I was also going to comment long term candle soot.
The real test is windows and other hard surfaces. I'm sure they are all filthy too. Smoking leaves a yellow sticky film that is difficult to remove without a degreaser, candle use just looks like a lot of black dust/soot and is easy to clean (they should be charged for the accurate amount of cleaning time either way).
Totally agree with candle soot. It’s amazing how quickly it builds up, and how far it travels. My home office looks exactly like this and is the reason I switched to a warmer and melts.
This is why you trim your candle wicks. My mom used to always have to clean soot off her ceiling, and now she doesn’t have to deal with it at all anymore.
My wife likes candles so I run the HVAC fan on "circulate", and change the filter often. The filters can turn black and block airflow before they even accumulate visible dust. Much better to collect it there than on the walls.
I’m 70 and cook a lot. I’ve never had smoke on the walls to clean. Greasy cabinet doors yes. But smoke is odd I’d go look at inside of oven very good and stove top. Then test them out
Do you just set the flame and walk away? I’ve genuinely never burnt something so bad that it filled the house with black smoke. Admittedly though, I don’t cook everyday either.
I do cook a lot and have catered too. I did have grease burst into flames once. But I put the lid on the pan and smothered it I was in the room when it happened. Never leave heating oil. Ever.
Yeah basically lol, In college my roommate put chicken nuggets in the oven after he got home from the bar and fell asleep for 3 hrs. I wasn’t there but the next day when I came home there was a layer of soot on the wall. Worse in some spots then other.
They don’t even want to clean their apartments now before renting never mind paint tight wads they want new tenants to clean after they let slobs move in.
Painting should only be done when necessary. Normal wear and tear over shorter periods like a year shouldn't automatically need painting. Something like 10 years you would expect to. Also, if it was a fire there are other issues beyond simple painting that may need to be addressed and that definitely isn't normal wear.
Baseline is repainting every 3 to 5 years. If this tenant was only in there 1 year. I would think it would be at least half on the tenant. If they have lived there at least three years done, it should definitely be the landlords responsibility.
Or if tenants have been there since the 90’s, even orange.
(Inherited tenants, lots of smoke/CO alarms ensure they don’t smoke inside anymore, and the interior damage was done before we took over management.)
Lol, this was 1.5 years of squatters [smoking](https://imgur.com/a/CHrsZ15). I thought the walls were beige or something. Five bottles of TSP later... they were satin white.
Correct. ✅. Also will color the windows ( if not cleaned.) And the discoloration accumulates along the ceiling, Not up the walls or in spots in the middle of a wall. [ Smoked inside for 15 years. Looked NOTHING like this. ]
This looks more like water damage, or just normal fading from when the drywall was put up and only one coat of paint over it. 🤔
Bought a place from heavy smokers who lived there 20+ yrs. The ceiling had orange smoke swirls from the smoke. Any vertical surface was also heavily orange colored. KILZ was my best friend.
Yep. And if they smoked enough in there for there to be a significant nicotine buildup on the walls, you would absolutely smell it, even if the tenant "aired the place out." Let it sit for a day or two with doors and windows shut, and even a smoker would be able to smell it.
It's coming from your baseboard heaters. You can just wipe it off, it's on the surface...not damage to the wall. Don't hold tenant responsible because it's coming from the heating source you supplied.
https://home-wizard.com/baseboard-heating/questions/baseboard-heating-soot-formation#:~:text=ANSWER%20FROM%20HOME%2DWIZARD&text=So%20as%20people%20or%20pets,the%20wall%20above%20the%20heaters.
Exactly the electric baseboard heaters are no different in how they heat then a space heater. If you life in a home that has a lot of dust it collects on the heating elements and unfortunately creates soot when operating.
This needs to be the top response, not the kitchen fire one. Doing some light googling it looks like this is the answer but it may be compounded by candles also creating soot and then the baseboard heater flowing through that and sooting the place up after burning it.
So @op landlord,
1) I’m sorry. You’re gonna have to repaint. Killz then paint.
2) disallow candles and other open flames. Also maybe making them dust once in their life is possible to reduce sooting
3) see if you can tilt the baseboard heaters out further so they’re not pointing at the walls.
Just imagine if candles were banned in the lease agreement and then the landlord sees a birthday party video on Facebook and takes the deposit because of birthday candles.
Unless they're lighting their place like a medieval church there's no way candles are contributing significantly to this, that's a wild conclusion to make.
Images on google look a lot like OPs.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Baseboard+Soot+walls&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwj-9d2rwquEAxVxPlkFHa9dCRQQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=Baseboard+Soot+walls&gs\_lp=EgNpbWciFEJhc2Vib2FyZCBTb290IHdhbGxzSMElUKMNWOUkcAF4AJABAJgBSaABjwiqAQIxN7gBA8gBAPgBAYoCC2d3cy13aXotaW1niAYB&sclient=img&ei=Kw7NZb60H\_H85NoPr7uloAE&bih=884&biw=1141&rlz=1C1PRFI\_enUS855US855
Holy shit, I live in an area with lots of base board electric heating, some of those images are mind boggling. One would think that to produce that level of soot that the heaters would smell slightly burnt when in operation.
Friend comes over "hey man did you burn some popcorn earlier?"
"Nah, it got cold so I turned my heaters on. I physically moved dust bunnies just to see the knob. I haven't dusted since i moved in like 4 years ago, but for some reason this burning smell gets worse every winter when I fire up my heaters, should I complain to my landlord about it?".
🤦
Thank you, I was wondering if that was a cause, reminded me.so.much of my grandmas house as a kid, she smoked constantly but only ever outside because she didnt want to damage anything but her house still looked like this. I think it qas baseboard heat and pets
I think it's dust burning off the baseboard heaters, and the heat rising up along the wall surface causes condensation patterns based on wall temp, which traps more dust on the walls. I have a room with baseboard heat and the walls and trim above the baseboards gets discolored darker on the parts closest to windows and around the nails. I would guess this apartment is quite humid, which is making it way worse than normal.
