How Long Does Smoke Smell Last In House

Smoke isn’t just an annoyance you can escape once you’re outside. It clings onto clothes, furniture, and carpeting, and its scent can linger in your home for days or even weeks after the smoke has cleared out.

This is because smoke isn’t just something we get on our clothes and hair—it also gets into the fibers of our furniture and the walls of our homes. It can infiltrate the very air you breathe. That lingering, stale smell may fade over time, but it may never go away entirely.

The time the scent dissipates depends on factors like the number of smokers in your home and whether the windows are open or closed. It also depends on personal preference—some people can tolerate a light scent of smoke, while others may be highly intolerant of any trace of cigarette odor.

What Happens To the Smoke?

When smoke is exposed to oxygen, it forms a variety of chemical compounds. Some revert to more explicit materials like carbon dioxide and water and are exhaled, but many others stick around.

Sometimes, it can take a little while for the smoke odor to wear off. The reason is that the smoke odor lingers in places with no circulating fresh air. Bedrooms can be a difficult place due to their enclosed nature. There are ways you can get rid of smoke odor in your bedroom if it still has it after a couple of days of airing out.

Smoke can linger in your house’s air for a while, but there are ways to neutralize it and make it less noticeable. The main thing to remember is that smoke has already been absorbed into your house’s walls, carpeting, furniture, clothes, and other surfaces. The best thing you can do for your lungs is air out the place for at least 24 hours.

Smoke particles stick to walls, furniture, rugs, drapes, and everything in your house. They stick so well that they can remain virtually intact for more than a year (or even longer if they’re protected from sunlight)—the lingering smell results from those chemicals evaporating into the air over time.

Ways To Remove Smoke Smell in the House

The good news is that getting rid of smoke stinks is not impossible. You must handle things when trying to get rid of them.

Here are some tips for smoke removal and cleaning.

Open the windows and use fans to help ventilate your home for as long as possible. At least two days after the event—to give the smoke odor time to dissipate outside instead of inside. Also, open the doors for about 15 minutes every day or two for about a week to let fresh air in to replace stale air. That will help prevent new smells from settling as the old ones fade away.
Don’t try to use Febreze or other air fresheners that mask odors: they don’t work on this type of odor because they don’t remove anything from the air; they cover it up.
Sprinkle baking soda on rugs and carpets and vacuum over it (or spray with vinegar). This will help eliminate odors as well as make things smell better.
Use a fabric softener sheet (like Downy) in the wash with loads of laundry (you can also use this method with vinegar).
Leave an open box of baking soda out for a few days. That should absorb odors pretty quickly.
You could try sprinkling coffee grounds or baking soda over your carpet and let them sit overnight (or longer). It should absorb a decent amount of the smell, but some smells (like smoke) are too strong for this method alone.
Next, vacuum your carpets and wipe down your walls. You may need to do this several times before the smell completely disappears. When cleaning, pay special attention to the carpet behind furniture and along walls where the scent lingers.
Finally, thoroughly clean the carpet with soap, water, and elbow grease. It will probably take care of a lot of it—but not all of it—and you’ll still need to air your house for a few days afterward.

Health Risks Of Smoke

The smell of smoke clings to your hair, furniture, and clothing can be pretty unpleasant, but you might not know that it can also be unhealthy.

One expert from the University of Washington says, “The volatile organic compounds in smoke are akin to BBs because they can penetrate cells in our bodies.” And this isn’t just about acute symptoms like coughing and aggravation of asthma—inhaling cigarette or cigar smoke for long periods has been linked to various adverse health outcomes such as heart disease and lung cancer.

Smoke is dangerous because of what’s burning in it—plastics, paints, tar, and other chemicals used to create or preserve what goes into it. Smoke from cigarettes can contain over 4,000 chemicals. Some of these chemicals are known to be cancer-causing agents. Some are toxic. Some are irritants.

Furthermore, some can cause allergies or asthma; some can affect your nervous system, and many changes how your body responds to other things (like pollution). It can make you more susceptible to colds, flu, infections, and more severe illnesses like lung cancer and heart disease.

Eliminate the Smell Of Smoke In Your Home

The smoke usually sticks around longer than you might think because it permeates deep into clothing fibers and can also adhere to surfaces like walls and rugs. It can even stick around in the air long after you’ve opened up all the windows to air your home.

That explains why many people describe cigarette smoke as so thick that it feels like it’s hanging in the air.

You may wonder how long the smell will stick around in your house. Generally, it takes at least a day for the smoke smell to fade away and several days to go entirely away from your home.

The smell of smoke can be complicated to remove entirely and might require a professional cleaning service. The smell of smoke can be so strong that even if you are not a smoker, you might notice an unusual smell depending on where your living space is located.