STEP #1: Get rid of the smoke smell. (Not to preach, but… this is your lungs if you smoke.)
That’s not a window on the wall, it is where a picture was hanging!
This is after we washed the walls with TSP to strip as much of the nicotine and smoke residue as we could. Next we will install an Ozone machine to neutralize the smell. I will run it in two seperate locations in the house. Each application is for 24 hours. This works! And well worth the extra step and cost. I have found that no amount of primer and paint can completely eliminate the smell and often in extreme cases (like this one) the staining continues to come through and show on the walls again. (Yuck!) With the combination of washing the walls and the O3 application I hope after a couple coats of paint we will have fresh and clean smelling walls.
Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.
-Alexander Graham Bell
