Would you buy a house that smells of fags?

[Willow108]

Just that really.

We are viewing houses at the minute. We saw one yesterday that would be a contender but it really smells badly of cigarette smoke. The house is about 12 years old and I think the current owners have been there (and presumably smoking) all of that time. I detest cigarette smoke and don't know would this go over time? Does anyone have any experience of this? Should we run for the hills?

Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated.

[JeffreySadsacIsUnwell]

I wouldn't - but I have young DC with asthma. I wouldn't willingly do anything at all that would contribute to yet another hospital stay/visit.

If I didn't have DC and there was the possibility of staying elsewhere for short periods if necessary, then yes, I probably would. We did a lot of work to our current house, bought pre-DC, including not just carpets and painting walls but replacing floorboards and replastering pretty much the entire house (as well as rewiring, installing central heating and a bathroom, since it had never had one!). We moved in with my parents for a month during the worst of it, which just meant a longer commute - but wouldn't have been possible if we'd had DC at school. Or indeed, DC!

So, depends on many other factors.

[KingJoffreyLikesJaffaCakes]

Fuck, no.

Hideous. It gets everywhere. You'd be living in an ash tray. You'd never clean 12 years of it off. As soon as the heating came on it would reek. Be all over your clothes and hair and pets. And it might make you ill.

[ChelseaNannyTree]

no.

I worry people won't buy my property because you can smell the neighbours fags.

[paulapantsdown]

I bought a house lived in by 2 heavy smokers who never opened a window. Carpets were chucked and every inch sugar soaped. The memory of scrubbing the ceiling with sponge on a pole and the brown goo dripping down on me into my mouth is a delightful one!

It was totally fine once all re-decorated. Until I turned the heating on and all the flea eggs left over from the last owners 4 cats, still in the cracks of the floorboards, hatched and I had to have the whole place fumigated!

[MaryPoppinsPenguins]

I think some of these replies are a bit dramatic.

Replacing a kitchen because someone smoked in there??

You'll be fine. Replace curtains, possibly carpets if you have the money and be prepared to do a huge clean of every single thing when you move in, and try to live for the first few weeks with the windows etc open as much as possible. You'll be fine.

My mum is a neat freak and she did it, it was fine.

[HelenF35]

I bought a house that had been inhabited by heavy smokers for 55 years! I changed everything so it didn't really matter to me.

[LaughingHyena]

We rejected several houses which smelled strongly of smoke. Just couldn't face the amount of work and replacing things which we felt they would have needed. As a PP said, a lot of it we would expect to do in any house we bought but while I can live with rooms not being my taste for a while we get things sorted anything smoky would need to be done straight away.

Our current house was previously own by a couple, one of whom smoked but we were told only in the conservatory (yey for leaving teen at home for the viewing). The other thing in it's favour was that there were hard floors so no carpet to hold the smell.

Although the house didn't smell most of the time you would still get the odd waft, and as someone else mentioned turning on the heating brought out the worst. Using a steam cleaner to get out all the dust and yuk form behind and in the little gaps made a big difference.

There was nothing we managed to do to sort out the conservatory though, the wood had absorbed everything. In the end we ripped it out and started again.

Our offer (and in fairness the asking price) reflected the amount of work and replacing items we felt we were going to have to do. Without the smoking issue I don't think we could have bought it.

[Ludways]

Yes. The first houses bought was orange inside, lol, a good clean and it didn't last long.

[RaphaellaTheSpanishWaterDog]

We did. It was a 4 bed detached Victorian being sold by a 91 yr old lady who was downsizing into a flat. She had lived - and very obviously smoked - there for decades. Tbh, we had lost out on our dream house and our buyers were exerting pressure on us even phoning us to suggest possible places to buy to find somewhere and as it ticked many of our boxes we bought it. Nothing to do with the smoking but it was a huge mistake as we hated it there.

