Would you buy a house that smelled like smoke?

[WitMom]

DH and I are in the house buying process right now. Last night he toured a home (I was home with sick kids) that he liked with a great backyard. From his description, it is really a great house that could be potentially perfect for us. The only problem is that it smelled like smoke. He said it wasn't overwhelming, and it was faint enough that he couldn't quite put his finger on what the smell was at first. I am going to look at it today, but I'm a little hesitant. How hard would it be to get the smell "out" if we bought the house? Would keeping the windows open for a few days and getting the carpets cleaned fix the problem? Or is it going to be much more involved than that?

[wendmatt]

I think more involved that that. Smoke usually gets into everything, so new paint would be a must, not sure about cupboards etc. My mum got remarried and her husband smoked and there were yellow stains on the ceiling. He died a while ago and her house does not smell like smoke, so it definately does go, I'm just not sure how long it would take.

[SnuggleBuggles]

If it is a great house I wouldn't let it be a deal breaker. You just need to be prepared for a lot of work, possibly. I didn't know what a PITB it was when we bought our current house. So, if they smoke inside and you run a humidifier too high in a room, in my house that meant that you'd have yellow running down the wall! Eek! All the vinyl window frames were discolored yellow instead of white. What it mean was scrubbing the walls, repainting, a lot of elbow grease on things like the window frames. But, none of that is very expensive and perhaps you can factor in the cost of a cleaning crew to come through and tackle that for you. I just plugged away at it over time though some rooms we painted before we moved in. Oh, and we had the carpets professionally cleaned before we moved in.

It was a lot of work but I am glad that we bought the house!

Beth

[boogiemomz]

i would be hesitant too. i can NOT tolerate that smell. you might think about replacing the carpets... i wouldn't be confident that just cleaning them would get the odor out. i would hope they had been cleaned when the house was put on the market! such a bummer, especially since you otherwise love the house!!

[cvanbrunt]

Not in a million years. It gets into everything and stains walls. We had a house fire just before the renovation was finished and the contractors sealed the damaged wood and we still get a whiff everyonce in awhile.

[wellyes]

We did. The house had both smoke smell and dog smell. It was a bit more than keeping windows open. We rented a carpet cleaner TWICE, was not good enough, ended up ripped out the carpets and putting in hardwoods. Which we kind of wanted to anyway but had to do it sooner than we budgeted / planned to.

Other than that, we did wash down all the walls with vinegar and hot water and did some (planned) repainting too. That part was really no big deal. We also had the ducts cleaned but we do that annually no matter what, so not an extra expense.

I'd just see if there are carpets and anticipate having to possibly replace those. Oh, and if there are fabric drapes. Fabric / carpet is the hard part. Walls and wood are washable.

[bubbaray]

I would not, but DD#1 and I have asthma and I would be very worried about that.

[Leeannpk]

A faint smoke smell that your husband couldn't immediately put his finger on? That wouldn't be a dealbreaker for me. I would expect to have to replace the carpet if professional cleaning didn't do the trick, though. Our house smelled faintly of smoke when we first looked at it, but once the owners moved all of their possessions out, I couldn't smell it anymore. We tore the carpets out anyway (hardwood underneath) but I think the majority of the smell was in the upholstered furniture and the window treatments (which we threw out because they were hideous.)

[SnuggleBuggles]

Yeah, I forgot about window treatments. We ditched those too.
eta- I wonder if you could work some of the cleaning into the sales' deal. If the market isn't hot and heavy it could be a possible thing to ask fr. Your realtor can better advise you.
Beth

[Cam&Clay]

I would think paint and new carpet would be a must. My mother stopped smoking 3 years ago and their home still reeks of it because my dad hasn't replaced the carpet, furniture, and painted the walls. It gets into everything.

But I'm talking about a 3 pack a day smoker who lived in that house for 40 years, too.

