My family is retaking possession of a house that we have rented out for 11 years. Both of the tenants we have had were rather heavy smokers. As a result, almost every wall in the house has a rather unattractive yellow-brown stain on it. We plan to repaint all of the walls in the house while we’re moving in, so we need the tobacco off the wall (right? Can we just paint over it?). Now, here’s the question: How? What is the best product to remove tobacco stains? No one in my family is a smoker, so we don’t really know what works best. The walls are drywall and latex-painted. I was thinking maybe 409 with orange oil to start, but is there something better, or recommended?
Thanks, y’all.
I wasn’t sure whether this was a GQ or for IMHO, but it doesn’t seem like I’m asking for the ONE TRUE WAY to remove these stains, but rather opinions on how to do so.
When you paint, you’ll need to prime with a product called Kilz. It should cover (and seal) the tobacco stains. Otherwise, they’ll bleed through eventually, and look like brownish water stains.
We had that same problem when we bought our house. The previous owners had smoked heavily for years, and hadn’t painted in years. We half-heartedly washed the walls with (IIRC) Windex, and then painted the living room and dining room white, and within about 2 or 3 years, the stains started bleeding through. They looked like water stains.
We used the Kilz stuff and then repainted with regular paint.
You can get it (or a comprable product) at Home Depot or Lowes or you should be able to get it at any paint store.
I had a co-worker who was a heavy smoker and as a result, had tobacco stains everywhere. She was moving to a new apartment and had to clean her present apartment. There’s a product called TSP (Trisodium Phosphate?) that you can get at stores like Home Depot, Lowe’s, etc. You mix the powder with water and then follow the directions. You have to wear gloves and open the windows for ventilation, but this stuff works. I was amazed to see that the windows weren’t really tinted brown, and the walls were really white, not light tan.
I recently tried a product called “Mr.Clean Magic Eraser”.
It is a sponge that is absolutly phenomenal at cleaning walls (among other things).
I used them to clean tobacco smoke from my walls and ceiling and was absolutly amazed at the results. Almost no “elbow grease” was required. The smoke simply wiped off.
Thanks, everyone. We know about the lingering effects of tobacco – we had already intended to replace the carpet and curtains, it was just the walls we were concerned about. I’m going to try the Magic Erasers first, but if those doesn’t work, I suppose we’ll Kilz it.
Did you have to buy a bunch of the Magic Erasers to do a single room? I’m planning on cleaning my semi-gloss walls before repainting with Kilz primer just to be safe. Figuring that my kitchen is about 12’ X 15’ with 8’ ceilings, how many would you use on a room that size?
Also, do you just dampen them and rinse them with water, or do you have to use some kind of soap or detergent with them?
how many you need will likely depend on your walls and any texturing. They do deteriorate fairly quickly, but you don’t need to use much elbow grease so they aren’t too bad. I would say get a pack of 2 sponges per room if there is a lot of stain.
To use you just dip in water. You do not need any other cleaner with them.
My dad is moving in 2.5 months and he’s a heavy smoker… he’s been living in his present apartment and the walls are tan and beige. I suspect that is not their original colour. We’re going to replace the curtains, carpets, and some of the furniture for the new place.
Do we have to wash the walls before he moves out? (If we touch one of the walls, I suspect we’ll have to do all of them. The real pain would be the ceiling: it’s that sprayed-on bumpy stuccoey stuff.)
I have always found that the best wall cleaner is lemon juice. In Australia you can buy bottles of straight lemon juice at the supermarket. You can squirt it straight on things with no problems and I find that it stops mould forming where anti-mould products don’t. It will move any stain off a wall and does no harm in doing it.
What worked best was a combination of the 409 Orange and the Mr Clean Magic Erasers. We sprayed down the wall with the 409 and wiped it off with the Magic Erasers. Then we dried the walls, and used just the erasers again. Took it all right off. Duly impressed by the erasers. They got everything off of the other areas too (window sills, window frames, etc).