The nasty and stale stink of cigarette smoking lingers inside a home or room after the cigarette is outside and the smoker is gone. It also causes a yellowish tar and nicotine discoloration to the walls which hardens with time. Whether you just stop smoking, moved to an apartment which was smoked in or purchased a home from an earlier smoker, don’t get discouraged: It is possible to remove the stink and the smoke stains in the walls.
The White Vinegar Solution
Over one method removes tar and nicotine cigarette stains from walls. Start by adding heated vinegar into your spray bottle to get tough stains. Dilute using a one-to-one ratio using warm water to get less noticeable stains. Apply the heated vinegar or mixture directly to the walls. Because tar and nicotine develop a hardened and sticky surface, the heat of the vinegar helps to soften those chemicals. Vinegar removes both stains and smells.
The Ammonia Method
Ammonia can also remove cigarette tar and nicotine from walls when combined with water. Combine a tablespoon of chlorine for every cup of water, or about 1/2 cup of ammonia to a gallon of warm water. For painted walls, reduce the mixture into 1/4 cup into a gallon of water. For a more powerful solution, increase the ammonia to a full cup. Put on the cleaning agent straight to the wall and allow it to sit for approximately five minutes before wiping it off. Follow a clean rinse of warm water.
For Rough Cigarette Stains
Trisodium phosphate works best to eliminate tough stains because it also degreases that the tars from cigarette smoke. You can find trisodium phosphate in which you typically buy household cleaning agents or at your neighborhood home improvement or hardware store. Wear gloves when you apply it into the walls after combining 1 tablespoon in a gallon of warm water. To avoid streaks, start at the bottom of the wall and work your way up. Allow the mixture sit around the walls before wiping it off. Wash with a sponge dipped in clean water, altering the rinse water often as you work. After walls are clean, they may require a primer and paint coat to freshen them up. Select a primer product which can cover hard stains.
The Smoky Smell
All of these solutions can remove the cigarette detract from your walls, however, the smell may linger inside the house and recontaminate the walls if you forget to clean the filters to your home’s HVAC system. As you clean the walls, ventilate the home thoroughly. If the home has a whole house fan, turn it around or temporarily set a large reversible square fan inside a window to vent the family air outside. Remove and clean washable cold-air return filters or replace them completely. Clean the grates round the cold-air come back to remove tar and nicotine stains. Clean the carpet and drapes extensively to receive all the offensive odors out of the house.