How long did it take you...

[afrazier5]

For those that smoke analogs inside (I was an outside smoker except my truck) how long did it take you to clear the smell from your house/apartment/vehicle? What was the best method you found to speed up the 'recovery' of your living space?

My reason for asking is that my mother in law who has been an inside smoker for 45 years is switching to the eGo-T next week once I get her all set up. I want to give her tips not only on how to use the device but how to clear her apartment out of the smell. I know they'd have to paint the place to clean the walls and ceiling (really bad yellowing) but not sure about furniture, carpet, etc.

For myself, I need to take the truck to have it detailed so the inside smell fresh and new again. I'm sure that would be about all it needs but am drawing from your experience here.

Frazier

 

[CES]

I'm not sure how long it took to go away completely. I didn't take any heroic cleaning measures. The smell was reduced pretty quickly without the ashtrays, then I used febreeze on furniture, curtains and rugs (a few times) along with regular cleaning. I opened windows as much as possible (especially to get rid of the febreeze smell).

A couple of friends who house sit for me had smoked in the house while I'd been out of town, and that smell lasted a day or two after I returned.

 

[8-Ball]

Probably the best method...

 

[CES]

Yikes. I'm pretty sure the smell hangs on for a little while after that- especially if the firefighters hose it down....

 

[throatkick]

Stopped smoking inside the house about 3 months ago. My office took over a month despite open windows. Insane smoking going on in there for years. The rest of the house cleared up very quickly.

 

[ScottinSoCal]

I haven't smoked inside the house for many moves before the house we live in now, so the only place I had to de-stink was a couple of cars. The solution for both was the same.

The car I used more took three treatments of Febreeze - I got something called Ultra Strength, or Heavy Duty, or something like that. I wound up pulling all the seats out, so I could spray the bottom of them and the carpet underneath. I sprayed all of it (including the headliner) until it was wet and dripping, then sealed it up and let it go until it dried. On the dash and plastic parts I used Simple Green full strength, wiped off with a rag rinsed in lots of hot, warm water. Glass cleaner on the inside of all windows. That worked until I turned on the defroster and got a face-ful of concentrated stink from the vents. So I turned the system to recycled air with the fan on slow speed, found the air intake vents under the dash, and sprayed more Febreeze like a crazy person into the intake vents. Changed from defrost to the dash vents, did it again, just to make sure it hit everywhere.

It's finally gone.

 

[Trashman]

I usually smoked inside my office, but after everyone went to bed (upstairs) I would smoke in my man cave and play video games. I can only gauge the time it took from visits from my extended family (my brother in law happens to be my best friend so he's honest with me). Whenever they came up, they would over pack, but when they returned home, they would have to wash everything. After I switched, I kept asking him if he noticed anything whenever he was there. On New Years Eve 2009, he looked at me, inhaled deeply, and said he couldn't smell anything. That would have been at my 6'th month mark. At 18 months now, there is nothing left of the smell. The paint is a different story. I tried to move some of the thing on my office wall and it's just plain embarrassing. I will have to re-paint it, some day.

The Trashcanman

 

[fallon74]

It didn't take to long to get the smell of analogs out of the house. We opened windows and sprayed frebreez on everything. We also light candles and incense and that seemed to do the trick.

 

[Zal42]

For me, a couple of months before I didn't notice the smell anymore. But almost a year before my nonsmoking friends didn't notice it anymore. Upholstery never did become stink-free, but the odor did fade into the background.

...and I had to toss about half of my clothes because I wasn't able to get rid of the smell from them completely, and/or they were permanently stained.

 

[pkj]

We have lived in a no smoking house for about 12 years. Mike's picture is extreme, but it is similar to what we did.

Painted every inch of the house with Kiltz and then two coats of paint. Bought new carpets, rugs, beds, drapes, and furniture. Deep cleaned every inch of wood and tile in the house.

Removed all clothes and linens from the closets and washed or dry cleaned them. They needed it after the smoking in the house and then the painting smell - they were nasty.

I did all of this while my husband was on a 6 week assignment in the Florida Keys. It was a big job and I spent a ton of money. House smelled of Kiltz and paint for awhile, but no one has ever smoked a cigarette in my home again.

Paula

 

[Fudgey]

After not smoking in my car for the last 11 months I can say the smell of the old cig smoke is completely gone now. It was pretty warm here today and when I got in the car to go home I didn't notice it.....WOOOHOOO!!!! I cleaned the carpet and sprayed febreeze, but it still took time for it to not smell at all.

The room that I smoked in was a cleaned from top to bottom, luckily I have hard wood floors so that was easy. I had to get rid of some stuffed animals my kids left behind, couldn't get the smell out of them and couldn't stand the smell of them anymore.