Smoke Remediation the Easy Way: Minimize Your Costs and Effort

Last Updated on September 3, 2024 by Admin

If a house smells like smoke, it’s guaranteed to sell for significantly less than it could. Some surveys have suggested that the reduction in a home’s value could be as much as 29 percent if it smells like smoke, which is a very significant number – especially considering today’s home prices.

You’re here because you want to know about smoke remediation. That means you’re in one of three situations.

• You’re a homeowner who smokes, and you want to sell your home for the maximum possible price.
• You’ve just purchased a smoked-in home at a discount, and you want to know what your options are for getting the smell out.
• You’re a contractor who has been hired for a smoke remediation project and asked to complete it at the lowest possible cost.

Whatever your situation may be, you’re in the right place. Smoke remediation is a major project that’s going to require considerable time, money or both. It is possible to do it yourself, though, if you’re willing to put in a little effort. What you need is a logical plan that gets the most done with the least possible resources utilized, and that’s what you’re going to get in this guide. This is a step-by-step gameplan for smoke remediation the easy way. We’ll also include a couple of extra tips at the end to help you remediate a home that’s unusually bad.

Stop Smoking in the Home Immediately

If you’re a smoker and are trying to remediate your home before selling it, the most important thing to know is that your efforts will accomplish very little if you continue smoking in the home afterwards – so stop smoking indoors immediately. You can do wonders for getting the smoke smell out of a home just by opening the windows to encourage maximum airflow and by never smoking in the home again. Either smoke outdoors only or get a Geek Bar that you can use when nicotine cravings arise.

Give the Home a Top-to-Bottom Cleaning

Cleaning the home will be the longest and most involved part of your smoke remediation effort, but it’ll also accomplish the most. Smoke adheres to every surface, and the walls, floors, linens and furniture are the biggest surfaces in the home. Here’s the best way to clean them.

• Remove the curtains, blankets, sheets and towels. Either take them to the laundromat and wash them with strong detergent and white vinegar or plan to replace them when the cleaning project is over. Smoke deeply penetrates soft items, so it’s easiest to replace these things if you can.
• Remove the furniture and put it outside to air out if possible. Bright sunlight can neutralize a persistent smoke smell – but be careful because it can also discolor leather and upholstery.
• Vacuum the entire home thoroughly, including the areas that you normally skip because they’re hard to reach. Don’t forget to remove and vacuum all of the furniture cushions.
• Clean all of the hard surfaces such as the walls, ceilings, windows and countertops. Add vinegar to your cleaning solution because it helps to break down the residual smoke and tar.
• Rent a good steam cleaner for the carpeting. You may find it helpful to steam clean the furniture as well.

When you’re done with this portion of the remediation project, you should find that the majority of the smoke smell is gone. There are still some places, though, that you can’t reach with a standard cleaning. We’ll discuss those next.

Clean the HVAC System

When you’re trying to get the smoke smell out of a home, the HVAC system is going to be a big part of the project because it recirculates the air throughout the residence. If you don’t clean it, you’ll smell smoke every time you heat or cool the home.

• Clean the ductwork and coils. Because you’ll have a very expensive repair on your hands if these things are done incorrectly, this is one part of the project in which you’ll probably have a much better experience if you hire professional help.
• Replace the air filter. This is something that you can do on your own; just pull the old filter out and push the new filter in. Make sure that the pleats are facing in the right direction.

Get the Smoke out of the Hard-to-Reach Places

A home is full of hard-to-reach places that are difficult to clean with a vacuum or rag. These areas might include portions or the attic and basement along with closets, cabinets and drawers. You should still clean those areas to the best of your ability – but when you’ve done all that you can, activated charcoal is going to be your best friend. Buy bags of it online or from your local home improvement store and place them in the areas that you can’t reach.

After a month or so, take the bags out and see if they smell like smoke. If they do, throw them away and replace them. If not, put them in direct sunlight for a few hours to refresh them and then return them to their original spots.

If you can afford it, an air filter can also be very helpful in getting the smell of smoke out of a home. A good air filter will have an activated charcoal stage for absorbing odor-causing molecules and a HEPA stage for removing fine allergens. However, you’ll need to budget around $1,000 if you want an air filter that’ll make a noticeable difference. Most cheap air filters don’t actually do much of anything. If you can’t afford an air filter, add some indoor plants to the home. Plants don’t process an enormous amount of air, but they do help.

Extra Tips for Intensive Smoke Remediation

At the beginning of this guide, we promised to provide a couple of extra tips that will be useful for a smoke remediation project that’s extremely difficult. Try these things if you still smell smoke in the home after doing all of the things above.

• You can rent an ozone generator and run it in the home for a few hours. Ozone has a powerful oxidizing effect and can neutralize almost any foul odor. It’s also potentially deadly, though, so you’ll need to make sure that all people and animals are safely out of the home first. You may also want to remove any plants.
• You can repaint the home’s interior with odor-encapsulating paint. This type of paint is specifically intended for smoke remediation projects, and it works by covering the odor-causing particles in an airtight film that prevents them from escaping into the air.

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