To help eliminate smoke odors from ashtrays while in use, pour some baking soda in them. This also helps for easy clean up.
By Lisa S.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
My husband smokes cigarettes in the bedroom, but the whole house smells like an ashtray. I've tried to get him to smoke outside but to no avail. Is there anything I can do to get rid of the "ashtray" smell in my house? Thanks.
By Pamela
The type of cigarettes that he smokes could make a difference. My brother smokes full strength menthol - much stronger odor than the ultra light non-menthol ones that I smoke.
1. Get a small air purifier for the bedroom. The one I bought was around $40 at Walmart.
2. Weather permitting, perhaps he could open a window in the bedroom when he's smoking.
3. Home Depot sells a spray call Zep Smoke Odor Eliminator. It costs about $5 for a very large can. It might not eliminate all the concentrated smoke odor in the bedroom (it's in the bedding, the furniture, the carpet, etc.) but it will help a lot and should completely eliminate the smell in the other parts of the house. Just spray a little around each room whenever you notice the smell.
Jean
I have been using a concentrated spray by yankee candle. Comes in many different scents. We both smoke.
I need to know how to get rid of cigarette smoke in my house. My husband smokes. I have used all kinds of spray. Burned candles, still I can smell the smoke. What can I use? I have a small poodle, so I would need something that wouldn't hurt my dog.
Do you have a Sam's Club nearby? If so, they sell a spray called Smoke Eliminator by Zep.
It has a nice fresh fragrance and works wonders.
I am a smoker and this is what I do. I take a dryer sheet and fold them in half and then staple them together. Then I tape them over my heater duct. I even put them in front of one of my cold air returns.
I have a room attached to my garage that is sheetrocked and insulated, but is not painted or primed. My renters smoke very heavily in this room and now that room and the garage smells. When they took down the pictures that they had hanging up there is a brown tint around where the picture was hanging.
We have had the windows open but this does not help. What is the best way to get the smell out. Also, is priming it now just going to make the smell stick into the walls.
Please help with any ideas!
By Sue
There is a cigarette odour behind the base cupboards in a fitted kitchen. A small gap at the top of each cupboard and drawer allows the smell to permeate.
As the smell seems to be on the wall behind how can I eliminate this?My house smells of cigarette smoke, thanks to the people who lived in it before me. I was told to bleach the walls to get out the smell, but was wondering if there were any other ways to get out that nasty smell. Thanks.
By Deborah A
Try this:
Add 1/2 cup of baking soda to a spray bottle. Top off with water. Shake well and spray the walls using the mist setting.
I acquired a relatively new refrigerator from a house where someone smoked. The refrigerator has the smell of stale smoke inside. How do I get rid of this odor?
I find that using baking soda is a great deodorizer, especially for refrigerators. You can either mix it with water into a paste to clean the whole fridge or pop open a box and let it sit in there for a while.
I think that you could take a few charcoal briquets set on a paper plate or a piece of foil, shut the refrigerator door for a day or so, and the briquets should absorb the smell and you can throw them away.
I would use a small bottle of vinegar poured into a bowl leaving it inside the fridge 24 hours or longer. Keep a small bowl of vinegar in the back of your fridge all the time to keep it smelling clean. DO NOT forget to change the vinegar out every week or two though.
I too have the same dilemma as you do. I recently received a fridge from a relative that smoked heavily and their fridge reeks of smoke. I cleaned it outside with Fantastic and Clorox Cleanup (at separate times, of course) and let it sit outside for the day. We brought it in in the evening and set it up only to discover the next day that the smell was still inside it.
We are moving into a lower level duplex, the upstairs tenants are heavy smokers and moved out from the lower level a few days ago. I will deep clean the carpets and walls to get the smell out of the lower level, but am concerned about the continuing tobacco smoke from above, or the air ducts.
I would think that your air ducting wouldn't be connected, but if it is, I wouldn't know what to do, maybe consider special filters. If it is not connected, the best way to get that smoke smell out is to paint your ceilings/walls, clean carpets and a/c filter, and if someone-landlord could clean the a/c unit/ducts
You have to get the air ducts professionally cleaned or removed. Nicotine has a tar like substance that comes out in the smoke, it will stick to anything! I remember when my parents used to smoke in the house (a LONG time ago) it wasn't until my Mom saw the brown drips on the bathroom walls (the tar stuff) did she realize how gross it was and how bad it was for me and my sister (go figure, I stopped having strep throat after that!).
Honestly, I don't think you can get smoke out of an apartment. I lived in one like that for two years and every single time I was out (at church, at my parents' house) I could smell smoke on my clothes. It positively emanated from me and it was awful. Personally, as a nonsmoker, I would not rent a place that had had smokers, and as a landlord now, I won't rent to a smoker because if they smoke in the house, it wrecks it.
I was given a raincoat which is a plastic material on the outside and a silky fabric on the inside. The previous owner was a cigarette smoker, and the coat stinks like cigarette smoke. The coat cannot be placed in the washer. I have hung it outside to air for over a week, placed it in the bathtub with Dawn dish soap and cleaned it with a rag, and I have sprayed it with Febreeze. All to no avail. Does anyone have a secret to getting this horrible smell out of the coat so that it can be saved?
By Jocelyn Scalzott from Pittsburgh, PA
I just bought my new mobile (double-wide) home. New to me, but owned by a smoker. When I first viewed the home I did not smell smoke at all and I am a real shark for smoke smell (I hate it). I viewed the home two times in two weeks. No odor. My offer is accepted and I return for home inspection - smoke! I ask.
Told it was the AC - deceased husband smoked just under the built-in AC. Hmmmm, OK. Returned for a gab and buy/sell with owner (real nice woman) barely a whiff. OK. Walk-thru gets put smack up to closing and at walk-thru I could hardly breath. I opened all windows for two days - still stinks to high heaven!Question - and thanks for excellent tips here - I could never wash walls by hand (disabled) so I wondered if I might use a thick painting roller and roll the residue off? Even the ceilings could be done this way. I couldn't do that, friends will help, but I could roll the walls. What do you think of this as a method? Seeing as how I wasn't able to smell anything at viewings (I'm sure her realtor put the fear of god into her that buyers would flee if she didn't smoke outside, but once she had a P & S Agreement she slipped back and by move out time it was packs and packs galore). I'm hoping a wash with water and vinegar or TSP (but don't you have to also rinse TSP?). I sure could not do the cleaning twice) prior to KILZ primer and paint will do the job. I will also, of course, wash all shelves, cupboards, etc. What do you think? Thanks.
By Sue B
Is there some legal action I can take about the smoke getting in my apartment from my neighbor downstairs? We are getting sick as if we ourselves smoked. I have a 9 years old affected by the contaminated air too. What can I do to make the air cleaner?
By Marina R
I have been given a brand new wheelchair (electric) which I needed badly, but the lady who had it smoked a lot and it smells of strong cigarette smoke. Anyone have a good suggestion on how to remove the scent from the chair? I have tried Murphy's oil soap, Lysol, Febreze and setting it out in the sun all day.
By gbk from GA