How to clean white furniture back to white?
Can anyone help me figure out how to get nicotine stains off of white furniture. I obtained 2 white shelving units from Ikea along with a white coffee table, white end tables and a white curio cabinet. unfortunately whoever had them must have smokes because after washing them down I noticed they still have a slight yellowish /brownish color in streaks on some areas and was told it was nicotine. Ao I used a Mr Ckaan scrubbing pad, those white ones that disintegrate after a while. However it not only made my fingers sore for scrubbing so much I would have to buy at least 50 more to finish all of them. So does anyone k ow what I can used that will get them white again without hard scrubbing or costing me an arm and a leg?thanks here is picture of the cabinet. You can see some areas are streaked.
First try a vinegar water solution. If that doesnt clean it up all the way, use TSP.
HI Neva! I know tobacco stains are terrible to try and get out.
I wish you good luck. Take a look at these links for ideas.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=How+to+clean+white+furniture+back+to+white+cigarette+stains&qpvt=How+to+clean+white+furniture+back+to+white+cigarette+stains&FORM=VDRE
https://www.wikihow.com/Clean-White-Furniture
https://www.hunker.com/13404119/how-to-remove-stains-on-white-furniture
https://www.thriftyfun.com/tf/CleaningGroup/Furniture/Cleaning-Nicotine-from-Wood-Furniture.html
TSP is good for nicotine. Also recently I used Goof Off on some collectibles from a smoker. I had washed them already in soapy sink water and no improvement then sprayed the Goof off and it worked wonderful.
Nicotine is oily so you need a degreaser. Tsp like Kelly suggests should work. Krud Kutter is also good.
I'd say if you've got an Ollies nearby, then spray paint them. Or try some 409 spray or that purple cleaner found in automotive stores. You would have to dilute that. Either of these work because I've used them on yellow stained stuff caused by gas heat
wear gloves when dealing with nicotine- it can be absorbed thru the skin aka nicotine patches anyone? my dad smoked like a chimney- it wasn't unusual for him to have 3 cigs burning at once, 1 each in 3 rooms. when he passed, I got to clean up his apartment I used a sponge mop to clean the walls, did the first pass with a squirt of dawn in the bucket, then a mop with water.
“Simple green” is fantastic for removing nicotine. Take that from a former smoker. Just spray it directly on and wipe it off with a wet cloth. Bare in mind that white IKEA furniture, do tend to discolor over the years.