how do you remove nicotine off of walls?

Question

I am cleaning a friends house. He has smoked for 20 + years. What is the best way to clean his walls?

Answer 1

old fashion soap and water wash them then rinse and wear gloves as your skin will aborb the stuff otherwise

Answer 2

We had this when we moved to our new house.

Like some of the others have said, wash the walls with TSP. If you dont, the nicotine smell and stain will still be there. If you paint over it without TSP, the nicotine can affect the new colour, how it goes on and may "sweat" out of the old paint.

I swear...if people had to clean walls that are nicotine stained, they would quit smoking when they compare that to what their lungs likely look like.

PS I didnt find TSP worked on linoleum stained by nicotine. We didnt find anything that worked other than ripping it up.

Answer 3

Most Marine Products Stores carry a cleaner called Spray Nine. It will get the nicotine off.

Answer 4

Dawn K is on the right track. TSP (= trisodium phosphate) takes just about anything off of walls and ceilings. It's also a superb degreaser. The stuff is caustic so you need to use gloves (a set of veterinary armpit-length gloves under a latex glove is also helpful to protect the arms).

In the best of all possible worlds, everyone should use TSP prior to painting, as this ideally prepares the wall.

Answer 5

Try Simple Green. Use it in its most concentrated form and it will wipe off easy with a sponge. Spray it on and let it sit for about 5 minutes first. Simple Green has a much more pleasant scent than bleach,but that will work too with a bit more elbow grease.Try mixing it at a 4:1 ratio. Good luck!

Answer 6

The very best stuff I've ever found is Greased Lighting. It comes in a qt. size spray bottle and their are gal. refills. I lived in a 40 ft. 5th. trailer for many years and the walls, all appliances, everything was brown from cig. smoke. Greased lighting easily cleans it off! It also has many other household cleaning uses, stove top, counter tops, in the laundry, etc. As you can tell I'm really sold on the stuff! Don't get it on aluminum. The aluminum will turn cloudy.

Answer 7

First of all, HOW DID NICOTINE GET ON THE WALLS?
Secondly, try a dawn or some other type of cleaner. I don't think It will matter, but I do not smoke and have never come in contact with the stuff.

Answer 8

Use a product called TSP. It is a powder, mix it with some water and that should do the trick. People use it to clean walls and ceilings before they paint.

Answer 9

If the wall are white use Oxy-Magic in the granulated form and mix according to directions. Any colour paint it is recommended to use TSP which can be found at most hardware stores.

Answer 10

Best thing of all? STEAM.. honest.. I used to smoke in my bathroom and didnt realize the deposit i was leaving in there. I noticed as time went on that whenever I would take a hot steamy shower, it would start to "run" so one day I turned on the shower.. let it steam, and went in with a clean cloth and wiped it all down. it was easy. Stopped smoking in the house after that.. recently a friend bought a house that the previous tennants smoked in ... it was BAD.. i loaned her my shark steam cleaner and she was done with the whole house in a couple of hours.

Answer 11

try using a brand new mop and bleach and water and scrubbthem with that.If that doesnt work then try the magic eraser extra strong they worked on my whte tub when clr wouldnt take the rust off they did there the best thing i ever come by for cleaning basically anything.