How to paint over heavily nicotene stained walls?

A stain blocking primer might be suggested. It’s amazing I had some inherited oil paintings coated with such residue I used tilex to remove the unpleasant coating.

HI,

It is not just the nicotine, there are tars and chemicals too, they both seep into the walls and cause stains that can seep through layers of paint. You need to clean the walls and then prime.

Here is a link on what to prime with:

https://www.hunker.com/13412896/what-kind-of-paint-covers-nicotine-stained-ceilings

We went through this same process when we bought our house from a former smoker, it was vacant for 5 years and when the humidity was high, it bled through from the ceiling and came down the walls, this was most noticeable in the bathroom and kitchen.

Depending on how bad the nicotine staining is you might even need two coats of a good primer but first those walls need a good cleaning using TSP.

Stain-killing primers are available in latex, oil-based and shellac formulas. To cover smoke stains, the primer must not only cover, but also seal, the nicotine stain. Unless the stain is relatively light, most latex primers show some bleed-through after a single coat, while primers that are specially formulated to hide stains do slightly better. The best choice for covering nicotine stains in a single coat is a white-pigmented shellac primer. Two coats, then paint with a good paint such as Sherwin Williams, or Benjamin Moore.

you need to clean them first use TSP follow directions then once that is done you may have to use Kilz or some other primer or a paint with a primer...

Wash the walls with a mop and CLR.

This video shows how to cover the stains: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poILgJd17oE

You need to clean the walls with a degreaser. Nicotine is oily. TSP, Simple Green, Awesome cleaner, etc. Then you need a stain blocking primer. Kilz or Zinseer primer. Then you can paint.

Thanks for the tips everyone. TSP and a stain-killer primer seems to be the consensus.Looking forward to giving it a go. Those smoke stains are ugly!

Clean first. Prime with a stain blocking primer like Bullseye 1-2-3. Then you can paint them.

Kilz primer. It's nasty and you should wear a mask and ventilate well, but it works.

You can use a paint that great for stain, this is a great one https://amzn.to/3bYjgda

I love Behr Marquee

Wipe down the areas to be painted with TSP, then rinse and paint with a stain-blocking primer. Then paint in the color of your choice.

When I was an apartment manager, the painters would use 1-2 coats of primer before painting to also hold the odor in. I have also washed the walls of clients apartments who have a semi-gloss paint using hot water with Dollar Tree Awesome Orange in the half gallon using a large car sponge and wearing kitchen rubber gloves. I get the Awesome Degreaser for kitchen greasy areas also.

You need to do a good cleaning though since you've already started to try and paint over it, you should get a good primer then paint.

Use a stain cover paint