[bigpassport]

I would see how you feel about it when you go. Personally, I would be prepared to recarpet, repaint and replace draperies (if any)...as well as scrubbing down the surfaces that are not getting repainted. Good luck. How exciting!

[WatchingThemGrow]

A friend did it, and you cannot tell a BIT. Of course, they had everything repainted, including ceilings, baseboards, etc. NO fabric surfaces remained- new carpets, no window coverings. If it has all the priority items, I wouldn't mark it off the list, just be prepared to get a lot of stuff taken care of!

[wellyes]

But I'm talking about a 3 pack a day smoker who lived in that house for 40 years, too.

OT but good for her for quitting, wow, she should be really proud of herself.

[JTsMom]

I'm extremely sensitive to smoke, so I wouldn't. I've tried like crazy to get the smoke smell out of a piece of furniture that I loved and desperately wanted. It was in my grandmother's house, and she hadn't smoke inside in many many years, and even though I tried everything I could think of, I could STILL smell smoke.

[Cam&Clay]

OT but good for her for quitting, wow, she should be really proud of herself.

Thanks, but she quit because she was diagnosed with lung cancer. I am proud that she quit, but it did not help. She passed away in November when the cancer returned. She was very honest and up front about the fact that she did this to herself. I miss her terribly.

[vludmilla]

I think it depends on how difficult it is to find a house to meet your needs in your price range. Where I am, I could not afford to discount a house for smoke smell alone as there are too few houses and they are super expensive. I agree with PP's though that you need to plan to paint and clean everything and remove all fabric or carpet from the home. Good luck!

[JBaxter]

I did but it took a full repaint and new carpet to get the smell out.

[egoldber]

No, I would not.

[ewpmsw]

I wouldn't buy a smokey-smelling house. I have a Super Nose. Smells are a deal-breaker here.

[MamaSnoo]

I would not, but DD#1 and I have asthma and I would be very worried about that.

This is us....so no way, not ever.

[AnnieW625]

It wouldn't be a deal breaker for me, but if it was really bad I would definitely put something in the contract about having the house cleaned from top to bottom first. If they really want to sell the place then they will do it!

[pinkmomagain]

I don't think I could do it.

[amyd]

Friends bought a house that people smoked in and I could smell it when near an electric socket and when they used the central air.

[o_mom]

A very faint smell, if the house were perfect in every other way (layout, location, etc.) and priced that I could afford the reno necessary to cover it, yes.

I would at a minimum plan to replace all carpet and soft surfaces (drapes, blinds, etc.), complete duct cleaning and paint top to bottom with good odor killing primer under the paint. If you aren't doing it yourself, I would be very specific with the paint contractor that all outlets, switch plates and ceiling fixture should be removed and painted to the edge of the drywall and gaps between walls and trim should be caulked if they are not sealed already.

[hillview]

I would check it out myself and then decide. But likely I would not go for it. Smoke REALLY bothers me.
/hillary

[ohiomom]

NO WAY!

We encouraged dear friends to check out a house across the back from ours. They bought it. It was WONDERFUL having long time friends so very close. They sold because they could not get the smoke smell out (cigs). It was awful to see them leave our neighborhood, but Iow didn't blame them at all. Because of the way our houses are constructed our ducts are not able to be fully cleaned. They did paint/wash everything, etc. but the smell took over their suitcases, so when they traveled it smelled in their clothes and became obvious because they were out of the house. She borrowed my DDs clothes and each time they were returned freshly laundered but still reeked of smoke.

They did NOT detect the smell when buying the house -- probably because of all the out gassing of new carpet/paint and extensive efforts of covering up the smell. They did the same when it was time to sell, but fortunately smokers purchased the home -- so no guilt.

I'd be very careful. Look for signs of yellow staining near light fixtures, etc. A slight smell may be slight because of a lot of effort on the part of the sellers.

Even today, watching my dds playing out back, I yearned for DF's family to still be in that house so her kids could come out to play. Major bummer!!

