Buying a house from a former smoker?
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Anonymous
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Has anyone bought a house from a former smoker? We looked a TH this weekend that was perfect for us. EXCEPT it smells like smoke. They have already installed new carpet and painted. I asked my agent about Kilz (the paint that supposedly covers smoke smell) but he said that he didn't think it worked that well. He indicated that if they already painted and put down new carpet it was probably just going to take time to air out, but obviously can't say how long.
So, have you bought a house that smelled like smoke? Were you able to get rid of the smell? |
Anonymous
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whole thread hrre:
http://www.zillow.com/advice-thread/Buying-house-from-smokers/31759/ |
Anonymous
Thanks. I guess maybe they didn't scrub the walls before painting? Or it is just in the drywall or ducts or something. I feel like it probably isn't wise to take a gamble on this. Too bad, it isn't back home (AZ) where I could ask the sellers to repaint w/Kilz and get the entre hosue (and duct work) professionally cleaned. I doubt any seller in this area is willing to do that much. |
Anonymous
| They might be willing, all you can do is ask. If you can smell if it's a safe bet that most everyone else who comes through the house will be saying the same thing. |
Anonymous
| If it is that bad it might take removing the dry wall -- personally I wouldn't take the risk. That's a lot of money to spend on a purchase and then have buyers remorse. |
Anonymous
+1. We just looked at a house that looked great online but REEKED of smoke. I wanted to leave the minute I walked in. I think it could take a long time for the smell to go away. |
Anonymous
| ^ PP here. I forgot to mention that the first floor, where the smoke smell was extremely strong, had no carpet - hardwoods and tile. The sofa was leather, not fabric. So I think that the smell must have seeped into the drywall. |
Anonymous
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OP, we just bought a house a few months ago. We let some folks use the in-law apartment downstaris, for a month, before we moved into the new house. Well, lucky us (stupid us--still kicking myself--but can't turn back time), at least one of them smoked in it (the apartment downstairs, not the whole house, thank god). Anyway, the smell was horrible, and this was just after a few weeks. We have 2 small kids so I LOST it when we walked in. We immediately called a contractor in to strip out all the carpeting, replaced it, and then had a cleaning person come in who scrubbed the walls top to bottom w/ 409 solution. The smell is now mostly, but not completley, gone. I am contemplating repainting, next, but will probably wait and see if it gets better over the next few weeks. Admittedly, it is a very faint smell now, as I think the carpet replacement and wall washing did 90% of the trick, but it still drives me batty. What is wrong with these people?! Who smokes inside anymore nowadays?! ARGH.
Anyway, it can be done, but if I were you and you want to buy the house, I'd bargain for a LARGE credit to remedy any lingering effects (i.e. replace drywall if necessary). At minimum, they should repaint every wall, and they should pay for a full day deep cleaning service to scrub head to toe everything in the hosue that is not a painted surface. GL. |
Anonymous
| We bought one and it honestly wasn't bad. By the time they took their stuff and we painted a few rooms (we wanted to anyway) and cleaned the carpet, it was completely gone. I would not DQ an otherwise perfect house for this. |
Anonymous
| Ours-but was an estate so had 6 months to air out before we saw it. Repainting and carpet cleaning took care of most of it I only smell it in the basement stairs where they didn't repaint. |