how do we get rid of the smell of smoke?

[Stokey]

Just moved into our New house today and it stinks of smoke. Do you think we should replace all the carpets or will professional cleaning work? Carpets are quite stained too so is something we would consider doing anyway but not instantly.
We weren't planning on repainting, one reason for buying this place was it seemed in good nick, but now seems worse than we thought .

I think I would go with the replace the carpets and re-paint strategy :)

Isn't it amazing how a house you think is nice, clean and needs little work when you view it transforms by the time you move in.

Might be worth trying a good professional clean on the carpets but reckon you won't feel the house is fresh till you repaint. I'm dreading moving into our new house as it smelled of smoke and the carpets were grubby when we viewed it so I dread to think how bad it'll be when they take their furniture out

Congratulations on you house move

You can probably get it to 95% smoke free by cleaning like mad. I mean washing the ceiling and walls, every surface and having the carpets cleaned. But that level of cleaning is just as much faff and effort as re painting will be.

Lots of airing out will be needed too.

Before you go down the route of replacing everything, I would try intensive cleaning in one or two rooms first to see how much of a difference it can make. Wash down the walls and woodwork with sugar soap, leave the windows open as much as possible and steam clean the carpets and curtains. If you can still smell smoke, then consider replacing everything - obviously v expensive.

I agree with sinking but also change the lightbulbs and shades

My DS bought a house from a smoker and washed down the walls with sugar soap. It was so bad the nicotine was running down the walls. They had to repaint and refloor every room.

I could have written deste's post!

Think we're definitely going to replace downstairs carpets as, as well as the smoke, they seem to have left plants overflowing in the corner of each room and bled the radiators on to the floor so they are stained black underneath
Have left the garden doors open for two days but still smells so think we should paint too.

Replace the carpets, definitely. My DM has spent as much cleaning the carpets in her flat as it would have cost to replace them and they still smell.

Hi, we had the same problem with our house when we moved in. We got the carpets professionally cleaned and the existing curtains which they left behind steam cleaned. We washed down all the walls with white vinegar solution straightaway, took a lot of time and effort!

We had to get rid of the curtains as they still stunk after being cleaned, and the carpets still smell too, so I would say replace carpets and wash your walls/ any surfaces if you can. It is the worst disappointment when you are so excited about moving into a new house.

Forgot to say we are also slowly repainting too!

If you have or can borrow a steam cleaner with a paddle attachment, you can steam the walls and carpets which removes any smells.

We moved into a house that had a terrible smell of smoke. After washing the walls down, woodwork and pulling up the carpets the smell was still terrible. We have had to strip all the wallpaper off to get rid of the smell. You could smell it on the back of the wallpaper!

It depends on how bad the smell is, and how many rooms are affected. Unless you really, really, really love the carpets it's probably not worth the effort and cost to get them cleaned. So if it's mostly one or two rooms, it'd probably be better to chuck the carpets there, and see if that makes much of a difference. You might find you have nice floorboards underneath the manky carpets, which you could live with for a while.

As for decorating, again it depends on how bad it is. You might be able to get away with washing the walls, ceiling, skirting boards, etc. If not, and any wallpaper is firmly stuck to the wall, it might be easier to use a special paint that's used to seal smoke-damaged surfaces (nicotine staining, or from house fires). It's more expensive than ordinary paint, but that might be less hassle than washing all the surfaces (sometimes more than once).

But I'd start with chucking out the carpets and see if that's enough.