How do I get smoke & Nicotine out of painted walls?

Me %26amp; My wife just purchased a house that the previous owner must of smoked one after another. They didnt wash the walls before painting and they didnt prime the walls either. The Nicotine came right through the paint in most spots and the house smells like a casino. What should I do to help get rid of the smell and the painted walls?How do I get smoke %26amp; Nicotine out of painted walls?
well since them fools painted over the smoke stains you'll never get them out you will have to prime the walls then re paint them.sorry to bear bad newsHow do I get smoke %26amp; Nicotine out of painted walls?
Go get the *stain killer* type primer.. the same that is used for water stained walls maybe more than 1 coat, then paint like normal when you feel sure it isn't leaking stain.





A bucket of baking soda in the middle of the room(s) in the morning and close the door (and windows).. by evening or the next day, smell should have been absorbed, the same way it does for the 'fridge. Best of luck. Oh, and might be just as well that they didn't paint so you wouldn't have to deal with insult to injury.
I really think priming and repainting the walls is your best option.


I don't think that vinegar will help that much, if at all.
You needed to prime %26amp; paint with a brank like KIllz. It can cover up water damage %26amp; other stains. I don't know any way to ';clean'; it without re-paining.
Unfortunately the smoke is not only in the walls, it is in the ceiling as well. Short of tearing out the walls you鈥檙e going to have a big project one your hands.





I鈥檇 start with a product called TSP; you鈥檙e going to need to wear gloves. If you don鈥檛 have a popcorn ceiling, wash that down too. Then cover all the walls with a good primer, then two to three coats of paint, ceiling and all.





Don鈥檛 forget about the floors. The smell is trapped there too. If it is carpet, then tearing it out and replacing the pad and carpet is the only way to remove the smell. You can have it professionally steamed cleaned, the smell will work its way back up. If it is hardwood, you can get most of the smell out just by washing it really good, but to get it 100% gone you will need to sand it down and re-finish it.





If at some point you remodel any part of the house (even ten years later), when you tear out drywall, the smoke smell is going to show up again. The smoke really works its way into everything.
i don't think just repainting will necessarily do the trick for you (sorry!!!) :^( we have two rentals and we have (in the past) had to ';strip'; the walls first. my husband bought something at the hardware store (like orchard, ace, etc) that we used on the walls first, then scrubbed, then primed and repainted. ask the guy in the paint department. good luck and sooo sorry to hear about your new house problems. take care, grmmynet
You Don't, you must seal not only the nicotine but the smell of it so your going to have to prime/seal EVERYTHING, ceilings, walls etc, to achieve this. I like to use a Zinsser product called ';Cover Stain'; it's an oil based sealer and works well BUT if you can't take the smell (open windows) you should get their odorless oil based, DON';T use any water based primer/sealer cause the nicotine will only eat through the paint film.. If your wood work is natural clean it with Murphy's oil soap or some kind of cleaner. I just finished a client yesterday with this same situation, place not only looks great but also smells good too, that nicotine goes into everything, you might want to change all your electrical outlets and switches too, these people smoked so much even they were affected, Good luck Les the painter No scrubbing needed, if your gonna go through all those motions of washing walls use a paint roller instead of a sponge you'll get better results, the problem with what happened is the didn't use an oil based primer/sealer this is why no water based primer your finish coat should be water based thats it.
vinegar