Like every house we've ever bought it was always going to be gutted - it needed a full rewire, new kitchen and two new bathrooms as well as decorating throughout so we had stripped all the wallpaper and carpets within a few weeks of moving in. We sanded the floorboards on the ground floor and fitted new carpets in the bedrooms. Some walls needed replastering. On moving in - with DS who was then 2 - we opened every window and stripped as much as possible out immediately - curtains, some carpets etc. Iirc the smell lingered a while but was gone within 6 months......

[shovetheholly]

To be honest, I've never moved anywhere without having to do a comprehensive redecoration anyway. If something is kind-of-your-taste-but-not-quite, it's still just as much work as if something is screamingly awful. The difference is really one of timescales: with fag smoke, you'd probably just want to get it all done at once.

If I were moving again, I'd get somewhere cheap and in a state, move my stuff in, and rent for a couple of weeks while I had new central heating and the whole thing rewired, replastered, redecorated, recarpeted. That way, you've got all the mess and fuss out of the way.

[tictactoad]

We have done it twice. Second time was way worse than the first. Old boy's wife had died eighteen months previously having been a heavy smoker and he chugged a pipe.

We had the windows open for weeks on end (in November) although even then I had a headache every day, got rid of the curtains and eventually the carpet but redecorating was the main solution. The carpet smelt on warm days right up until it went but if I really loved the house I'd do it all again.

[Bearbehind]

Meant to add, all fitted furniture- including the kitchen - will stink too and need to be replaced if you really want to get rid of the smell.

[RatherBeRiding]

Mu current house reeked of cigarette smoke but there was no tar-ry residue on walls/ceilings (think it had been redecorated to put on the market). I changed the downstairs carpet, washed the curtains and spent a few weeks with plug-in air fresheners in every room, left windows open for as long as I could, sprayed Febreeze on everything. It took a few weeks, but it did work and there was/is absolutely no smell now (apart from dogs, but that's a different story!)

[Bearbehind]

I think bitchrestingface situation is quite different to yours OP as that house was at least 60 years old and cheap therefore it sounds like it needed rewiring/ re plastering etc regardless of the smell of smoke so all the cost of removing the smell would have been incurred anyway IYSWIM.

In a 12 year old house I wouldn't expect to have to strip the house back to the bones but you will need to to get rid of the smell- it gets everywhere.

If it really stinks, as a minimum you'll need to remove and replace all the carpets and window dressings and scrub and repaint all the walls and woodwork.

Obviously this comes at a price - it's just a case of deciding if it's worth it/ you can afford it.

[StepAwayFromTheThesaurus]

It would seriously put me off and have an impact on what I'd be willing to pay. We've been looking at houses and even the vaguest whiff of smoke really, really puts me off. Even where people clearly don't smoke in the house, things like cupboards with coats in them often stink of it. And the bedrooms have a whiff of it that must, presumably, be coming from clothes in the wardrobe or the bed sheets picking up smells for people's skin.

I think I might be super-sensitive to the smell of smoke though, because DH doesn't always pick up on it until I point it out.

[Tiggeryoubastard]

No, wouldn't even consider it. Friends made the mistake and had all the problems above, without a permanent fix. I'd not even complete a viewing on a house that smelt of smoke, I find it repulsive.

[HeadDreamer]

No. There are plenty of other houses and it can be quite hard to get rid of all the smell.

[Willow108]

Even hearing the word tar is so off-putting NoonAim

smellysourdough it is a detached house, so it all comes from the current owners.

[SmellySourdough]

if it comes from the current occupant, i.e. can be resolved by cleaning/airing, then yes.
if it comes from neighbours (terrace?) then no way!

[NoonAim]

When I was young, almost all houses used to smell of fags.
We had to scrub the walls and ceilings of our first flat to get the tar off.

Wouldn't do it now, far too much work.

[pinkcan]

You will have to completely gut every room IMO, repaint every wall and ceiling. I wouldn't buy it personally.

[Willow108]

bitchrestingface that is an impressive profit, well done on your hard work! I don't think we could manage to take on a house we have to refurbish, how much of your time did you have to devote to it?

[Cuttheraisins]

I would if it was the right house. We usually have everything cleaned when we move forward n anyway and usually have a decorator to clean the walls and paint, so if you calculate that cost into the moving in cost anyway it's no problem.