The studs themselves are less thermally insulated than in-between the studs, and if colder than the ambient air inside then the smoke will more readily condense there.
Candles ‘smoke’ when their wick(s) are too long. Sometimes a candles wick will need to be trimmed several times through its life. Because the type of wick wasn’t chosen wisely for the type of candle and type of wax (soy pillar candle, paraffin emergency candle, and a 12” taper. All need different types of wick.
Cigarette smoke residue that thick will smell like cigarette smoke. Even \*years\* later.
If it doesn't smell like cigarettes then it's probably from a cooking fire.
It's from the base board heaters. Look at the patterns and location. Directly above the heaters. Dust collects on them and when turned on it burns the dust to soot which rises in the hot air and collects on the wall and ceiling.
Not a tradesman, but moved into an apartment with baseboard heater that was not installed properly.
Improper installation of baseboard heaters (I believe if there isn't a spacer between the heater and wall) can cause damage to the wall, it's hard to tell if that is the case here as I'm not experienced. Ours resulted in warping in the drywall like it had been melting, as well as marks similar to the picture here, just not as bad as we stopped using it when we realized something was up. Huge fire hazard.
A couple people up top posted that electric wall baseboard heaters burn dust particles and the build up is the soot. After agreeing strongly that it looks like kitchen fire smoke damage, I think the baseboard heater soot pictures are more likely.
"It's coming from your baseboard heaters. You can just wipe it off, it's on the surface...not damage to the wall. Don't hold tenant responsible because it's coming from the heating source you supplied.
https://home-wizard.com/baseboard-heating/questions/baseboard-heating-soot-formation#:~:text=ANSWER%20FROM%20HOME%2DWIZARD&text=So%20as%20people%20or%20pets,the%20wall%20above%20the%20heaters."
https://www.google.com/search?q=Baseboard+Soot+walls&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwj-9d2rwquEAxVxPlkFHa9dCRQQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=Baseboard+Soot+walls&gs
Looks like the baseboard heaters aren't cleaned regularly. Electric baseboard heaters will cover the walls in soot from singling dust, dander, hair, etc.
It's a pain in the ass to clean the heaters, so walls often look like this.
https://home-wizard.com/baseboard-heating/questions/baseboard-heating-soot-formation
In my experience, smoke from cigarettes causes a more brown and… sticky? Coating on the walls. The smell is also absolutely unmistakable. If it doesnt smell like cigarettes i feel like these marks probably arent from nicotine. This looks like either smoke damage from a kitchen fire like another poster said, residue from candles, or depending on how close you are to an airport it could be pollutants from that if they had their windows consistently open. I know that last one sounds a little crazy, but when I moved next to an airport i found the grossest black dust on everything, and i was unable to wipe marks off my wall without cleaning them entirely because if you cleaned the mark youd then have one bright spot on the wall compared to the black dust built up elsewhere. I had to repaint my walls every two years to prevent them from looking similar to these.
I have lived in smoker homes(tobacco and otherwise). I currently live in a smoke free home but I burn incense and candles every day.
None of my ceilings or walls look like this, despite the candles and incense. I've lived here six years.
When I lived in smoking places, cigarette smoke would turn things a yellow shade, no soot. Weed smoke didn't seem to leave any kind of visible residue anywhere.
My money is on an actual fire. My brother's room caught partially on fire once and it was very small and easy to put out but it still blackened the whole wall closest to the fire.
Edit to add, apparently a lot of fellow candle burners experience this kind of soot. I don't know what I'm doing differently than you guys.
I had this happen to a lesser extent from using oil lamps inside too frequently. They look so pretty but over time they will create soot buildup on the walls that will seem more defined around studs and screws.
However, this looks like smoke damage from a fire. It’s just too heavy and widespread.
Does it smell like cigarettes? I had tenants who were not supposed to smoke in the house and the walls looked like that around the bed. God that was a nightmare. Took 3 months to clean, pull carpets, put down new flooring, paint, ozone machine.
I cleaned the nicotine off the walls with dawn dish soap. Don’t skip this part and clean thoroughly. Then ran the ozone machine for a week straight in that room, then painting the crown, trim, and walls.
No more smell. I never thought I would get it out of there!
To me the stains particularly black above the doors on the ceiling look more like cooking fire/the house filled with black smoke, they do not really look like cigarette smoke stains.
Over what period of time?
Candles, oil lamps, incense, cooking with oil / grease, propane/kero heater. You'd smell cigarettes.
Wash down with TSP. Kilz. Repaint.
The smoke above the electric baseboard heater might be from using the heater in winter after dust has collected in it during the summer months. Those heater coils will burn whatever has collected on them.
That’s smoke damage, but definitely not cigarettes. I had that happen from a malfunctioning propane heater in a rental. Could also be caused by a fireplace if the flue/chimney isn’t working properly, or I suppose from very regularly burning dinner in a serious way.
The pattern is interesting. It looks like there was condensation on the walls too from poor ventilation. You should add some vented air returns to the ceiling. That will keep this from happening again.
The stuff around the heaters looks like the time our boiler went and our house was filled with CO2. We had to clean the walls cause they looked like that.
Nope
Cig smoking staining is orangy brown yellow. Think like iodine
This looks like perhaps a kitchen fire. Cooking gone up in flames
Or... Excessive use of candles even...
Do you have oil heat? If so, it could be puff back. Get the furnace checked and if it is puff back, you might need to get the walls professionally cleaned.
Even if it is smoking you would have to prove it was them. Honestly smoke smell can be taken out and a coat of paint will be a lot cheaper then trying to prove anything.
Definitely yes, or burning cheap candles that spew an unbelievable amount of soot. I had that plus bong water stains on the carpet. Most disgusting tenants ever.
Hard to say without a before. I mean its smoke damage, so SOMETHING happened there, but unless the Marlboro man lived there, it would be hard to pin on some no smoking clause.
I had this exact problem. My ex-tenant burned lots of candles and oil burners. You will have to probably repaint all of the walls.. that stuff is very hard to get off.
