"how to remove tobacco residue from walls"

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Asked by Lola25 17 months ago

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We have a dark residue on our walls from smoking and also from an air-purifier that wasn't working properly...instead of cleaning the air in the area it was placed in our house it produced a dark, slightly sticky-ish residue on all surfaces. We didn't notice it at first &the air-purifier was running for approx. 1 1/2-2mths. Then we noticed that everytime we cleaned our glass tables, TV screen &dusted there was this dark residue on everything no matter how often we cleaned the surfaces. We first thought that it was just from smoking in the house, especially in the area where this air-purifier was which is the main reason that we got &placed this air-purifier there so that it would help w/the smoke smell! But then we started to notice the dark residue was everywhere, all surfaces &the walls &trim/molding so we got rid of the air-purifier immediately. But now we have this residue on the walls and trim work/molding &doors &it is REALLY hard to clean:( Any help or ideas- PLEASE PLEASE!

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"If it was me, I would first"

by Delvet on Sep 13 2008 (17 months ago)

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Wash the walls with soap and hot water. Then I would pain them. You can paint a room in a day. What you are talking about could take days or week to clean up.

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"What we did....."

by Violet1 on Sep 12 2008 (17 months ago)

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Before anything make a conserted effort to smoke outside or designate one single room with an efficient exhaust fan for puffing so you don't make the whole house smell like an ashtray.

Wash the walls with a diluted solution of a good cleaner like Pine Sol, Mr. Clean etc. I would suggest some Clorox water but do not mix with detergents because the gases can be harmful. Wait few days to dry and paint the walls with fresh paint. Paint is porous and I doubt that you can restore the walls to the way they were before being contaminated by smoke.

If the air purifier caused or contributed to the problem check with your home insurance. Maybe you are covered for damages.

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"tar"

by Ancient_Hacker on Sep 12 2008 (17 months ago)

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Smoking residue is mostly tar and nicotine. That stuff is weakly dissolvable with your basic detergents and hot water. Better solvents are alcohols and hydrocarbons, like turpentine, but there is an extreme fire and explosion hazard with those. You might try "Goo-Gone original", a lemon-based cleaner. No, not just lemon smell, it uses some very active lemon oils that dissolve a lot of gunk, although a bit slowly. Don't buy the spray bottle orange goo-gone, it's just junk. Get the original apple-cider looking original goo-gone concentrate. Wipe it on, wait a few minutes, then see if it wipes off any goo. The stuff works amazingly well and no solvents or strong chemicals.

Not to get too personal, but if there is that much stuff on your walls, there's an equivalent amount in the smoker's lungs. You might think about that a bit.

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At the local dollar story, i picked up a spray cleaner called Oxygen Power, made by Awesome Products Inc. in California. I too have smokers and when i moved the cats play house, it looked like someone had dripped dark coffee down the wall, i used a few rags and the Oxygen Power (the liquid is blue) and it came off with little elbow grease. Its great on other stains, i went back and got 2 more, for 1.00 each, why not.

"how to remove tobacco residue from walls"

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"If it was me, I would first"

"What we did....."

"tar"

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