Cigarette smoke smell is one of the hardest odors to get out of a home. You can air it out, spray it, and scrub it, and it still comes back, especially on hot, humid Florida days. That’s because the smell isn’t just in the air. It’s in almost everything the smoke touched.
Why Smoke Smell Won’t Go Away
Smoke leaves a sticky residue behind, sometimes called “thirdhand smoke.” It builds up on walls, ceilings, carpet, curtains, cabinets, and inside the AC system. Every time the AC runs or the house warms up, that residue releases the smell again.
That’s why air fresheners and candles don’t work. They only cover the smell for a few hours.
Step-by-Step: What You Can Do Yourself
- Wash the walls and ceilings. Use a degreasing cleaner. If the water turns yellow or brown, that’s smoke residue coming off.
- Deal with soft surfaces. Wash curtains and bedding, and deep-clean or replace carpet and padding. Carpet holds a lot of smoke odor.
- Clean inside cabinets, closets and light fixtures. Residue hides in places you don’t look.
- Replace the AC filter and consider having the ducts cleaned. The AC spreads smell through the whole house.
- Prime before you paint. Use an odor-blocking primer. Painting straight over residue often lets the smell come back through.
When Cleaning Isn’t Enough
After years of indoor smoking, you can clean every surface and still catch the smell when the AC kicks on. The odor has worked its way into places you can’t scrub: inside walls, cabinets, and ductwork.
That’s what a whole-home odor removal treatment is for. Instead of treating one room or one surface, it treats the air throughout the entire home, including one AC system, so it reaches the places cleaning can’t. You’ll be out of the home for about 8 hours while it works. For best results, we recommend cleaning surfaces first, since heavy residue can keep releasing odor.
Want to know more? Read how the whole-home odor treatment works, and what it can and can’t do, or our guide for people moving into a home that smells like smoke or pets.
Whole-Home Odor Removal in South Florida: $997
Our Whole-Home Odor Removal Treatment is $997 and includes one AC system ($550 for each additional AC unit). You can buy and schedule it online, or call 877-224-2532. We answer 24/7, and hablamos español.
About the author: James Rice-Peña is the owner of FL Cleanup and a Florida-licensed Mold Assessor (MRSA4035) and Mold Remediator (MRSR4158). He has worked in property restoration in South Florida since 2012, and FL Cleanup has earned 200+ five-star Google reviews.