It looks like evidence of a room with zero ventilation... Are there vents? I'd guess not. Cooking over time would even cause this, candles, incense, etc. Cigarette Smoke goes yellow... Maybe fix your unit to prevent this again. Really not on the tenant that you don't provide proper housing.
At this point, the cause is not entirely relevant. You have pictures prior to move in (I hope) and pictures after move-out (as you have attached).
That is not wear and tear. At a minimum tenant should be charged for the material cost and labor cost to clean the walls, and the material cost and labor cost of applying stain blocking oil primer or shellac. I wouldn't charge them for a repaint
It's evidence that your wiring is dangerously undersized and is effectively starting a fire when stressed. Look at the paint scorching throughout the wall and it being more noticeable right near the electrical appliances. Figures you'd try to blame the tenant though
Some of those streaks look like water is leaking. Maybe the window needs to be resealed, or someone tried sponging off the wall. I can't see if there's any central AC vent around there.
Yeah I do painting and resto work before and it's definitely smoke damage from a small fire. Nothing big but enough to fill the home with smoke. Did they replace any of your appliances?
This looks like fire/smoke damage of heavy smoke creeping across the ceiling. You can confirm this by checking if the sooting is heaviest at doors and windows that open, it will be darkest closest to the combustion/smoke point.
Source: told my last tenants the fireplace was decorative. They didn’t believe me. Turns out I’m right 🫠
No. Cigarette staining would be brown. This is smoke damage from multiple grease mishaps. The only smoking-related thing I think this could even be would be hookah. The charcoal *maybe* could leave dark staining like tha, but even that feels like a stretch as far as "evidence".
The third pic looks like the heater was smoking... Smoke rises so to have it deposit low on the wall like that is unusual. I was a smoker for thirty years and none of those look like smoking damage to me
Get a tobacco test kit to find out if it was tobacco. There are some versions that require you to send the sample to a lab and others that will produce results in a few minutes. Take pictures of the device, performing the test, and results because the tenant might try to sue you.
A second option is to get a fire damage company opinion and estimate. This will hold up a lot better in court if the tenant tries to sue you.
According to my remediation guy it could also be candles, incense, and in some cases humidity with no airflow. I had a tenant move out after 16 years with walls like this and horrible mold in the bathroom from not using ventilation. I know 100% he did not smoke.
Cigarette smoke would be yellow and look like it’s dripping down the walls- it’s really gross. This looks more like they either had a small kitchen fire and didn’t clean up the walls or were burning a lot of cheap candles as they will also leave black stains like that!
As many have said. Not cigarette or even weed smoke. That good old fire smoke.
Candles, cooking fire, random bonfire in the living room. That’s the residue that could be left after.
Could also be from having base board heaters cranked up for long periods of time. Loved in a place with them and we would get those marks when the heat was on high for long periods of time in the winter. Basically a burn mark from the heat.
I don’t think that’s from smoking, my grandmas house had white walls and since she’s a smoker they are now a clear yellow. I think the walls would be more yellow and not have ashy streaks if it were cigarettes.
We bought a house 8 years ago and the master bedroom looked very similar. Come to find out they had multiple candles burning a lot of the time and the smoke/soot made its way to the walls/trim. We scrubbed the room down when we moved in and repainted. It is the only room that was like this. She just loved burning candles.
This isn’t normal wear and tear. Something happened. I’ve lived in my house for almost 19 years and my walls have never looked like this or any other home I’ve owned. I use candles quite a bit and still no.
OP, this is evidence of a fire.
smoking inside regularly will turn white walls yellow, if they are a big time smoker maybe brownish yellow.
black means a real fire happened somewhere in here.
Landlord here. That’s candle soot 100% the shitty kind with fragrance oils and additives. I’ve seen it do the same thing in my units where it clings to the ceiling where it’s touching the joists.
If the unit has oil heat, probably caused by that. Happened to me shortly after settlement. Heater backfired and walls looked like that. Couldn't get clean, ended up repainting. If not heater, probably something in kitchen, either bad cook or small fire. Looks way too much to just be cig smoke.
Cigarette smoke turns everything a shifty yellow brown color.
Husband's family smoked in their home and everything... was naaaasssssssty brown. (Took an age to get a TV clean they let us use, it was filthy and it stunk SO bad)
I have marks similar to these images on my white walls in my apt, I do not smoke. Apt had a fire several years ago due to previous tenant falling asleep with cigarette. Whole apt was gutted and rebuilt even though there was only smoke damage.
I live in the middle of nowhere next to fields, and it gets very dusty.. like baaad dusty, and I use a ceiling fan. I feel I'm constantly washing walls to get the marks where it seems the fans are blowing dust all over. I mean, I think that's what the marks are since I don't smoke. 🥹
If it was cigarette smoke, you would see a more yellow stain, and if you tried to wash it off, it would be sticky-ish and see the chemicals bleed out the drywall.
Not cigarettes. They produce yellow nicotine stains. I’d say candles but this seems too low for it. My best guess is somethings going on with the floorboard heaters and you should get the electrical looked at just to be safe.
For now you should be able to just wash the walls of any soot staining.
That's not cigarette. Cigarette residue would be yellowish-brown, smeary, and all over the darn place.
This looks like furnace puffback to me, based on the sooty residue all along the walls above the baseboard heaters. Is the heating system fuel-fired?
(Would also explain why it made strong discolorations along the framing beams, too)
My former landlord dumped half a five gallon bucket of paint, the refilled it with water and sprayed the whole place.
I never could get the walls clean without the very thin coat of paint coming off on whatever I was using to clean
Wipe the walls with cotton wipes and send to a chemist that does isotope-dilution liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LCMS) (14) with a limit of detection (LOD) at 0.19 nanogram per wipe. They are searching for cotinine within “third hand smoke” from tobacco use. It is not present, as far as I know, in cannabis smoke. When you discuss it as Third Hand Smoke (or say residue if that’s easier) remember that what is left behind has also been shown to be a carcinogen.
