Nicotine On Walls Ceilings

[loulou111]

Helping to clean up a home of someone who smoked a lot in the home. The family need to sell the home for a deceased relative. What can we use to clean the walls and ceilings and what paint is good to use?

[Buenchico]

See here for cleaning tips:
https://homeguides.sfgate.com/rid-nicotine-stains-walls-92410.html

For painting, you'll need to use a stain block primer (e.g. https://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-stain-block-white-750ml/57548 ) and then a water-based emulsion.

[KARL]

Eight years ago we were faced with this very problem with a property we bought. We used a floor brush, one of those things designed with a removable sleeve/cover/glove to be wetted to wipe floors with. We used a standard floor detergent mix and went over the ceilings which were the worst. We went over these perhaps three or four times, on the last pass we basically saw no difference and left it at that. Some parts of walls got the same treatment. Not long ago people were asking us if we had painted everything when we took it over, no, the original paint is there still and looks that good. However, I would say that we were/are very impressed with the paint that has been used, an emulsion of some sort - we have used something similar elsewhere in that house where the walls were still "naked" (a utilities room). The significant point to mention is that this was not in the UK where I would not be surprised if the paint began to come off from the cleaning work - I very much doubt that such quality paint is in widespread use here. You can try over a limited area, at least you might then find you can save yourself the effort of other complicated remedies and/or priming. This was very easy indeed and, frankly, the result is a delight.

[The Builder]

Sometimes, the "old-fashioned" products are still as good as anything...

https://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-concentrated-liquid-sugar-soap-500ml/61880?tc=OA2&ds_kid=92700022649301079&ds_rl=1241687&ds_rl=1245250&ds_rl=1243321&;ds_rl=1249481&ds_rl=1245250&gclid=Cj0KCQjwoKzsBRC5ARIsAITcwXG8FuUlaLwUuAp-9jXpogW1jUIPtkeJjg8SSXsguFSc58Sav-loyksaArmZEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

After cleaning and de-greasing, use any good quality emulsion.

[fender62]

on ceilings i used an oil based white undercoat with a 12inch roller
two coats, then white emulsion, walls sugar soap and a sponge mop, with towels on floor it gets messy.

[Ken4155]

I always use sugar soap. No need for the added expense of primers afterwards, just a couple of coats of emulsion.

[Khandro]

It's amazing what a coat (or two) of good emulsion paint will cover. Why undertake such a filthy task?

[Ken4155]

Because that's what the customer expects (and pays for) Khandro.

[melv16]

Wash down with sugar soap, but if a Matt emulsion is on the walls the nicotine will tend to sink into the surface and reappear when painted. In the past I've used masonry paint as a primer, then paint as normal.
If this doesn't work(try a small area first), you'll have to take the stain block route.
Zinzeer make a good water based one.

[theshedman]

On many occasions in the past when I more or less knew cleaning with sugar soap and repainting wasn't going to work I would paint the entire area with a mix of 50/50 oil based undercoat and gloss. This was before stain blocks came into general use and was much cheaper than the ones that were on sale. The gloss seals the stains and the undercoat makes it easier to emulsion on top of it. Worked very well on both nicotine and water stains. The room does need to have good ventilation because of the fumes. I would try the first idea of the builder and others first on a small area and if that doesn't work then either stain block or oil based one after.

[loulou111]

Thanks everyone