Older Home - Cigarette Smell :(

You may want to take a few Bounce dryer sheets and spread them about the rooms. It really helps take the smell out.

I know you said that you painted, but did you use any type of primer? We had a similar situation about 2 yrs ago and they also used a woodstove, so we had 2 smells to compete with.

Replacing the carpets is HUGE and we also used "Kills" primer from Home Depot before we painted and that made a tremendous difference, I haven't smelled it yet :)

We also bought a home that only had one previous owner, it too was built in the late 1960's. The previous home owners smoked and I can tell you that the smell goes away with time. We have been here two years and unless we leave the house closed up while on vacation etc. the smoke smell is gone. We had to replace light fixtures, light bulbs, insulation, paint, tear up carpet...pretty much an entire overhaul as well as wipe everything down. Nicotine was everywhere. I bought several febreeze plug in air filters(at Bed Bath & Beyond) They really helped circulate the yucky air out of the house and bring in fresh air. I would say the big thing here is to replace your insulation when you can! :) GOod luck and enjoy your home.

Get (or rent) an ozone machine. They are commonly used in mausoleums so they really, REALLY get rid of odor. They are also used by car dealerships to get the smoke smell out of used cars. Also place dishes of ground coffee beans around your second floor. It really absorbs odors. Good luck!

Hotels use chemicals to help de-smoke guest rooms. I don't know if they're only available to businesses or if the general public can also purchase them.

Your best bet is to find the source of the smell (it may be in the subflooring, too), and treat only the areas affected.

If you can get a company that does restoration after fires/floods, they're probably best suited to provide an answer and resolution. Our neighbors just had a fire in their house that was contained to the basement, but the entire house has been gutted (down to the studs) because of the smoke damage. You could literally stand a few feet from the house (which appears completely OK on the outside) and smell the smoke damage.

Good luck.

I wonder if having your air ducts cleaned would help? This help out a lot when we moved in to a home with cats and dogs. We never smelled the animal smell again after having them cleaned out. Just a thought!

I agree with the other advice to stay away from commercial air fresheners....they have bad chemicals and will only mask the problem not eliminate it. Other than the vinegar solution, the other product you can use is zeolite...it's a natural absorbent clay..not sure what brand names it is marketed under but it is 100% natural and will absorb most odors. And to refresh the product all you need to do is put it out in the sun now & then. Good luck!

Have you replaced your air filters lately? That really helped us out when we had our first apartment.

Our first apartment had a smoke smell in the closet- which was horrible becasue all of our clothes smelled like smoke!
I found this product :

http://www.odoban.com/products/odobanr-concentrate/origin...

I just put a cup of it in the closet and it actually sucked out the smell!! The also have a spray version which I never used, but would probably be great too. I put the concentrated version on in a spray bottle and sprayed it on my clothes and the freshened right up. Maybe you could just spray it around the attic.

My mother (now an ex-smoker) said that putting bowls of vinegar in or around the affected areas will help with the old ashtray smell. She said she would do this when it got to be too much in her own home. Of course, the smell of vinegar is strong, but it will eventually dissipate, taking the smoky smell with it.

My sister moved into an apartment where the people below her smoke, and they're using an air purified with some success. My parents moved into a house that had smokers for years, and while it was a slow process, the house did air out eventually. Not that that's necessarily the route you want to go, but I did want to chime in and say it WILL probably air out on its own in a year or two, especially if you have open windows.

I second Denise's suggestion of using an ozone generator. Be careful to treat the area while nobody's in there breathing, though, because ozone is a lung irritant. Open doors and windows for an hour after running the generator for a couple of hours. Repeat if necessary. Ozone acts as an oxygen "bleach," destroying all sorts of pollutants.

PLEASE stay away from air "fresheners." Almost all of them contain highly toxic ingredients, and are probably a greater health risk than residual cigarette smell.

Coffee grounds or open bowls of vinegar are reputed to work for lots of smells, but will primarily work on only the smell that's been released into the air. Ozone will circulate around the room and get to the source.

I like to watch Ghost Hunters, two plumbers started a group called TAPS. One of the episodes they talked about the common report of smelling cigar or cigerette smoke as paranormal activity. They said that older homes in which people smoked a lot will get that because it gets into the wood. The humidity could then swell the wood enough to let out the smell. That could be what is happening in your home. If there is wood trim or even the wood beams in the walls, it could be holding in the smoke smell until it is released as the wood swells. I would suggest a air cleaner in the rooms where you smell it the worse.

Cigarette smoke smell gets into everything. Since you've repainted the walls/ceilings and refinished the hardwood floors (and I assume you've washed and/or bought new curtains/window treatments, etc), it's hard to figure where the smell is still coming from. Is there any original furniture still on your 2nd floor? Wood furniture will absorb smell from smoke, too. An ozone machine might help. (Close up the rooms and let it run, then air the rooms out before you use them again.) Wiping down surfaces with vinegar helps, too. And you can always leave open boxes of baking soda around just like you would in your fridge. The smell will dissipate over time.

Run a dehumidifier. Also, go to the hardware store and get some charcoal--not the grilling kind. They will know what you are looking for.
When we bought our house, it had bo--basement odor. After leaving the windows open and buying some jars of odor something--sorry, I don't remember what it was--and running a dehumidifier--it disappeared.
Hope it goes away for you as well.

PS--I went online and found a comperable product--nature's air sponge. Might be worth a try.

If they didn't wash the whole house with TSP then you will also start seeing the nicotine seeping through the paint... it's nearly impossible to get rid of unless you wash the walls, cabinets, etc. with this product.

Go to any hardware store 9ace,etc) they sell it there - $14 a box and you mix it with hot water... don't make big batches though b/c if it's really smokey the water will turn brown in no time. It's better to make smaller batches so you've got clean water. good luck. you'll also want to remove all the switch and outlet plates and vacuum those out..

I moved into a home 6 years ago that had smoke smell as well as cat smell. I use Fabreese spray as well as washed walls, ceilings & wood work. After everything was clean then had walls & ceilings painted- for several years I could not get cat smell out of basement until I opened the garage door one summer and use soap & bleach on the cement walls & floor. that seemed to do it. Hope this helps