rented a house where the previous tenant was a HEAVY smoker. The landlord just painted over it all. When you showered, the walls would drip brown.

10 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

10 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

That’s some effort. Most people would just use 3 coats of Killz. Still wouldn’t fix it, sadly.

10 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 1

in Vancouver people will clean this up thinking they'll get a better price for the property, which they won't because the land has all the value, and then the purchaser will tear the house down to build a new one. the only reason our house is still standing at almost 90 years old is because we've been living in it for almost 60 years.

10 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

It looks like there was a 30-year tire fire in there.

10 months ago | Likes 45 Dislikes 0

Why'd it take so long to put it out?

10 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

This shit is why I say things like "Back in the day you could go into any restaurant and scrape a dab off the wall" cause... you really could... and it was disgusting.

10 months ago | Likes 13 Dislikes 0

How is that in any way cheaper than simply just tearing it down to the studs and rebuilding, so you have a modicum of a chance of getting that acrid stench out of the house as well?

10 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Cheapest way would be to get a good sealant and just apply it thick, also run an ozone generator for a month before/after

10 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

When my wife and I rented our first apartment years ago the previous tenants had been smokers. I don't know how we didn't notice the smell when we viewed the place. We didn't realize until move-in day when we spotted the white squares on the wall where the paintings had been. The whole place was white but the smoke had evenly made it a shade of beige. We had to stay with my folks while the place was cleaned and painted.

10 months ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 0

Place I worked back in the 90s, the main break room allowed smoking, but there was a smaller non-smoking break room. The acoustic ceiling tiles in the small one were white; in the main room they were almost as dark as the OP ceiling. Irony: You had to go through the main room to reach the non-smoking area. Further irony: It was a large medical clinic.

10 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Rented a place that was similar to this, in the bathroom everytime I had a shower, the condensation on the white walls would turn brown (drawing nicotine out of the paint)

10 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Ull never fully get out the nicotine

10 months ago | Likes 37 Dislikes 5

Nor the smell.

10 months ago | Likes 16 Dislikes 1

Yeah I bought a 2nd hand car once, previously owned by a smoker. It took a year of driving with the windows down to get rid of the smell!

10 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Dust every surface with baking soda.

10 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Gunna be pedantic here. It isn’t the nicotine. It’s the combustion byproducts and tar that are sticking to the walls. Nicotine is pretty much the least harmful part of smoking

10 months ago | Likes 30 Dislikes 0

I had a professor once who had been chewing nicotine gum for a decade and had zero intention of weaning himself off. Not saying this is a great thing to do, but it is a good direction if one is extremely addicted to nicotine.

10 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

10 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Laird Jayzus, the music? Why?

10 months ago | Likes 13 Dislikes 1

Reminds me of those old compilation albums of "70's hits", where they went the cheap route and you got an album of these "soundalike" singers and bands doing covers.

10 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

No one needs a techno-ed up version of Long Cool Woman

10 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

And they left out the best part, which is that intro riff.

10 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

gonna have to replace that sheetrock...and carpet...and flooring...and subfloor...

10 months ago | Likes 220 Dislikes 4

Get rid of the whole thing, just don't burn it down...

10 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

No. It's disgusting as fuck, but cleaned, sealed with kilz and painted the walls will be fine. But replacing the carpet is best

10 months ago | Likes 28 Dislikes 2

Lol, No, properly cleaned and sealed you'll never even know a cigarette was ever lit in that room

10 months ago | Likes 15 Dislikes 3

Is this why wood paneling was so popular in the 70s?

10 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

This. They ain't gonna get that stench out with concentrated degreaser.

10 months ago | Likes 70 Dislikes 1

It's a start.

10 months ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 1

I bought a house and have renovated it the last couple years. It wasn’t quite this bad but I did prime all drywall with kilz oil based to seal it all off after cleaning them. I tried fogging the ductwork too. I replaced all the lights, plugs and switches. The cigarette smell still persisted. When the home is this bad it’s most efficient to take it to the studs and vinegar spray the wood structure. After a couple days of airing out it should be cig stench free.

10 months ago | Likes 48 Dislikes 2

Would an ozone generator not work? I mean I'm sure you'd have to seal it off for a couple of weeks to a month, but overall it would be cheaper. You'd still have to prime the walls and ceiling before painting, because I've dealt with this before and it just seeps through

10 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

The ozone was going to be the last significant investment but I opted to gut instead. Ozone was going to cost $400+ installed. The fiberglass blown insulation above my ceiling smelled of cigarette when I went up there. I decided the ozone wouldn’t change that because it wasn’t inside the house or ductwork where the ozone was located. Once I took the ceiling drywall down and insulation out it still smelled. I took it to the studs and removed the t-111 siding too because it was in rough shape too.

