how long til the smell of the last people goes!??

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I love my new house, very happy in it, but every time I turn the key in the door I get a faint whiff of fags, curries, and charity shop clothes. I have three of those glade anti-tobacco candles burning right now, nice scent, but not particularly strong.

How long before we don't smell the last people??

Have you steamed the carpets? Smell linger in those for years, esp fags. Also wash down the woodwork with sugar soap, as these also hang onto smells. Redecorate - ceilings especially.

That should do it!

There are no carpets! all wooden floorboards and tiles! even upstairs.

And they didn't leave much not so much as a light shade or a pair of curtains or a blind

I suppose painting the house from top to bottom would do it!

The candles are nice, and after three hours now I can smell grapefruit and it's lovely. An excuse to keep buying scented candles I guess.

Washing the walls might be worth it. Few people think to do it, but they get surprisingly dirty!

Yikes. So hard work then. :-/
So much easier to burn a few candles!

I think once you've been in a couple of months and any porous surfaces have had the opportunity to absorb the smells of your own washing detergent, perfume, cosmetics, cooking and cleaning products, the smell of the old residents disappears. If you weren't planning on redecorating then I'd give it a bit of time still - even the smell of fags will disperse. Rather than candles try a good-quality reed diffuser - more effective I think.

The previous owner of an old flat of mine had an enormous, hairy indoor cat. I'm pretty keen with the vacuum cleaner but even so I was still finding bits of him caught on door hinges and stuck in air vents several years later!

Wish I knew the answer.
Our previous owner had 2 large dogs and even though the house has been cleaned and steamed top to bottom I still occasionally get a whiff of damp dog and the odd dog hair.

If you have any wooden surfaces that are glossed give them a thin new top coat, I find that always freshens up a house.

washing the woodwork and there is a lovely wood floor wash you can get to wash the floor with, then do the skirting boards and give the kitchen a good go over with strong smelling bleach - leave a cleaner in the sink each day to permeate the house whilst you are out.

Then candles and oil and rub a small amount of oil on the radiators

I would paint the main room you live in (sitting room probably). Should only take a day, this will make the whole house smell fresh as this is probably the room they smoked in and ate food in etc.

put a nice smelling oil - a couple of drops- in the filter of your hoover, this will also help leave your own smell

Open the windows, empty the room, give the ceiling and walls a good wash then a going over with paint.
scrub the floor and skirting boards.
Method floor cleaner is really good plus it smells of almonds.

The previous owners of our house only smoked in the kitchen, but you'd be amazed where the stuff gets to. Just about every surface of the kitchen cupboards was impregnated with it.

I agree with the post that says wash your walls. Also wash the tops and bottoms of your kitchen cupboards etc.

try this, they work for me, though mostly for allergens]]

Do loads of washimg with persil or ariel and then put heat on and hang it to dry in all the rooms

That's happening anyway! Glad to hear it helps.

i turned the key in the door today and smelled grapefruit, so I was delighted.

YY to sugar soaping walls, ceilings and woodwork, our place was positively grubby when we moved in and this helped.

If there aren't any carpets/soft furnishings left from the previous owners, I'm surprised that it smells so strongly of them. Could the smell actually be coming from one of your neighbours?

3 months. IME.

lala, we stripped this place back to the walls and every kitchen/ bathroom fitting/ floor covering etc got put into a skip as the place stank (we knew we were buying a refurb job) and the one room we have yet to redecorate still stinks of stale fags and takeaways. It's next in the list and DH is prepping bit by bit, and I swear that I can tell if he's had that room door open as soon as I get through the front door . We're getting a price for a skim to the ceilings as we think that's what smells.

And we've been here over a year....

Can you describe the smell of charity shop clothes?

We had that. Moved into a new house that reeked of curry. It was bizarre as when we went to view it it smelt and looked lovely. It took about 3 months of cleaning the walls, carpets, lighting candles and leaving the windows open, for it to go.

We've just painted every single surface of new house. I really think replacing carpets, curtains and paintwork is the only way .

We've painted the house from top to bottom, replaced all the carpets and replaced the bathroom. Smells a lot less weird and mouldy now!

Charity shops smell musty. Like bags of outgrown kids clothes I keep under my bed. I think it's the storing that does it.