# How to get stale smoke smell out of a home?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-stale-smoke-smell-out-of-a-home/691719>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 26, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-stale-smoke-smell-out-of-a-home/691719 "2014-06-26T18:44:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-stale-smoke-smell-out-of-a-home/691719/21 "2014-07-14T15:44:45Z")

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We revisted the house on Friday to give it another look. The vents and fixtures were stained from the nicotine. On the plus side, there were no carpets and other things. On the negative side, we noticed that there were two dehumidifiers running and they were almost full. There were some water stains on the hard woods as well. The layout seemed choppy this time.

We calculated that we could easily put in 100k into the house and it might still need more money to make it work for us.

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**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-stale-smoke-smell-out-of-a-home/691719/22 "2014-07-14T19:28:30Z")

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Don’t forget to clean glass and mirrors.

When my fiance’s parents moved out of their apartment, I helped him do the final cleaning. I must’ve gone through an entire roll of paper towels getting the sliding glass door and jalousies to wipe light yellow instead of caramel brown. My hands smelled of smoke for a couple days after.

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**Author:** ![runningdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@runningdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runningdude)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-stale-smoke-smell-out-of-a-home/691719/23 "2014-07-14T20:10:55Z")

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> [@Sigene](#):
>
> Its a bit unusual, but I know of a company that has successfully treated (or claims to)hotel rooms that need to be converted to ‘non-smoking’. They bring in ozone generators and saturate the room, then let it clear, since ozone is not a very safe thing to breathe on a large basis.
> 
> Ozone is very reactive and breaks down the odor causing chemicals.
> 
> I make no claim of first hand knowledge/experience or safety. I’m a pretty skeptical scientific sort of person, but I’m currently comfortable with the concept that this does work.

I came as well to suggest hiring a mildew abatement company to use an ozone generator in the house. Ozone can kill both smoke and mildew.

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**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\
**Post date:** [July 14, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-stale-smoke-smell-out-of-a-home/691719/24 "2014-07-14T20:17:42Z")

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Activated charcoal in hidden away places?

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