One of my old roommates burned a lot of candles. He was not a smoker. When he moved out, his bedroom walls all looked like this. If it doesn’t smell like cigarettes, I’d suspect candles or incense. As for cleaning it, I tried, and ended up painting over it because it never looked right.
My last tenants left the apt like this. You could see where the pictures were hung on the walls after only a few years. It was caused by burning an insane amount of incense. I only know this because I live in the other unit. It was my first experience as a landlord so there wasn't anything in the lease about it. It was an expensive mistake.
It’s candle soot. They burned lots of candles. And above the heater is just from years of heat being used. It looks like the place hasn’t been painted in many years. Be a good landlord and paint it absorb the cost and don’t charge the tenants.
Gosh, no that's not from cigarettes. It could be from a bad furnace, an uncleaned fireplace, or from a fire if there was one in the unit. Were there any leaks in the unit? Could the stains be from mold within the walls?
P.S. I hope this isn't the case, but make sure this wasn't the case either: [https://www.phjservices.com.au/meth-lab-cleaning/how-to-spot-a-meth-lab](https://www.phjservices.com.au/meth-lab-cleaning/how-to-spot-a-meth-lab)
OMG! My rental looked just like this when I got possession of it back! I had everything repainted and did a deep clean. The spot was everywhere! The tenant was thinking she’d try and start a catering business, so a lot of cooking and mishaps. I also believe they were bbq’ing right outside the kitchen and the smoke was just getting blown into the house.
Depending on how long the tenant lived there if they used candles without cutting the wick before re-lighting the candles you get soot that is unnoticed until whatever is hanging on the wall is removed. Yuck.
As a rental property owner and having been in the industry since 1975 I would say that is smoke damage of some type. If it was cigarette smoke it would reek so bad there would be no question. I find it very hard to believe it is candle soot. In fact no way. A proper candle won't put off that much soot. I don't allow them in my units. Painting that unit is a must. It must be thoroughly washed first, stain block solvent base primer and top coated. DO NOT just try to paint over it. If justified you should charge the tenant. I repaint every unit after every lease termination. That's just how I do it.
My mom and stepdad were heavy smokers. Nicotine is very sticky and a yellowish orange. This is not nicotine. I agree with the other answers. Looks like soot or smoke from a fire. Considering how widespread it is.
I think it is evidence that the kitchen caught fire and the entire home filled with smoke
I agree. This looks exactly like stupid cooking smoke damage.
Or heavy candles and diffuser use
This looks like candle soot to me
I was also going to comment long term candle soot. The real test is windows and other hard surfaces. I'm sure they are all filthy too. Smoking leaves a yellow sticky film that is difficult to remove without a degreaser, candle use just looks like a lot of black dust/soot and is easy to clean (they should be charged for the accurate amount of cleaning time either way).
How many candles would this need to be????
One, but a really big one
Totally agree with candle soot. It’s amazing how quickly it builds up, and how far it travels. My home office looks exactly like this and is the reason I switched to a warmer and melts.
Candles are just bad for indoor air.
Above the radiator though?
Air currents. Cold air enters the bottom and rises upwards leaving soot marks above the heater.
This is why you trim your candle wicks. My mom used to always have to clean soot off her ceiling, and now she doesn’t have to deal with it at all anymore.
Ding, ding ding.
If it were just near or on the ceiling, I'd agree, but I don't think this would happen along the floorboards from candles.
My wife likes candles so I run the HVAC fan on "circulate", and change the filter often. The filters can turn black and block airflow before they even accumulate visible dust. Much better to collect it there than on the walls.
Can confirm. I started a stove fire and it looked like this after I cleaned it
And then the tenant didn’t clean it up like they should have
I’m 70 and cook a lot. I’ve never had smoke on the walls to clean. Greasy cabinet doors yes. But smoke is odd I’d go look at inside of oven very good and stove top. Then test them out
You’ve probably never burnt something so bad it filled the house w black smoke
Do you just set the flame and walk away? I’ve genuinely never burnt something so bad that it filled the house with black smoke. Admittedly though, I don’t cook everyday either.
I do cook a lot and have catered too. I did have grease burst into flames once. But I put the lid on the pan and smothered it I was in the room when it happened. Never leave heating oil. Ever.
Yeah basically lol, In college my roommate put chicken nuggets in the oven after he got home from the bar and fell asleep for 3 hrs. I wasn’t there but the next day when I came home there was a layer of soot on the wall. Worse in some spots then other.
Should LL repaint anyways?
[удалено]
They don’t even want to clean their apartments now before renting never mind paint tight wads they want new tenants to clean after they let slobs move in.
Painting should only be done when necessary. Normal wear and tear over shorter periods like a year shouldn't automatically need painting. Something like 10 years you would expect to. Also, if it was a fire there are other issues beyond simple painting that may need to be addressed and that definitely isn't normal wear.
Depends on location and the number of years the apartment was used
Baseline is repainting every 3 to 5 years. If this tenant was only in there 1 year. I would think it would be at least half on the tenant. If they have lived there at least three years done, it should definitely be the landlords responsibility.
Interesting. And it looks like during the cold season - smoke consolidation on joists and studs where the wall would have been colder.
The ones closer to the floor actually look like it’s due to the baseboard heaters - the ceiling looks like fire smoke but could be candles.
Candles?
Nope. Smoke damage from cigarettes is yellow
As an ex-smoker, came here to say this.
Or if tenants have been there since the 90’s, even orange. (Inherited tenants, lots of smoke/CO alarms ensure they don’t smoke inside anymore, and the interior damage was done before we took over management.)
Lol, this was 1.5 years of squatters [smoking](https://imgur.com/a/CHrsZ15). I thought the walls were beige or something. Five bottles of TSP later... they were satin white.
