If you’re smoking in your home, you’re essentially shooting yourself in the foot when it comes time to sell. If you’ve been in your home for a number of years, the residue has had ample time to build up on surfaces, in ducts and ventilation systems, and create a toxic environment. Cigarette smoke is highly toxic and damaging, and your home is not safe. Smoking inside amplifies the effects of cigarette smoke, concentrating the chemicals into a noxious and deadly substance.
Did you know that smoking can actually decrease your home’s value by up to 29%? One of the largest and most important investments you ever make can be depreciated by nearly a third by the simple act of smoking inside. How? Let’s look closer at how smoking indoors damages the home and reduces its potential resale value. You might just change your mind on smoking once you learn its true effects!
The Smell
Smokers tend to get used to the smell of cigarette smoke after long enough, but non-smokers can pick up on it almost immediately; especially in a home that’s been smoked in for years on end. The sad truth is that the smell of cigarette smoke binds to all kinds of surfaces, leaving that stale cigarette smell in the air long after the cigarette has been extinguished.
Let’s be honest here; the scent of cigarettes isn’t pleasant. I don’t know anyone that started smoking because they so loved the way cigarettes smell. Think of that scent lingering on your couches, walls, in the carpets, everywhere. Does that sound appealing to a prospective homeowner? Sometimes, it’s nearly impossible to completely remove the stench without a renovation. Carpet removal and replacement and re-painting can become quite costly.
The bottom line here is that you can’t smoke in a home and keep it from smelling like stale cigarettes. That smell could potentially scare off buyers and the smoke being concentrated in a small enclosed area is even more deadly than in the open air.
Many smokers are turning to alternative products like non tobacco chew, CBD oil, and vape pens to avoid the harmful smoke and smell of cigarettes.
Damaged Surfaces
Cigarette smoke can easily damage certain surfaces by contaminating them with over 7,000 chemicals that are normally found in a single cigarette. Among those chemicals are known carcinogens, or cancer-causing chemicals, and other toxins that are harmful to pet and human health. That’s right, your pets aren’t safe, either! Children are also quite vulnerable, since their bodies are still developing. Exposure to excessive second-hand smoke can cause growth problems, cognitive issues, and decreased lung function.
The walls in your home will start to turn a sickly yellowish-brown after you smoke long enough. You’ll notice this same residue on every surface in the home after a few years’ time, indicating that essentially every surface in your home is contaminated.
How does this affect resale value? If your prospective buyers have to re-paint all the walls, resurface countertops, and pull up carpet, they’re going to incur a lot of unnecessary expenses; which will likely entice them to offer a lower price for the home, or turn away from the sale entirely.
Furnace/Ventilation Ducts
Your air quality in the home is seriously compromised when you’re a smoker. The ventilation and heating systems (if you have forced air heating) only serve to recirculate the smoke once it’s settled. The toxins get into the ventilation systems, causing them to become compromised and the air quality of the home to never improve without a replacement.
Put yourself in the shoes of a prospective buyer. Would you want to purchase a home with compromised ventilation and heating systems? Replacing these systems can cost thousands of dollars!
A Toxic Environment
When you smoke inside, you’re creating an incredibly toxic environment. Poisonous chemicals, heavy metals, and even radioactive elements like uranium are found in cigarettes. Essentially, you’re creating a deathtrap when you smoke inside, amplifying the effects of these harmful toxins and exposing anyone who enters the home to their effects.
This doesn’t make for a very good sales pitch, does it? Why should anyone want to buy a home with compromised ventilation and heating, toxic air, and damaged/contaminated surfaces? Sounds like a bad investment to me.
The Bottom Line
If you’re smoking in your home, you’re making it that much more difficult to get the price you want for it. You’re also slowly shaving years off of your life, as it will eventually catch up to you in the form of cancer, disease, or some other serious health complication. For the most resale value on your home and the best quality of life, the best decision to make it to quit for good. Why wait when there are so many alternatives and cessation aids available?