10 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Meh, they work well enough, but if you don't get rid of the source, it will come back. The cleaning is so intensive changing the drywall is about as much time and money.

10 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Yeah. This video is just for clout. Nobody in their right mind would waste their time/money doing this.

10 months ago | Likes 25 Dislikes 0

What if you were just flipping or renting to another chain smoker who wouldn’t notice the smell?

10 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

So you've already got someone who is going to rent baed on you doing some kind of remedial facial work? I suppose it's not impossible but who's going to agree to live in a place before knowing what it's going to look/smell like?

10 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Yep - my first thought too. The amount of effort put into cleaning that would probably be less than the effort to just replace the drywall, and replacing it would bring much better results w/respect to smell. However that said - the sticking point is the molding. Hard to tell from the vid but if the crown and molding is nice then that's a lot more expense and time to replace.

10 months ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

Friends mom's computer quit working and he asked me to take a look. She sat all day, every day, chain smoking at that computer. Inside looked like a chimney. Fans were completely caked solid. Had to tell him not much I could do but smoking is just as bad for computers as it is for people.

10 months ago | Likes 168 Dislikes 0

Not much you could do besides spending 10 bucks to replace the fans, right?

10 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Builded a PC (refurbished) for a Chainsmoker. After 2 Weeks i got a complain that it was shutting down. It was already yellowed inside. Cleaned it, and installed ALL the Fans i could in this Case. Had a Fan Matrix for 4 80mm Fans i had "only" 2 installed, and 2 exhaust. After the Upgrade and dealing up the Fan Speeds it didn't crash anylonger. Luckily i only gave 1 year warranty on refurbished PC's. A PC putts through around 20-35cubic ft/minute per 100 w for cooling and smoke condenses inside.

10 months ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

I worked in a TV repair shop in the 1970s. A guy brought in his mom's TV saying the screen was dim. A technician could find nothing wrong with it. One of my jobs was to clean the picture tube and polish the wooden cabinets. Turns out it came from a family of chain smokers. Once I cleaned all the accumulated smoke residue off the picture tube, the picture was bright once again. Nobody who lived there noticed it gradually dimming until the son came home from the Army.

10 months ago | Likes 21 Dislikes 0

I use to work on PCs and this dude smoked pipe tobacco and cigars, the smoke made like a weird rug over everything inside the PC

10 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

uuuuggggghh I've had to deal with that, once. Opened up a tower that was chain-smoked near it. I'd NEVER seen such a gross system. They asked me if there was anything that can be saved. "I said 'Maybe the harddrive. If you're lucky.'" He then said that "Well, the harddrive is completely sealed, right?" "Sir, that is why I said 'maybe.'" I dismantled the whole thing. With gloves on. I don't know if he was able to save the HD, either. Never heard from him again.

10 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

In the 80's, we could still smoke at work. We had industrial IBM XT's, with a filter upfront. He put his ashtray in the front by the filter. He killed that PC in 12 months.

10 months ago | Likes 11 Dislikes 0

My mom would always have her butt tray at the base of her machine, just below the 5.25 and 3.5 drive bays. You could watch the smoke being drawn into the PB thru the drive bays, by the fan. Pre-WIN95, so it had a 20MB Seagate. After about year of it living in a coal mine the HD shit-the-bed. I "upgraded" her to a 40MB Maxtor, and added a stick or 2 of RAM. The last machine she bought was in 2014. She died from complications of lung cancer 2 years later.

10 months ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

Replacing a computer is easier tho. Smokers could learn a thing or two by looking at the cake inside the tower

10 months ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

Anyone who buys a pack of cigarettes in the year 2025 is not a person who likes to learn things.

10 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

But computers are easily replaced….

10 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

When I was a teenager my grandmother died and I was helping clean the house wherein she spent decades smoking. Being a teenager and a dumbass, instead of just throwing the curtains in the trash, I decided to try to wash them in the bathtub. As soon as they got wet, it was one of the worst things I have ever smelled.

10 months ago | Likes 62 Dislikes 0

My grandfather also smoked his entire life (until he got lung cancer, predictably). Grandma washed absolutely every piece of fabric in the house, including all curtains and drapes, twice a year. It was very necessary. After they got divorced, she only did it once every year. No less though, because curtains etc. also pick up dust, cooking grease, and other nasty stuff over time.

10 months ago | Likes 25 Dislikes 0

Electric attracts the smoke. When we clean out a smokers house first thing we do is take off the outlet covers. They'll be cover in a thick sticky goo.