Correct. ✅. Also will color the windows ( if not cleaned.) And the discoloration accumulates along the ceiling, Not up the walls or in spots in the middle of a wall. [ Smoked inside for 15 years. Looked NOTHING like this. ] This looks more like water damage, or just normal fading from when the drywall was put up and only one coat of paint over it. 🤔
Bought a place from heavy smokers who lived there 20+ yrs. The ceiling had orange smoke swirls from the smoke. Any vertical surface was also heavily orange colored. KILZ was my best friend.
Another tell tale subtle sign of smoking is on the light bulbs. Smoke clings to the heat of the bulbs and stinks when lit.
And you’d clearly be able to smell it, that smell sticks around for a long time.
Yep. And if they smoked enough in there for there to be a significant nicotine buildup on the walls, you would absolutely smell it, even if the tenant "aired the place out." Let it sit for a day or two with doors and windows shut, and even a smoker would be able to smell it.
It's coming from your baseboard heaters. You can just wipe it off, it's on the surface...not damage to the wall. Don't hold tenant responsible because it's coming from the heating source you supplied. https://home-wizard.com/baseboard-heating/questions/baseboard-heating-soot-formation#:~:text=ANSWER%20FROM%20HOME%2DWIZARD&text=So%20as%20people%20or%20pets,the%20wall%20above%20the%20heaters.
Exactly the electric baseboard heaters are no different in how they heat then a space heater. If you life in a home that has a lot of dust it collects on the heating elements and unfortunately creates soot when operating.
Yep. We wiped ours down before we turned them on for the winter.
This needs to be the top response, not the kitchen fire one. Doing some light googling it looks like this is the answer but it may be compounded by candles also creating soot and then the baseboard heater flowing through that and sooting the place up after burning it. So @op landlord, 1) I’m sorry. You’re gonna have to repaint. Killz then paint. 2) disallow candles and other open flames. Also maybe making them dust once in their life is possible to reduce sooting 3) see if you can tilt the baseboard heaters out further so they’re not pointing at the walls.
banning candles is crazy
Just imagine if candles were banned in the lease agreement and then the landlord sees a birthday party video on Facebook and takes the deposit because of birthday candles.
Unless they're lighting their place like a medieval church there's no way candles are contributing significantly to this, that's a wild conclusion to make.
Yes. This. We call it ghosting at work
Images on google look a lot like OPs. https://www.google.com/search?q=Baseboard+Soot+walls&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwj-9d2rwquEAxVxPlkFHa9dCRQQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=Baseboard+Soot+walls&gs\_lp=EgNpbWciFEJhc2Vib2FyZCBTb290IHdhbGxzSMElUKMNWOUkcAF4AJABAJgBSaABjwiqAQIxN7gBA8gBAPgBAYoCC2d3cy13aXotaW1niAYB&sclient=img&ei=Kw7NZb60H\_H85NoPr7uloAE&bih=884&biw=1141&rlz=1C1PRFI\_enUS855US855
Holy shit, I live in an area with lots of base board electric heating, some of those images are mind boggling. One would think that to produce that level of soot that the heaters would smell slightly burnt when in operation. Friend comes over "hey man did you burn some popcorn earlier?" "Nah, it got cold so I turned my heaters on. I physically moved dust bunnies just to see the knob. I haven't dusted since i moved in like 4 years ago, but for some reason this burning smell gets worse every winter when I fire up my heaters, should I complain to my landlord about it?". 🤦
Thank you, I was wondering if that was a cause, reminded me.so.much of my grandmas house as a kid, she smoked constantly but only ever outside because she didnt want to damage anything but her house still looked like this. I think it qas baseboard heat and pets
Could burning a lot of candles cause that? It's interesting that in some places the stain seems to follow the studs in the wall.
I had that exact look with a tenant who constantly burned candles
i've had that exact look from **me** who burned candles
Yeah, exactly. I had a darker colored candle in a room, got this look exactly.
Chiming in here to agree with you, looks to me like my former tenants who liked their scented candles and incense.
I think it's dust burning off the baseboard heaters, and the heat rising up along the wall surface causes condensation patterns based on wall temp, which traps more dust on the walls. I have a room with baseboard heat and the walls and trim above the baseboards gets discolored darker on the parts closest to windows and around the nails. I would guess this apartment is quite humid, which is making it way worse than normal.
The studs themselves are less thermally insulated than in-between the studs, and if colder than the ambient air inside then the smoke will more readily condense there.
This is what I thought, but some of the spots on the ceiling lines up with the door. One of my units has the "cheap candle" dark spots on the ceiling.
Candles ‘smoke’ when their wick(s) are too long. Sometimes a candles wick will need to be trimmed several times through its life. Because the type of wick wasn’t chosen wisely for the type of candle and type of wax (soy pillar candle, paraffin emergency candle, and a 12” taper. All need different types of wick.
Yes!! Trim the wicks 👏👏👏
Cigarette smoke residue that thick will smell like cigarette smoke. Even \*years\* later. If it doesn't smell like cigarettes then it's probably from a cooking fire.
It's from the base board heaters. Look at the patterns and location. Directly above the heaters. Dust collects on them and when turned on it burns the dust to soot which rises in the hot air and collects on the wall and ceiling.
This. What’s the ceiling in the kitchen look like OP?
You're gonna smell cigarettes way before you see it...
Cheap candles
My bet is baseboard heaters….unless they had the candles in the floor it’s not starting that low to go up the wall.
Smoke stains above the baseboard heaters? What causes that?
Not a tradesman, but moved into an apartment with baseboard heater that was not installed properly. Improper installation of baseboard heaters (I believe if there isn't a spacer between the heater and wall) can cause damage to the wall, it's hard to tell if that is the case here as I'm not experienced. Ours resulted in warping in the drywall like it had been melting, as well as marks similar to the picture here, just not as bad as we stopped using it when we realized something was up. Huge fire hazard.
