Removing Nicotine Damage from your Home

12/16/2020 (Permalink)

Call SERVPRO to take care of nicotine or smoke odor in your home or business.

In order to successfully remove any odor, you must first remove and/or clean the source of the smell.  Once the source has been permanently neutralized, our trained technicians will clean all surfaces with HEPA vacuums and SERVPRO professional cleaning products, paying special attention to horizontal surfaces as dust sized particles can carry smoke and nicotine smells.  

The following are some typical steps or procedures SERVPRO professionals use to clean smoke and nicotine from homes and businesses:

• Clean using the top-down method.  It is best to clean smoke or nicotine residue starting with the ceiling, working your way down the walls, and ending with the floors.  This minimizes the potential of resoiling cleaned areas and insures that no spots are missed during the cleaning process.
• Clean all color safe or glossy finished walls, cabinets, light fixtures, windows and trim surfaces with a light detergent.
• Special attention is given to horizontal surfaces such as door jams, window seals, window treatments/blinds, cabinet tops and crown molding.
• Only soft white cloths are used to do this type of cleaning.  They prevent damaging of surfaces and also verify that the nicotine is being removed.  Because the cloth is white, our technicians are able to see yellow residue developing on the cloth as they clean.  This indicates that the process is working and that the nicotine particles are successfully being removed.  The technicians will repeat this cleaning process until no yellow residue appears on the surface or cleaning cloth.
• Smoke and nicotine odor particles are typically airborne, so it is likely that they have contaminated your HVAC system.  We recommend a good duct cleaning and replacing filters.
• Thermal fog the entire affected area.  Thermal fogging is a process where heat is applied to our professional deodorizing products using a thermal fogging machine.  The machine releases a fog that smoke and nicotine odor particles are drawn to and are absorbed by, thus neutralizing the odor.

Nicotine and smoke odors are one of the more common odor related issues and can be cleaned up quickly and effectively by well trained and equipped professionals.  SERVPRO of Allegan/Barry/Van Buren Counties has a team of trained professionals that have the knowledge base and experience to take on even the most challenging odors.

Do you have a rental property or a deceased family members home that needs a thorough cleaning because they smoked in the home?  Call us today to schedule an inspection for a quote - (269) 686-0664