[rlu]

No, when we were looking if we smelled smoke we left without viewing. If you were planning to tear it back to the studs to redo electrical and plumbing anyway, maybe since you'd have new walls, plus new carpeting, etc. We weren't able to go to that extreme.

[Melanie]

I would if you are open to repainting and re-carpeting the entire house. New window treatments as well, of course. And you would have to have the ducts cleaned and the heat/air blower (not a bad idea anyway).

By then it will wreak so much of the chemicals in the paint and new carpet, I don't think you'd smell the smoke. LOL.

ETA: If it was a 'light' smell. Not if it was so bad the switches/plugs/cabinets are nicotine-stained.

[HannaAddict]

No, smoke invades dry wall, wood, carpets, etc. EVERYTHING. I would not buy a house that smelled like smoke. Haven't read other replies so might be just joining the chorus.

[MoJo]

A faint smoke smell that your husband couldn't immediately put his finger on? That wouldn't be a dealbreaker for me. I would expect to have to replace the carpet if professional cleaning didn't do the trick, though. Our house smelled faintly of smoke when we first looked at it, but once the owners moved all of their possessions out, I couldn't smell it anymore. We tore the carpets out anyway (hardwood underneath) but I think the majority of the smell was in the upholstered furniture and the window treatments (which we threw out because they were hideous.)

I'm with leeannpk. Our current home was previously owned by smokers, and you could smell it at the showing. . . but when their furniture/clothes/drapes were gone, it was 100% better even before I cleaned a thing. (It was already mostly hardwood.)

If it's a light smell now in an otherwise perfect home at a good price, I would buy it.

[SnuggleBuggles]

How was the house?

Beth

[mom_hanna]

Nope, but dh and I both HATE the smell. When we were house hunting, we walked into several houses that smelled of smoke and turned around and walked right back out.

[Melaine]

No, I wouldn't. It might be possible to eliminate but I just couldn't handle the idea that it had gotten into every corner. We have asthma and allergies around here so it would be a bad choice, I think.

[ErinMC]

When we bought our first house 7 years ago, it smelled strongly of smoke. It was very dated (green shag 70's carpetting everythwere!) so we immediately pulled up all the carpets, threw out the curtains, and painted all the walls and ceilings with kilz primer, then paint. The smell was gone, but yes, it was a lot of work. Work we would have done anyways though, since it was a fixer-upper. Good luck deciding!

[SammyeGail]

One of my sisters and BIL were/are chain smokers, it took forever to sell their house. They did go back after 6 months and repaint over all her very colorful painting, I think that helped the smoke smell a little bit.

In the offer they finally took the buyers took off an allowance for getting the ducks cleaned, repainting every room/ceiling and replacing all the carpet.

My mother was a 2.5 a pack a day smoker, my dad was always trying to quit, it was kind of funny seeing the gum by his chair and walking into their house was like walking into a bar. My mother did cut down alot before she passed away. She died of heart failure.

That was 11/08, Dad has repainted the house/replaced the carpet, the den has Pergo, still has the same drapes and furniture. I think because of the Pergo, drapes, couch. etc, it smells like old smoke.

In my opinion, like many other PP said, with new paint, new carpet & getting the ducks cleaned that would help a lot. If they didn't smoke in the house a lot maybe the carpets aren't too bad, you just have to get down there and smell them, lol, gross I know!

Hope the viewing went well, please update us!!

[WitMom]

Thanks for all of the advice and opinions. We did go see the house....the first time for me, and the second time for DH. I didn't notice a smoke smell. It did have a smell of some sort, but I wouldn't say it was smoke. I think we have ruled against it for other reasons, and the hunt continues.

[HIU8]

:yeahthat: The house we bought didn't smell of smoke but STANK of dog. We got rid of ALL the carpet and flooring (the carpet was FULL of dog pee stains you could see from the underside), painted the entire house and had the ducts cleaned. Only after that did the house no longer smell.