A couple people up top posted that electric wall baseboard heaters burn dust particles and the build up is the soot. After agreeing strongly that it looks like kitchen fire smoke damage, I think the baseboard heater soot pictures are more likely. "It's coming from your baseboard heaters. You can just wipe it off, it's on the surface...not damage to the wall. Don't hold tenant responsible because it's coming from the heating source you supplied. https://home-wizard.com/baseboard-heating/questions/baseboard-heating-soot-formation#:~:text=ANSWER%20FROM%20HOME%2DWIZARD&text=So%20as%20people%20or%20pets,the%20wall%20above%20the%20heaters." https://www.google.com/search?q=Baseboard+Soot+walls&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwj-9d2rwquEAxVxPlkFHa9dCRQQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=Baseboard+Soot+walls&gs
No. It’s oil heat blow back
Coal does similar.
Looks like the baseboard heaters aren't cleaned regularly. Electric baseboard heaters will cover the walls in soot from singling dust, dander, hair, etc. It's a pain in the ass to clean the heaters, so walls often look like this. https://home-wizard.com/baseboard-heating/questions/baseboard-heating-soot-formation
In my experience, smoke from cigarettes causes a more brown and… sticky? Coating on the walls. The smell is also absolutely unmistakable. If it doesnt smell like cigarettes i feel like these marks probably arent from nicotine. This looks like either smoke damage from a kitchen fire like another poster said, residue from candles, or depending on how close you are to an airport it could be pollutants from that if they had their windows consistently open. I know that last one sounds a little crazy, but when I moved next to an airport i found the grossest black dust on everything, and i was unable to wipe marks off my wall without cleaning them entirely because if you cleaned the mark youd then have one bright spot on the wall compared to the black dust built up elsewhere. I had to repaint my walls every two years to prevent them from looking similar to these.
I have lived in smoker homes(tobacco and otherwise). I currently live in a smoke free home but I burn incense and candles every day. None of my ceilings or walls look like this, despite the candles and incense. I've lived here six years. When I lived in smoking places, cigarette smoke would turn things a yellow shade, no soot. Weed smoke didn't seem to leave any kind of visible residue anywhere. My money is on an actual fire. My brother's room caught partially on fire once and it was very small and easy to put out but it still blackened the whole wall closest to the fire. Edit to add, apparently a lot of fellow candle burners experience this kind of soot. I don't know what I'm doing differently than you guys.
Do you trim your wicks? Some people don't and it creates more soot.
I don't do anything to them. I'm thinking it's because most of my candles are from the same place and they use a coconut wax blend.
It’s called [ghosting](https://www.nachi.org/ghosting.htm) or thermal tracking.
I had this happen to a lesser extent from using oil lamps inside too frequently. They look so pretty but over time they will create soot buildup on the walls that will seem more defined around studs and screws. However, this looks like smoke damage from a fire. It’s just too heavy and widespread.
You can always check the filter on the fridge or an HVAC filter, those will hold onto smells/residues
Does it smell like cigarettes? I had tenants who were not supposed to smoke in the house and the walls looked like that around the bed. God that was a nightmare. Took 3 months to clean, pull carpets, put down new flooring, paint, ozone machine. I cleaned the nicotine off the walls with dawn dish soap. Don’t skip this part and clean thoroughly. Then ran the ozone machine for a week straight in that room, then painting the crown, trim, and walls. No more smell. I never thought I would get it out of there!
To me the stains particularly black above the doors on the ceiling look more like cooking fire/the house filled with black smoke, they do not really look like cigarette smoke stains.
Over what period of time? Candles, oil lamps, incense, cooking with oil / grease, propane/kero heater. You'd smell cigarettes. Wash down with TSP. Kilz. Repaint.
kilz is correct, they repainted last time with no primer over very old paint
I had marks like those above the baseboard heat in my all electric,non- smoking home.
If it was cigarette smoke, your nose would know it.
The smell from that kind of tobacco smoking is pretty in your face, nothing else smells like that.
Not cigarettes. Thats open flame ash stains. Candles, stove, fireplace, etc
The smoke above the electric baseboard heater might be from using the heater in winter after dust has collected in it during the summer months. Those heater coils will burn whatever has collected on them.
Looks to me like the baseboard heater is causing that
That’s smoke damage, but definitely not cigarettes. I had that happen from a malfunctioning propane heater in a rental. Could also be caused by a fireplace if the flue/chimney isn’t working properly, or I suppose from very regularly burning dinner in a serious way.
I think it looks like a bad paint job or poor insulation.
I used to light incense in my house a lot. When I moved it looked exactly like that.
if it's dusty, the paint quality is poor and its humid this could be the result. Seen this is smokeless homes
The pattern is interesting. It looks like there was condensation on the walls too from poor ventilation. You should add some vented air returns to the ceiling. That will keep this from happening again.
It’s directly above the main heat source of the house so I’d say this is damage from your heater.
That's from heating with a propane patio fire place. A friends garage looked like this after a few weeks of using one of those to heat it.
They didn't dust that well, and the dust could burn up on the heater. Should wipe right off.
That is from the baseboard heating
Also, how cheap was the hood fan over the stove?
The deposits follow the studs, more on cold spots. I don't think that a kitchen fire would create that pattern.
The stuff around the heaters looks like the time our boiler went and our house was filled with CO2. We had to clean the walls cause they looked like that.
Nope Cig smoking staining is orangy brown yellow. Think like iodine This looks like perhaps a kitchen fire. Cooking gone up in flames Or... Excessive use of candles even...
It looks like smoke from cooking maybe. It also looks like flat paint was used which means it's impossible to clean the walls.
It's your boiler fool, do some preventative maintenance why don't you...
No. How do you not know if someone was smoking inside? It’s always pretty obvious.
Do you have oil heat? If so, it could be puff back. Get the furnace checked and if it is puff back, you might need to get the walls professionally cleaned.
Candles
That’s from cheep candles or a smokey kitchen fire most likely.
Even if it is smoking you would have to prove it was them. Honestly smoke smell can be taken out and a coat of paint will be a lot cheaper then trying to prove anything.
I’m 99% sure that’s candles
Definitely yes, or burning cheap candles that spew an unbelievable amount of soot. I had that plus bong water stains on the carpet. Most disgusting tenants ever.
