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10 April 2006

Febreze ain't cutting it [More:]

Now that he's out of my house and not spending all day smoking in my living room and I'm not spending all my time after work smoking in my bedroom to hide from him, how do i get the smell out? I've washed everything. I febreze the carpets and the curtains twice a day. I vacuum with that powder. I have respectable visitors coming over in a few weeks and I need to clear it out. I have probably 8 glade plug ins airwick scented oils etc going. I can't leave the windows open when I'm not home since the locks were changed. I can at certain times, though.

Alternately, how can I smoke in the house and minimize it hanging around?
They're not cheap, but an air deionizer might do the trick.
posted by me3dia 10 April | 16:11
I've heard that setting bowls of vinegar around can get rid of smoke smell.
posted by jrossi4r 10 April | 16:24
You know those scare photos of what smoking does to your lungs? Same thing for your house; you've got a thin film of tar on every surface in the building. Wash with a degreaser and / or repaint, using a shellac-based primer. Don't forget the ceilings.
posted by Triode 10 April | 16:30
I second the vinegar trick. If you can place it in a pan inside the air intake for your A/C, assuming you have one, this could work over time.

Painting is a good way to block it on the walls.

But, lots of time before most of it is gone.
posted by sarah connor 10 April | 16:55
I heard the vinegar thing too.

Also, I dig dropping some of my favorite scented oil on the vacuum cleaning bag and then going nuts vacuuming for hours. You'll get a lot of dusty smell that lingers in carpets and curtains away that way and while you vacuum, that scented oil fills the room.
Honey, lemon, cinnamon and lavender oils work for me.
posted by dabitch 10 April | 16:58
For your last question, would an "herbal" vaporiser (e.g.) work? They're advertised for tobacco as well as "herbal" smoking, although that may be for legal reasons. I've never tried one but they're supposed to be good for hiding pot smells.
posted by timefactor 10 April | 16:59
Oh wait did you try baking soda in the carpets?

Also, you can't really smoke in the house and hope the smell won't stick. Find a spot outside.
posted by dabitch 10 April | 16:59
I've succesfully gotten rid of cat-piss smells by mixing white vinegar and water (1/3 vinegar) and spraying a fine mist on carpet (like with one of those plant sprayers, alternativly empty an old cleaning liqud bottle). Then I sprinkle a thick dust of baking soda on top and wait for it to turn "chunky" indicating it soaked up all that moist. Then vacuum.
posted by dabitch 10 April | 17:02
It was only for about a period of 3 weeks that we were smoking inside the house. It used to be confined to the basement until things really blew up.
posted by pieoverdone 10 April | 17:23
So it's not like I have years of buildup and rings around my hanging pictures. I just need it neutralized and forget the vinegar because I don't want to replace smoke with douche.
posted by pieoverdone 10 April | 17:25
a hepa air filter running 24/7 will help, and you might have to unzip the cushions and take down the curtains and pull up the rug and air them outside for a very very long while on a windy day (beat the rug too).

if you're febreezing, you have to completely and thoroughly soak everything with it so that it's pretty much dripping to the touch...lysol too.
posted by amberglow 10 April | 17:53
One of my formidable Brooklynese great-aunts decided, in her eighties, to paint her ceiling.

She realistically guessed that she wouldn't get around to repeating the exercise in her lifetime, and really didn't want to spoil the job. She also, equally realistically, guessed that she wouldn't be able to quit smoking.

So for the rest of her life -- which wasn't all that long, but still -- whenever she smoked, she'd exhale into a plastic bag.
posted by tangerine 10 April | 18:24
Tangerine, that made me laugh aloud. Pi, I'm glad to hear you're dealing with a few weeks of smoke, not a lifetime. I was passing along the experience of a friend who thought the walls of his newly-bought house were a poorly painted tan color... until he removed the electrical outlet cover plates and found the original white paint. *shudder*
posted by Triode 10 April | 19:37
It's going to be mostly in the carpet, curtains & upholstery - wood & plaster don't hold smoke until you've been dedicatedly puffing away for a lot longer than a few weeks. What you need is air. Try to be home for a whole day and open every single window in the house. Use fans if you have them - get that old stale air out of there as much as possible. Take the curtains outside and air them in the sun.

If you're trying the vinegar thing, which works, by the way, you won't smell vinegar after 24 hours - what's happening is the vinegar is neutralizing the odor, not replacing it. That's the problem with Febreze & etc - they replace the odor, so you have a creepy febreze odor instead of a creepy smoke odor. Look into renting a de-ionizer; that will help. And, it goes without saying, wash every ashtray or anything that has ever had a butt in it. The butts leave the worst smell.

I smoke, but not in my house or my car because I hate the smell, and I found that there was no way I could avoid smelling like an ashtray myself unless I only smoked outside. Although I have been known to lie on the floor and puff up the chimney on very cold nights.
posted by mygothlaundry 10 April | 20:03
dabitch smokes cat-piss! eeew!
posted by quonsar 10 April | 21:19
I Yawn At Your $218 Trillion Phone Bill || OMG! Llama karaoke!

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