10 months ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

I had to remodel a smoker's place once. They had wallpaper. Wallpaper is the fucking worst because everything seeps in and you can't merely clean it off. After a thorough cleaning I put FOUR COATS of Binz on it before the tobacco stains would stop soaking through.

10 months ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

So did you remove the wallpaper first? I could see it soaking through but seems putting binz over is just kicking the problem down the line without replacing wallpaper.

10 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

No because it was just about the only thing holding up the horsehair plaster. I'll paint a room 10 times before I have to gut lath and plaster. I know this well because I have done it and it's fucking miserable. Coincidentally, a few years ago there was massive water damage to the room next to it so I did gut that room. Absolutely awful, but now it has spray foam insulation and sheet rock.

10 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

And for the uninitiated, the plaster on those walls is basically cement so about every 2 square meters of wall isn't much volume but heavy enough for one contractor bag. So a whole room is a *lot* of contractor bags. And so much dust that N95 doesn't cut it, you have to plastic off the whole room and have really good ventilation and wear a good filtration mask. And once that's done you're not even remotely half done because it's lath time. Shit, I'm getting PTSD now.

10 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

but of course, computers breathe like we do, admittedly for an entirely different purpose but they're constantly sucking in air and blowing it back out and that shit collects inside

10 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Not really comparable imo. Tar collecting on lungs stops breathing/oxygen intake, until there is enough tar to physically stop the fans or other moving parts it doesn't really affect it much. It's more like an ac that never gets it's filter changed lol

10 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

actually tar accumilating within the fin stacks of a heat exchanger will reduce its effectiveness, and the heat from the heat exchanger will cook the particulates effectively painting them on

10 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

"Smoke and die" - my uncle, a retired thoracic medicine specialist

10 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Everyone who has ever smoked has or will die. Then again everyone who has not smoked has or will die. One could make an argument for the rate at which death may accelerate however.

10 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

I guess the problem is people like my grandpa who chainsmoked for 80 years and died at 101. Never had cancer. Neither did my grandma who also chainsmoked, she did die younger though, at 79. People see that and think they'll be one of the ones who aren't affected. Also they only think of themselves. Who knows how many years my grandparents took off their kids' lives, or their grandkids'? I remember visiting there and it was horrible, you could hardly breathe.

10 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Survivor bias.

10 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Exactly, and everyone thinks *they'll* be the one that survives.

10 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I worked for a company that delivered in-home medical oxygen and related equipment.

I went to a house where an elderly man was on a concentrator at four liters per minute.

He was smoking and there were four other people sitting at the kitchen table also smoking.

The pre-filter looked like a tar soaked sponge. When I took it to the technician, he said that the charged nitrogen filters were completely blocked.

10 months ago | Likes 29 Dislikes 0

I had a customer on oxygen at my first grocery store job. She was rude as hell and carried a roll-behind oxygen bottle. I saw her at the gas station once, filling her car up, bottle beside her lit cig in her mouth and on the fucking phone. I decided to fill up at a less explosive gas station...

10 months ago | Likes 15 Dislikes 0

WOW 😨 That's nuts!

10 months ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

My in-laws both chain smoked until my father-in-law had a spot on his lungs in an x-ray taken because he was having problems. He quit, she did not. Later he was diagnosed with lung cancer and she still didn't quit because she said he didn't even get cancer until after he quit. People will jump over any mental hurdle to stick with their addictions.

10 months ago | Likes 12 Dislikes 0

Truth! There's a guy at my work who "quit smoking" cigarettes, but started smoking cigars "because they are pure tobacco".

However, he picked these cheap shitty little dogshit smelly cigars, removes the filter and smokes them like regular cigarettes.

He has a bad smoker's cough which he treats with cough drops.

People are allowed to smoke indoors on the shop floors where we work. Apparently, the belief is because it is a huge building that secondhand smoke doesn't count.

10 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Can't think of any developed country where that is legal. In the USA that would be shut down fast once reported and I can't think of any country in Europe that would tolerate it.

10 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

You'll be shocked when I tell you that I am in the US.

NC law "allows private businesses to adopt non-smoking/vaping policies" The indoor clean air act seems to specifically pertain to bars, restaurants and retail spaces.

10 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Dumbest drug ever. Doesn't even get you high, just does this to your body and surroundings

10 months ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 3

All it does is get you addicted for Cig company make mo $$$$$$$$$

10 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

"If you can sell them this, they would buy anything..." Quark, in the twentiest century, on earth.

10 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

If you think it doesn't get you high, try one. The trap is that it does at first.