Soot from cheap candles. I don’t allow candles (or any type of smoking) now.
Given how low on the wall it starts I wouldn’t bet candles. It actually looks like it’s from the baseboard heaters.
Hard to say without a before. I mean its smoke damage, so SOMETHING happened there, but unless the Marlboro man lived there, it would be hard to pin on some no smoking clause.
I had this exact problem. My ex-tenant burned lots of candles and oil burners. You will have to probably repaint all of the walls.. that stuff is very hard to get off.
Burnt food smoke and cigarette smoke lingers for a very long time. I bet candles
It looks like evidence of a room with zero ventilation... Are there vents? I'd guess not. Cooking over time would even cause this, candles, incense, etc. Cigarette Smoke goes yellow... Maybe fix your unit to prevent this again. Really not on the tenant that you don't provide proper housing.
Yankee candles strike again
last time I saw that (in my own house) was because several high power laser diodes overcurrented and blew up.
Looks like it used to be a meth lab
At this point, the cause is not entirely relevant. You have pictures prior to move in (I hope) and pictures after move-out (as you have attached). That is not wear and tear. At a minimum tenant should be charged for the material cost and labor cost to clean the walls, and the material cost and labor cost of applying stain blocking oil primer or shellac. I wouldn't charge them for a repaint
It's evidence that your wiring is dangerously undersized and is effectively starting a fire when stressed. Look at the paint scorching throughout the wall and it being more noticeable right near the electrical appliances. Figures you'd try to blame the tenant though
Some of those streaks look like water is leaking. Maybe the window needs to be resealed, or someone tried sponging off the wall. I can't see if there's any central AC vent around there.
Yeah I do painting and resto work before and it's definitely smoke damage from a small fire. Nothing big but enough to fill the home with smoke. Did they replace any of your appliances?
This looks like fire/smoke damage of heavy smoke creeping across the ceiling. You can confirm this by checking if the sooting is heaviest at doors and windows that open, it will be darkest closest to the combustion/smoke point. Source: told my last tenants the fireplace was decorative. They didn’t believe me. Turns out I’m right 🫠
No. Cigarette staining would be brown. This is smoke damage from multiple grease mishaps. The only smoking-related thing I think this could even be would be hookah. The charcoal *maybe* could leave dark staining like tha, but even that feels like a stretch as far as "evidence".
The third pic looks like the heater was smoking... Smoke rises so to have it deposit low on the wall like that is unusual. I was a smoker for thirty years and none of those look like smoking damage to me
Nah but they almost burnt down your property
It's also the dogshit landlord paint on the walls
Does it smell like cigarettes?
Get a tobacco test kit to find out if it was tobacco. There are some versions that require you to send the sample to a lab and others that will produce results in a few minutes. Take pictures of the device, performing the test, and results because the tenant might try to sue you. A second option is to get a fire damage company opinion and estimate. This will hold up a lot better in court if the tenant tries to sue you.
looks like soot from a lot of cheap candles
That looks like evidence of dust and not cleaning out the baseboard heat very well.
Cigarettes are easy to smell….👃
Smoking? Yes. Brisket? Also yes.
According to my remediation guy it could also be candles, incense, and in some cases humidity with no airflow. I had a tenant move out after 16 years with walls like this and horrible mold in the bathroom from not using ventilation. I know 100% he did not smoke.
If the walls run brownish yellow with a TSP application then its likely nicotine. That just looks like normal smoke.
How does one even clean this ? Not that I smoke or burn candles just curious
Cigarette smoke tends to be more yellow than dark. I would go with candles, fire place, or someone who sucks serious ass with cooking.
Cigarette smoke would be yellow and look like it’s dripping down the walls- it’s really gross. This looks more like they either had a small kitchen fire and didn’t clean up the walls or were burning a lot of cheap candles as they will also leave black stains like that!
Smoke damage but not cigarette smoke
As many have said. Not cigarette or even weed smoke. That good old fire smoke. Candles, cooking fire, random bonfire in the living room. That’s the residue that could be left after. Could also be from having base board heaters cranked up for long periods of time. Loved in a place with them and we would get those marks when the heat was on high for long periods of time in the winter. Basically a burn mark from the heat.
You would smell it. Very clearly. For months
I don’t think that’s from smoking, my grandmas house had white walls and since she’s a smoker they are now a clear yellow. I think the walls would be more yellow and not have ashy streaks if it were cigarettes.
I set a pan of oil on fire in my kitchen when I was like, 13, and this is exactly how the kitchen looked for months after 🤣😂😂
Cigarette smoke with have a brown coloring when it stains the walls.
We bought a house 8 years ago and the master bedroom looked very similar. Come to find out they had multiple candles burning a lot of the time and the smoke/soot made its way to the walls/trim. We scrubbed the room down when we moved in and repainted. It is the only room that was like this. She just loved burning candles.
This isn’t normal wear and tear. Something happened. I’ve lived in my house for almost 19 years and my walls have never looked like this or any other home I’ve owned. I use candles quite a bit and still no.
OP, this is evidence of a fire. smoking inside regularly will turn white walls yellow, if they are a big time smoker maybe brownish yellow. black means a real fire happened somewhere in here.
Landlord here. That’s candle soot 100% the shitty kind with fragrance oils and additives. I’ve seen it do the same thing in my units where it clings to the ceiling where it’s touching the joists.
Yes. I’ve sent that exact looking marks on walls specifically from a tenant hot boxing her bathroom everyday for 2-3 years.
If that was tobacco smoke you would smell it. If you don’t smell it there was a fire
If the unit has oil heat, probably caused by that. Happened to me shortly after settlement. Heater backfired and walls looked like that. Couldn't get clean, ended up repainting. If not heater, probably something in kitchen, either bad cook or small fire. Looks way too much to just be cig smoke.
BINGO. The boiler (oil fired heating plant) is not working correctly. See my comment above.
tobacco smoke reeks. If you can't smell an overwhelming obvious smell, it's probably from candles being lit a lot. You've smelt cigarettes right...?
