Would you buy a smelly house?

[silkcut100]

One that smelt of cigarette smoke?

I think cats are the worst. We viewed a house and loved the layout and it was in good condition but it smelt like a cat's public toilet. We still refer to it as "the cat house" if we are passing.

Zinsser is a powerfully stinky to use but effective stain blocker.

Not on purpose

A lot that wouldn't buy a smelly house probably wouldn't think twice about having their own smelly animals in them.

@VodselForDinner Before viewings, I’ve asked estate agents to confirm that it’s a non-smoking house.

Did you trust them to know/confirm?

How can you define a "non smoking house"? - one where no one has ever smoked or ceilings/walls caked in tobacco stains?

One where no one has EVER smoked?

What is the acceptable level here?

Bought house and previous owners smoked but in one room/garden - with ventilation - was a bit grim to wipe down windows but not effected other rooms or house at all.

Smokers don't usually smoke in every room in my experience

Yes, we bought a house that stank of dog. We had to scrub it for hours and replace all the carpets and curtains but it was worth it.

Hell no. I've viewed a couple of houses that absolutely stank of it. I walked straight out.

No, I wouldn't. But most of it is because I just wouldn't trust that what I was smelling was 'all there is'.

My cousins bought a house from an elderly lady with a couple of apparently incontinent dogs. They didn't realize it until after they moved it as they must have 'deodorized' for showings somehow.

It was so bad they had to rip up all the relatively new carpeting. But once they did that they ended up having to replace some of the floorboards as they were just permeated in spots, warped and ruined. Even that didn't get rid of all of the smell and they ended up having to call in a company that specialized in cleaning up crime scenes to clean the living room. Don't know what they did or what they used, but they did get the smell out.

We did but it literally needed everything taking out, new carpets, replastered throughout so there was no trace of cigarettes left. The walls and ceilings were yellow when we got the keys.

No

[quote recycledcat]**@VodselForDinner* Before viewings, I’ve asked estate agents to confirm that it’s a non-smoking house.*

Did you trust them to know/confirm?

How can you define a "non smoking house"? - one where no one has ever smoked or ceilings/walls caked in tobacco stains?

One where no one has EVER smoked?

What is the acceptable level here?

Bought house and previous owners smoked but in one room/garden - with ventilation - was a bit grim to wipe down windows but not effected other rooms or house at all.

Smokers don't usually smoke in every room in my experience[/quote]
I think my wording to the EA was something like “are any of the residents smokers?”. They checked and, because there were smokers in two of the houses we were interested in, we opted against viewings.

It did the trick. Didn’t view any houses that had even the faintest whiff of cigarettes.

Yes I would and did, I would replace all carpets in any house I move into regardless if they smoked or not, other peoples carpets are like used mattresses, you never know what lies beneath.

@VodselForDinner - interesting approach - thanks for clarifying.

So you didn't even check out whether they had an odour or not?

[quote recycledcat]@VodselForDinner - interesting approach - thanks for clarifying.

So you didn't even check out whether they had an odour or not?[/quote]
Sorry, I phrased the last line of my last post badly.

What I meant is “none of the houses we saw had even the faintest whiff of a cigarette” and therefore I feel the EA was truthful with me.

I wasn’t interested in walking into a house where there was even the risk of an odour. I have a really strong sense of smell and cigarette and cigar smoke gives me the most awful migraine that can last for two days so I wasn’t going to risk it.

My parents unwittingly bought a house that was just soaked in cat pee.
The floorboards were literally wet.
It took a long long time for that smell to go.

I think the cigarette smell is the least of it. It's the coating of everything with a layer of carcenogenic chemicals that would disturb me and they can't be aired out. Google third hand smoke.

Not if I had other options.

Course. Depending on how much it may just need airing and scrubbing or something more serious. But it’s like anything, if it’s a house you’re buying in an area you want, solving any cosmetic issue should just be factored into what you’re willing to pay.

@User0458832

Yes because the smell will go, a lot of older houses would have had smokers in as it was not unusual to smoke inside back in the day. Loads of people used to smoke in houses and people didn't replaster the whole house when they moved.

Yep. Some of the responses in this thread are comical!

Absolutely. Cigarrete smoke disappears with a good airing and cleaning - steam clean carpets and, if necessary a lick of paint.

I would have reservations with a house strongly smelling of cat's urine - the smell is very powerful and not easy to get rid of.

My first house was disgusting, that much chip fat & nicotine on the walls & floors that my mum used a wallpaper scraper to get it off. We went through gallons of bleach & sugar soap, the stair carpet was welded to the floor with grease & grime & the vendor had helpfully painted every room purple. My mum's first words on the day they saw the house for the first time were "what were you thinking buying this dump?"

@Timeyime

I wouldn't be thrilled about fag smoke but dog piss would completely put me off because that can go onto the floor itself. 🤢

Same. Another tip for getting rid of the smell that I was told by a professional decorator was to paint ceilings with a coat of exterior paint.

No chance. I even walked out of a house viewing because one of the bedrooms stank of BO, dirty sheets and Lynx. I know it would have been easily cleaned, but it just turned me right off the entire house.

Yes, ours was a do-er upper. honestly it was in every fibre of the house, we stripped every wall took out all the carpet and when we washed / stripped the walls the nicotine was running down the walls. It took a good 3 months for the smell to go but once we had redecorated and put new carpets down it totaly went. Dont let it put you off.

Yes, we stripped the wallpaper. Steam cleaned and sugar soaped the walls and ceiling. Re painted first using BIN paint to seal in the smell. Replaced carpets and now we have a house in a village we love. It was literally the only house we could afford at the time. Don’t regret it, but it was a lot of hard work.