My husband smokes cigarettes in the bedroom, but the whole house smells like an ashtray. I've tried to get him to smoke outside but to no avail. Is there anything I can do to get rid of the "ashtray" smell in my house? Thanks.
By Pamela
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The type of cigarettes that he smokes could make a difference. My brother smokes full strength menthol - much stronger odor than the ultra light non-menthol ones that I smoke.
A couple of things you can try to cut down on the odor:
1. Get a small air purifier for the bedroom. The one I bought was around $40 at Walmart.
2. Weather permitting, perhaps he could open a window in the bedroom when he's smoking.
3. Home Depot sells a spray call Zep Smoke Odor Eliminator. It costs about $5 for a very large can. It might not eliminate all the concentrated smoke odor in the bedroom (it's in the bedding, the furniture, the carpet, etc.) but it will help a lot and should completely eliminate the smell in the other parts of the house. Just spray a little around each room whenever you notice the smell.
Jean
The doll i'm talking about is a 1924 Bye Lo Baby with a china head, I'm so afraid of braking the head. is there anything I could spray on to remove the smell?
I have been using a concentrated spray by yankee candle. Comes in many different scents. We both smoke.
Try putting lids of baking soda, or some small bowls of vinegar around his room and all through the house, this should help you a bunch. I use to smoke and one of my patients told me to put baking soda in my ashtray in my car and it would help my car not to smell so bad.
You can buy smokeless ashtrays for about 8.00 now. They suck the smoke through the bottom into a filter. Batteries run it, and then you can close the lid at night. Personally, he is hurting you more than he is hurting himself. I had to tell a husband it was me or the cigs. He chose the cigs, I went on to live and he died about 18 months later. Lesson learned.
Much of that lingering smell is the nicotine that sticks to and stains the walls and windows and even carpets and fabrics. Perhaps he could keep the bedroom door closed at all times, air out the room via windows as often as possible and also wash the windows and walls every three months or so with a distilled vinegar and water solution.
Personally I would tell him he can only smoke in the bathroom or outdoors so that all your clothing in the closet and your bed linens, capret and mattress don't get stained and stunk up! And even if the clothing closet door is closed that smoke and nicotine get in there. I'll bet if you look at the shoulders of your clothes that are on a hanger that haven't been worn for a month or more you will find yellow/orangy stains on them.
One other thing is cigarette butts stink to high heaven! When he empties the ashtray have him empty it in a metal coffee can that has a lid instead of emptying into the general trash cans that are inside your home.
We recently bought a bank-owned house that was misused and abused by the previous owners. The house reeked of cigarette smoke. A friend told me that if you place jars filled with coffee grounds in every room, the smell will go away. I tried it. The house smelled like coffee (which is better than smoke) until I had time to paint.
Put a shallow bowl filled with cheap white vinegar in each room-hey presto, odour gone!
I kid you not, we bought a house owned by a similar type smoker, we had to pay big bucks to have the painters repaint with special paint, the woodwork reeked for years as it kept coming out. The spraying of the ceilings looked like pee sneaking out, nicotine is brown.
Every time I washed woodwork/hand rails, doors, etc the rag was dark brown with nicotine and smelled as such. If you think you can't smell it, your own sensory has been altered by the first/second/third hand smoke.
People who do not live in smoking situations can tell you right away even if you walked through a parking lot where someone is smoking. You may have to check with restoration companies which do homes/offices after fires.
My husband and I inherited his parents condo and contents. His father smoked like a train after he retired from the military and his mother smoked until she was in her 60s. Everything that came out of that condo reeked like old smoke and everything was covered with an orangey/brown film. I had to run the china through the dishwasher and all of the linen through the dishwasher with a touch of bleach but it came clean. The furniture is permanently stained so I have to have it stripped and restored or painted. The condo had to be gutted and all of the drywall had to be removed and redone. I can tell if a home has been smoked in because I used to smoke. Perhaps your mother was minding her own business and being polite?
I would put small jelly, pickle or pickle relish jars filled one third full of straight vinegar out and about (hidden) in the rooms throughout the house and the smell (I promise) will disappear. You need to change the vinegar monthly, pour the old used vinegar down the toilet to freshen 'it' and re-fill with new vinegar. Your house will not smell like vinegar either! I know this works well as I do it all of the time myself and have for years!
I don't know about getting rid of smell but these ideas will definitely help prevent any new smoke. One, have him sit near a lit candle when he smokes, the flame will absorb the smoke. Two, set out a dish of brown vinegar near where he is sitting. . The smell soon disappears. The vinegar also absorbs the smoke, when you notice the top of dish is dark, time to change the vinegar. It works, both of them, used both methods with my ex, and my kids. In my apartment (I don't smoke) they light one up they also light a candle that I have for that purpose.
For cleaning the walls befoe painting, you should use a solution of TriSodium Phosphate [aka: TSP] and luke warm water. follow the directions on the container; available at good Paint Stores.
I've never lived with a smoker and won't let anyone smoke in my home or in my car. That said, I'd beg, plead and cry if I had to in order to try to get him to smoke outside. I have a couple friends who smoke and they are very considerate. My sister whom I haven't seen in years burned a hole in my living room carpet and one in my car. I know this doesn't answer your question which I don't have an answer for but if it bothers you as much as it seems to I'd probably get away from him every time he lights up by going outside. Maybe he'd see how much it bothers you.
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