Getting rid of...

Thanks very much everyone! It sounds like a case of 'buyer beware'! Shame as the house itself is lovely.

We looked at a lovely house with an even lovelier garden, three times. We could not get over the lingering smell of Nicotine, so we did not buy it.

Removing every surface where the nicotine permitates is the only way to go, unfortunately. I have been told that the nicotine residue is a health hazard, probably would be if you sanded paint surfaces without a mask.

A friend of mine has a son who was looking to buy his first car. After finding one advertised in a car show room at a very good price they went to view. As soon as they opened the door the smell of cigarette smoke was overpowering. The garage said it had been valeted but they couldn't get rid of the smell which had permeated the upholstery. He didn't buy it even for a knock down price!

I've just decided aganst a flat which smelled heavily of cigs in favour of another which didn't.

You can't just redecorate, as someone else said,you have to have a builder in and get the place replastered.

nonna I would imagine if your dogs are not allowed to wee in the house there shouldnt be too much of a problem. In our case, the large dog was kept indoors and did his business mostly in the bedrooms... not the dogs fault of course, but it was ghastly.
I would think these days of wanting everything perfect that no one would countenance buying a really smelly house unless the price was rock bottom. In those days of DIY we thought we could sort it. We did, I think ......eventually.....

I have nothing to offer, but when we moved house some years ago, DH wouldn't even consider a house with cats or dogs because of the smell...

Having 2 dogs I worry that our house probably smells 'doggy' to any visitors (not that there are many). I use a room scenter but doubt that's enough. If we moved would the smell be likely to linger for ages?

Clean every surface including ceiling with sugar soap. You will probably need to do this 3-4 times each surface. Don't paint the surface until you have washed it, as the stains and possibly the smell will eventually seep through. Our last place was previously owned by a heavy chain smoker. We did this and it worked for us. Good luck.

I think the only way to get rid of the smell of nicotine is by stripping everything back to the brick and re-plastering!

Dog wee....predictive text drives me mad. !!!grrrrr

A house we bought many years ago had the strongest and most unpleasant odour of dog were which pervaded the entire house as the dog ( Alsatian) had been allowed to wee everywhere. It took a couple of years to get rid but even 5 years later I was always worried visitors would notice and it always bothered me as I kept catching whiffs of it myself, probably imagined, but was happy when we moved after 8 years.

Cigarette fumes stick around. I remember when my first grandchild was born, the other grandma gave a present , in a bag, was wrapped up, then clothing in own plastic bags, but when it was opened the smell of smoke knocked your head off. Powerful stuff.
Good luck.

When we moved into this house it smelled like an old pub. The only way to get rid of it was to take up all the old carpets. We walked about on bare floors for quite a while. We treated ourselves to a new sitting room carpet for Christnas, we'd been in the house for over a month by then.

Agree with MO, I repainted sitting room ceiling and next day multiple brown stains again. Used blocker eventually.

When DS bought his first flat, it was, quite literally, dirt cheap because every thing was nicotine stained as the late owner had been a chain smoker. None of us now would contemplate buying a nicotine infused property again.

We washed and scrubbed the flat from top to bottom, ripped out the kitchen and all the carpets and got rid of the smell but we too had to replace all the light switches and ceiling roses because the nicotine had chemically bonded with the plastic.

There was a large internal hall and for six years we painted it white, walls and woodwork, every summer and by the next summer it had all gone nicotine yellow, so we redecorated. After 5 years stain blocker paint came on the market so we put two coats of stain blocker on walls and wood and repainted and everything stayed white.

But a word to the wise; never ever consider renting or buying a nicotine stained property, or rather only do so if you can negotiate such a low price for it that you can afford to get builders in to strip it to the brickwork and replaster, replace kitchen and bathroom, replace all the electrical switches, get it steam cleaned and then redecorate and refurnish.

morgana I sympathise. My daughter and her husband bought a maisonette that was pervaded with the smell of curry, we worked like the clappers there to get rid of it, starting with wide open windows and fans blowing.

There's this blog (see link below) or if you Google "How to get rid of nicotine smell" there are quite a few websites with suggestions:
www.quickanddirtytips.com/house-home/housekeeping/6-tips-for-removing-smoke-odor-from-your-home

I can't help. We had to have the whole house replastered and new ceilings when we took over this flat. Nicotine really seems to penetrate. Also sockets and light switches were badly stained and had to be renewed. Not helpful I'm afraid but sympathetic!