How much plaster should be renewed in an old smoker's house

Hello everyone,

in my old building from the 60s, unfortunately, a lot of smoking took place. Under the wallpaper, the wall still looks slightly yellowish. I will try to upload a photo of it later.

We actually do not want to paint over it with a nicotine barrier layer, but rather remove the nicotine. Is it usually sufficient to just renew the top plaster layer (maybe 5mm), or should the underlying plaster also be removed?

If it still smells with bare plaster, I would personally rather knock everything down. Sanding off just a few millimeters is an incredible mess (dust!), ends up being almost the same amount of work to bring it back to a usable condition for further wall treatment, and you also don’t really have any guarantee that the problem would be solved with it. And after 60 years, you can also confidently renew the interior plaster.

If you are thinking about doing it yourself, I would look for a "Druckluft-Lanze" in your place. That is initially a big investment, but it definitely pays off in the end given the scope. And if you also have a use for the compressor afterward (hobby), it evens out again anyway.

I went through it with electric rotary hammers in the 6 and 13 kg classes (plaster hatchets and the like you can forget right away). The smaller one sometimes doesn’t have enough power and the bigger one simply gets incredibly heavy in the long run (and sometimes causes more damage than intended ;-)).

in meinem Altbau aus den 60ern wurde leider viel geraucht. Unter den Tapeten wirkt die Wand noch leicht gelblich.

This parallelism does not have to be causal. I have also lived in a house from the 60s and certainly only non-smokers before, the plaster under the wallpaper was largely yellow. There was no smell, and nothing came through any wallpaper, it was probably a reaction between the plaster and the paste of one of the earlier wallpaper layers.

First of all, you can't really see it properly in photos from last night, so I won't post any for now.

This parallelism does not have to be causal. I also lived in a house from the 60s and before that certainly only non-smokers, under the wallpaper the plaster was largely yellow. There was no smell, nothing came through the wallpaper from that, it was probably a reaction between the plaster and the paste of one of the earlier wallpaper layers.

I know that the previous owner definitely smoked in the apartment. A severe lung disease was the reason for the sale and I had to dispose of countless tobacco tins from the house. Anyway, this prior knowledge is reason enough for my better half to want to renew all the plaster. Unfortunately, the architect is on the same track. I myself am uncertain and a bit reluctant about the effort. But in case of doubt, better get to the plaster.
Is there any way besides a smell test to assess whether the yellow stuff is nicotine contamination or not?

If you are thinking about doing this yourself, I would look for a "compressed air lance" in your place.

Interesting. A simple model for €500 plus compressed air generation is still somewhat affordable. It could also help me remove the reinforced concrete pond in the garden.

Is there any way to determine other than by smell test whether the yellow substance is nicotine contamination or not?

Maybe try a grease cleaner. Nicotine should dissolve with that, adhesive not.

Anyway, this prior knowledge is reason enough for my better half to want to renew all the plaster.

I do not doubt that the previous owner was a smoker; I merely pointed out that yellowing plaster under wallpaper does not necessarily have to be related to that. I am not aware of plasters reactive to nicotine; I certainly would not fear that it would "shine back" in a sponge-like manner. Nicotine forms a film and rather does not diffuse through wallpaper.