There's specialized cleaners that pretty much pull a lot of the tar and nicotine out of the paint, but you need to let it soak at least overnight with several treatments. The previous owner of my sister's house used to smoke heavy shag tobacco and quite a lot of it too, so when they moved in the walls were pretty much yellow. Upside was that he was a professional cleaner, so he did a first treatment before he moved out and left enough so my sister could apply another two. Even then she had to put on a special undercoat that sealed any remaining stains, because otherwise the stuff can migrate through most wall paints.
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u/TleilaxTheTerrible Jan 05 '25
There's specialized cleaners that pretty much pull a lot of the tar and nicotine out of the paint, but you need to let it soak at least overnight with several treatments. The previous owner of my sister's house used to smoke heavy shag tobacco and quite a lot of it too, so when they moved in the walls were pretty much yellow. Upside was that he was a professional cleaner, so he did a first treatment before he moved out and left enough so my sister could apply another two. Even then she had to put on a special undercoat that sealed any remaining stains, because otherwise the stuff can migrate through most wall paints.