A downtown Toronto condo property management firm called us about a unit near Front and Bay. The outgoing tenant had been a smoker for the full 15-year lease, and the walls, ceiling and HVAC coil were loaded with nicotine residue. The incoming tenant was a professional couple moving from Yorkville and would not accept the smell. The painter was already booked for the Monday after our work.
The Situation
The PM needed the unit stripped of smoke residue, HVAC-cleaned, and surface-ready for the painter inside three business days. The board had been fielding corridor-odour complaints for the last two years of the lease. The PM wanted a decontamination report that documented the end-state so no new corridor complaints could be attributed to residual issues.
We dispatched a three-person crew Monday morning in an unmarked white van. Service elevator booked with the on-site concierge. HEPA negative-air set at the unit door before any work began.
The Scope
Scope landed at $5,500 to $9,000 for a downtown Toronto condo of this size with 15-year cigarette smoke residue. Final invoice came in at $7,200 including HVAC coil cleaning. ICD Level 2. Service type: extreme cleaning, smoke residue remediation, HVAC coil and return cleaning, enzymatic odour treatment, hospital-grade disinfection.
Timeline: 3 days on site plus overnight HEPA and hydroxyl generator cycles.
The Process
- Day 1 - Containment, bulk removal, first wall wash. HEPA negative-air set, zipper flap at the door. Residual tenant items removed. First trisodium phosphate wash on walls and ceiling. Hydroxyl generator ran overnight.
- Day 2 - Second wall pass, HVAC, enzymatic. Second wall wash with trisodium phosphate, visibly residue coming off. HVAC coil and return cleaned, filter replaced. Enzymatic treatment on carpet (which the PM elected to replace rather than deep-clean given the age) and on upholstered areas.
- Day 3 - Verification and surface prep. Final HEPA sweep. ATP surface verification on hard surfaces. Pigmented sealing primer applied in two heavy-residue areas (one bedroom wall, kitchen ceiling above range). Walkthrough with the PM and the painter.
Written workmanship warranty, WSIB registered, $2M CGL, IICRC S540 certified. Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 629 language used in the decontamination report.
The Outcome
Painter went in Monday with one coat of ceiling paint and one coat of wall paint instead of the prep plus two coats he had quoted. The unit was ready for the incoming tenant Friday. The incoming walkthrough raised zero concerns about smell. The corridor-odour complaints the board had been tracking stopped by the Wednesday after our handoff.
Smoke residue is one of those cleanup problems that looks simple until the painter calls after week two to say the stain is bleeding through the second coat. The trisodium phosphate wash and the pigmented primer at the end of our process are what prevent that call.
