Hey, DIY folks! I recently purchased a house, and was chatting with my new neighbor shortly after. They mentioned that the previous occupant (a tenant) was a smoker, and pretty much chain smoked inside of the house. The house is six years old. My husband and I can't smell any sort of residual cigarette smell... but, prior to selling, the seller replaced all carpeting with new carpeting (in the bedrooms) and hardwood (in the living spaces), painted the entire house, removed all window coverings, and our home inspector mentioned that the duct work looked like it had been recently cleaned. I assumed the sellers had made these changes to help market the house, but now it's pretty clear that they were trying to eradicate the smell, and it seems like they were pretty successful.Still, I have some concerns. We were re-painting one of the bedrooms (we wanted some variation in color, rather than having the entire house the same color) and when I removed the light plate and electrical covers, there was a gross, yellow build-up coating the top of the light switch. The ceiling light fixtures are also stained yellow; I thought they were maybe just really dirty, but the yellow haze and the neighbor's comments point to that yellow being nicotine stains. The leftover cans of paint were left in the basement, and it looks like they used some decent quality Sherwin Williams paint—ProMar 200 for the ceilings, Solo for the walls, and Surface Enamel HP for whatever else (that can wasn't labelled), but I don't know that those paints will fully seal in the smell long term.Anyway, I'm concerned about thirdhand smoke. My husband and I came up with the following plan, to ease our concerns and hopefully fully seal in any smells that might otherwise leech out through the walls.1. Wash walls with TSP (can I get away with just using a vinegar and water solution?) 2. Prime walls with Zinsser Primer Cover Stain-Sealer Stain Killer 3. Re-paint walls 4. Replace all existing light fixtures 5. Replace all light switch and electrical covers, and maybe the switches and outlets themselves, too. 6. Deep clean the kitchen cabinets with TSP (or vingear?) Is that overkill? We have a dog and want to have kids, and I really don't want to worry about thirdhand smoke.Is there anything else I can or should be doing to the house? We want to do this right before moving all of our belongings in, but we only have about a month to get it done. Any advice or insight is really, really appreciated! via /r/DIY https://ift.tt/2YYWMPM