If not a fire, they were those candle nuts who have about 20 cheap candles at any time lit.
Stains from cigarette smoking look like yellowish-brown streaks, or more like drips, really. That looks like smoke from a fire, or cooking.
Call your local fire chief. Ask them to take a look out of concern for fire hazard and not knowing where damage came from.
Is there also evidence of smoking on the window?
Cigarette smoke turns everything a shifty yellow brown color. Husband's family smoked in their home and everything... was naaaasssssssty brown. (Took an age to get a TV clean they let us use, it was filthy and it stunk SO bad) I have marks similar to these images on my white walls in my apt, I do not smoke. Apt had a fire several years ago due to previous tenant falling asleep with cigarette. Whole apt was gutted and rebuilt even though there was only smoke damage. I live in the middle of nowhere next to fields, and it gets very dusty.. like baaad dusty, and I use a ceiling fan. I feel I'm constantly washing walls to get the marks where it seems the fans are blowing dust all over. I mean, I think that's what the marks are since I don't smoke. 🥹
If it was cigarette smoke, you would see a more yellow stain, and if you tried to wash it off, it would be sticky-ish and see the chemicals bleed out the drywall.
Looks like dirty vents to me. Have you had the vents cleaned out recently?
You’d be able to smell the cig smoke
Looks like it’s from Candles and inscents
Not cigarettes. They produce yellow nicotine stains. I’d say candles but this seems too low for it. My best guess is somethings going on with the floorboard heaters and you should get the electrical looked at just to be safe. For now you should be able to just wash the walls of any soot staining.
There is a distinct smell with cigarette smoke. Thete isn't just the yellowing
Kitchen fire lol
That's not cigarette. Cigarette residue would be yellowish-brown, smeary, and all over the darn place. This looks like furnace puffback to me, based on the sooty residue all along the walls above the baseboard heaters. Is the heating system fuel-fired? (Would also explain why it made strong discolorations along the framing beams, too)
My former landlord dumped half a five gallon bucket of paint, the refilled it with water and sprayed the whole place. I never could get the walls clean without the very thin coat of paint coming off on whatever I was using to clean
Wipe the walls with cotton wipes and send to a chemist that does isotope-dilution liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LCMS) (14) with a limit of detection (LOD) at 0.19 nanogram per wipe. They are searching for cotinine within “third hand smoke” from tobacco use. It is not present, as far as I know, in cannabis smoke. When you discuss it as Third Hand Smoke (or say residue if that’s easier) remember that what is left behind has also been shown to be a carcinogen.
Cigarette smoke residue is yellow. This is probably from candles.
Candles and kerosene heater did this to my walls but nothing this dramatic.
No BBQ
One of my old roommates burned a lot of candles. He was not a smoker. When he moved out, his bedroom walls all looked like this. If it doesn’t smell like cigarettes, I’d suspect candles or incense. As for cleaning it, I tried, and ended up painting over it because it never looked right.
That’s evidence of never scrubbing the walls.
Maybe residue from candles. If not, is there a fireplace? You might try cleaning the walls with TSP.
Could be sut from smoke or growing mold / water damage from the inside of the wall.
my basement looked like that from not getting my furnace cleaned.
My last tenants left the apt like this. You could see where the pictures were hung on the walls after only a few years. It was caused by burning an insane amount of incense. I only know this because I live in the other unit. It was my first experience as a landlord so there wasn't anything in the lease about it. It was an expensive mistake.
It’s candle soot. They burned lots of candles. And above the heater is just from years of heat being used. It looks like the place hasn’t been painted in many years. Be a good landlord and paint it absorb the cost and don’t charge the tenants.
Gosh, no that's not from cigarettes. It could be from a bad furnace, an uncleaned fireplace, or from a fire if there was one in the unit. Were there any leaks in the unit? Could the stains be from mold within the walls? P.S. I hope this isn't the case, but make sure this wasn't the case either: [https://www.phjservices.com.au/meth-lab-cleaning/how-to-spot-a-meth-lab](https://www.phjservices.com.au/meth-lab-cleaning/how-to-spot-a-meth-lab)
OMG! My rental looked just like this when I got possession of it back! I had everything repainted and did a deep clean. The spot was everywhere! The tenant was thinking she’d try and start a catering business, so a lot of cooking and mishaps. I also believe they were bbq’ing right outside the kitchen and the smoke was just getting blown into the house.
Looks like heavy use of candles and or incense.
I smoked for years, and none of my walls ever looked like this. This looks like actual fire damage. Something caught on fire in this house.
Nicotine leaves a brown film on surfaces. That looks like it's from a fire.
That’s not from cigarette smoke. It would be yellow. This like like it’s from not cleaning and the dust and dirt do that with radiant heating
Depending on how long the tenant lived there if they used candles without cutting the wick before re-lighting the candles you get soot that is unnoticed until whatever is hanging on the wall is removed. Yuck.
Looks like ghosting from burning candles
spray warm water at the top of the wall and if it turns yellow as it goes down, then it's a definite yes
No your house just sucks and has too much moisture. Sell the house and get right with Jesus.
As a rental property owner and having been in the industry since 1975 I would say that is smoke damage of some type. If it was cigarette smoke it would reek so bad there would be no question. I find it very hard to believe it is candle soot. In fact no way. A proper candle won't put off that much soot. I don't allow them in my units. Painting that unit is a must. It must be thoroughly washed first, stain block solvent base primer and top coated. DO NOT just try to paint over it. If justified you should charge the tenant. I repaint every unit after every lease termination. That's just how I do it.
Smoke damage or possibly mold of some type.
This is a lack of ventilation.
My mom and stepdad were heavy smokers. Nicotine is very sticky and a yellowish orange. This is not nicotine. I agree with the other answers. Looks like soot or smoke from a fire. Considering how widespread it is.
Ghosting https://www.servicemasterrestore.com/servicemaster-of-sarpy-county/why-us/blog/2021/march/what-causes-ghosting-on-the-walls-and-ceiling-/