10 months ago | Likes 10 Dislikes 1

I tried one as a kid. Almost puked my lungs out on the first inhalation. Decided there and then this shit was not for me. Thankfully didn't get to experience any high.

10 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

Because nobody does, if you understand the physiological processes that are "getting high" then you know that those aren't happening to a person who is consuming tobacco.

10 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 2

Yeah, it's a vaso-constrictor. Shrinks the vascularity of you veins/limits oxygen to your brain. thus the buzz is just oxygen depletion.

10 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

That's pretty much NO2 too. So what? Dentists use it to get you high for pain tolerance, or at least they used to.

10 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

LOL, tell me you've never done any hardcore drugs like DMT or morphine without telling me you've never done any hardcore drugs like DMT or morphine.

10 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 7

Babe, most people try a cigarette WELL before they get to things like DMT. & most people do experience a bit of a kick or high from nicotine the first time they try it. It's often the first drug (aside from alcohol) that young people try, with their fresh lungs, most people definitely experience a high from their first few smokes. People get hooked because of how good it can feel at the start, then the nicotine latches on & it feels worse, but you're addicted.

10 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 1

Yes, and one of those people was me, and the BUZZ that I got from my first cigarette didn't even begin to compare from the high I got on my first time with literally dozens of other drugs. Do you feel very different the first time the nicotine and the carbon monoxide go coursing through your veins? You sure do, and powerfully so. Does that mean you got HIGH? No, it does not.

10 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 4

No, it doesn't compare, nowhere in the replies does it say it compares, but a little high, is still a high if you haven't tried anything else. It's like kids experiencing a high when they have their first Red Bull, or an exercise high, there's no concrete standard for 'highs'. It's not the same as, say, HEROIN or CRYSTAL METH, but a lot of people definitely experience a high the first time they try smoking. Jeepers bro. Maybe chill?

10 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 1

I'm pushing 50 bud. I"ve done it all. The first time you smoke a cigarette you get so high you can barely stand on two feet. You'd know that if you ever tried it. Instead you're just being a dick on here.

10 months ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 1

Wow you sure are a funny person. No one who knows what it's like to rocket-blast into DMT-space thinks that the mild buzz that comes with your first cigarette is even remotely comparable. It gets you "high" if you don't really know what it's like to get actually high

10 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 5

Not every high is a dissociative trip. And nobody was claiming any different but you.

10 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

Listen man, when you're being shelled by the Germans 18 hours out of every 24, you'll try anything that even seems like it takes the edge off for even a minute. Plus it gives me something to do with these damn hands.... these... damn... shaky... hands...

10 months ago | Likes 10 Dislikes 0

That squares with one of my uncles said. Before the war, he thought smoking was idiotic. And then once in battle? He saw his buddies smoking and he started up too and he got hooked. He refused to ever tell us kids about what happened in combat, no matter how much we begged, but when it came to smoking he always had a strong opinion.

10 months ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

It's nice that it can help some people in some situations, but I have five living relatives and two dead ones who all went to war as non-smokers and came back as non-smokers.

10 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

Oh no don't get me wrong, can nicotine be a stress-reliever? Sure it can....once. After that it's a stress-reliever AND a nasty addictive hook that is poisoning your entire body with each use. And since there are literally thousands of other ways of reducing your stress that don't come with a nasty addiction, I stand by my statement. Dumbest. Drug. Ever.

10 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 2

I think it's telling that they literally had to first invent a super-convenient way to smoke tobacco (pre-rolled cigarettes) and then give packs of the things away to everyone in the military, while there was huge war on, to get those super-high addiction figures we saw in the 20th century. Tobacco was always meant to be a niche drug for dudes who like the ritual of preparing a pipe. Actually it was meant to be a ritual drug that wouldn't leave you too messed up for tomorrow's battle, right?

10 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

IMO tobacco was meant to be a plant that we left the hell alone

10 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

Tobacco plant is a natural insecticide. Plant it near and around corn or beans to provide small constant repellent. https://www.acs.org/pressroom/presspacs/2010/acs-presspac-october-27-2010/tobacco-and-its-evil-cousin-nicotine-are-good-as-a-pesticide.html

10 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Long term health effects are not much of a concern when you could get exploded by a shell you had no chance of predicting when it was coming. Or the hundred other ways to get hurt that make onebwish for a quick death.

10 months ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

I'm sorry but I don't get the point you're making. The tobacco is only going to relieve your stress, it's not going to make you immune to artillery shells, you have the same chance of dying whether you smoke or not

10 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 1

You will be dead either way, might as well die less stressed out.

10 months ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0