Smoking can be bad for your health, and secondhand smoke is even worse. But did you know that smoking can also wreak havoc on your home? That’s right – it can actually make your house less valuable to potential buyers and more dangerous for anyone who resides there now. The following are five surprising ways smoking can ruin your home and cost you money in the long run. Read on to find out more!
Buildup
Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals, including arsenic, formaldehyde, and lead. When you smoke indoors, these chemicals linger in the air and settle on surfaces, where they can remain for years. Over time, this buildup can create serious health hazards for you and your family.
Here are some of the ways smoking can turn your home into a hazard zone.
- If you smoke inside, smokers will be exposed to secondhand smoke as well as an increased risk of fire or accidents.
- Tobacco products emit gases that contain ammonia gas and benzene, which may cause damage to paint, wallpaper, plastics, and rubber materials like couches or carpets.
- The nicotine from cigarettes clings to fabric fibers (including clothing), staining walls with a brown residue that is difficult to remove.
Fire and Water Damage
Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of fire deaths in the United States. Each year, an estimated 2,500 to 3,000 people die in cigarette-related fires. The majority of these deaths happen in the home and most often involve children and elderly persons who are not able to escape quickly enough.
The risk increases with exposure to smokers over time because their clothing, furniture, curtains and drapes all become more flammable as they accumulate nicotine deposits that increase their risk for ignition. Those fires can lead to extensive water damage if firefighters don’t act fast to extinguish them. The average cost of structural repair from a single fire incident can range from $25,000-$100,000 or higher depending on how badly damaged the house was.
Dirty Air
Most smokers know that smoking is bad for their health. But did you know that it can also be bad for your home? cigarette smoke is full of chemicals that can dirty and damage your walls, ceilings, and floors. In fact, smokers are more likely to have to repaint their homes more often than nonsmokers. And if you have pets, they’re likely tracking in secondhand smoke, too.
Smoke damages pet hair and causes stains on furniture, carpets, curtains, and clothes. It can even cause respiratory problems for both the pets and humans living in the house! Secondhand smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals including 50 known carcinogens. Exposure to these toxins can affect animals’ nervous systems and impair immune systems, as well as lead to cancer or other serious diseases.
Secondhand smoke affects not only your pets but also yourself by making breathing difficult and irritating eyes and airways.
Mold
One of the most surprising ways smoking can ruin your home is by causing mold growth. Mold loves damp, dark, and humid environments, and smokers often create the perfect conditions for mold growth without even realizing it. When you smoke inside your home, you create an environment that is ideal for mold spores to thrive.
And since mold can cause serious health problems, it’s not something you want to take lightly. It can trigger allergies, asthma attacks, and sinus infections as well as irritate or damage lung tissue. You may also find your children are getting sick more often if they’re exposed to mold in their home on a regular basis. It’s best to eliminate any sources of moisture in your house that might lead to the growth of mold or mildew-like substances.
Potential Health Issues
Everyone knows that smoking is bad for your health. But did you know that it can also cause serious problems for your home? Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals, including over 60 known carcinogens. These toxic chemicals can seep into your walls, carpets, and furniture, making your home a hazard for you and your family.
Even if you don’t smoke inside the house, the effects of secondhand smoke are still felt throughout the entire house. The most commonly reported symptoms are headaches, coughs, wheezing, sore throats, sinus congestion and asthma attacks.
In addition to these symptoms there have been cases of people contracting pneumonia after being exposed to secondhand smoke in their homes because cigarette smoke makes them more susceptible to respiratory infections by damaging their lungs.
