One of the more laborious clean-up jobs is getting rid of the smell of cigarette smoke in a South Jordan rental home. Whether you allow your tenants to smoke, didn’t always remember to add in your smoking policy in the lease, or if you did and had a strict no-smoking policy, you may anyhow, still be left to deal with the smelly charge of cleaning up the unsatisfactory odors left behind. And it’s not just about the smell; cigarette smoke leaves residual contamination on walls, fabrics, and other surfaces. Known as “thirdhand smoke,” this residue could cause a health risk to future tenants and must be taken very seriously.
To help make your clean-up job as helpful as possible, here are some cleaning tips mentioned by the pros.
Air it Out
The best place to start when intending to clean up after cigarette smoke is to air out every room in your rental house. Open all windows and doors to let in the fresh air, and utilize fans or an air purifier to circulate the air. There are air purifiers mainly designed to do away with the smell of cigarette smoke from the air. If your budget allows, this seems an excellent option. One way or another, you may need to leave the fans running for as long as possible – most likely even innumerable days – to help alleviate the smell.
Wipe Everything Down
While you’re in the process of airing out your rental, your next step is to wipe down every surface in every room – starting with the ceilings. Utilizing the cleaning product of your choice, wipe down smooth ceilings with a wet cloth. For popcorn ceilings, put your cleaning solution in a spray bottle and smoothly spray on the complete surface.
Once you’re working on the ceilings, bear in mind to clean the light fixtures and ceiling fans up there, too! Wipe the tops and bottoms of ceiling fan blades to secure that the odor isn’t being recirculated back into the house.
Working your way downward, clean walls with the same cleaning product and a cloth. Give importance to cleaning the tops of the door trim, baseboard, and other nooks and crannies.
That being said, it’s substantial to state that just cleaning the walls naturally won’t get rid of the smell. And paint will help, but it won’t clean out the smell, either. To correctly remove the cigarette smoke smell, you will need to utilize an odor-sealing primer, then a good quality paint over the top.
Wash the Windows
Along with the walls, it’s focal to bestow all of the windows and window coverings in your rental property a deep clean. If you have blinds, that includes wiping down each piece of the blinds on both sides. Clean the windows with your desired glass cleaner, then wipe down the frames and sills.
If your rental has fabric shades or curtains, figure out if you can wash them in a washing machine. If not, you may want to consider replacing them exactly. Cigarette smoke is very laborious to get out of fabrics.
Sanitize Cabinets and Counters
Always remember to clean the inside and outside of kitchen and bathroom cabinets, closets, and drawers. Go through each one, clean out any debris, and then wipe down both inside and out with a cleaning solution. For countertops and islands, apply a sanitizing cleaner to rid them of smoke residue. If the smoke smell persists, try putting a bowl of dry coffee grounds or white vinegar inside the smelly cabinet or drawer and leaving it there for several days. This may help discard the cigarette smell.
Deodorize Floors
Once you’ve cleaned everything above floor level, it’s time to deal with your carpets and hard surface floors. One way to help remove the smoke smell from carpets is to sprinkle baking soda over the entire surface of the carpet, let it sit for at least an hour, and then vacuum. Numerous South Jordan property managers elect to hire professional carpet cleaners whenever they’re preparing a rental for a new tenant. They may be able to resolve the odor from the carpet. In most situations, however, the best option is to replace the carpets and pad ultimately.
For hard surface floors, clean thoroughly by mopping with an excellent disinfectant. If you’ve got a number of floors to clean, change your mop water often to guarantee that the smoke smell isn’t just getting spread back around.
Although labor-intensive and time-consuming, by taking these steps, you can get rid of the smell of cigarette smoke and get it back to a clean, fresh-smelling rental.
Still, when deep cleaning your rental property is something other than what you’d wish to spend your time on, regarding giving the professionals at Real Property Management Wasatch a call. We can help with everything from cleaning services to finding the ideal new tenant for you – and much more! Contact us online today to see what we can do for you.
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