The previous renters of our house suite were a group of hard partying university kids, before I moved in the landlord had new rugs put in, & repainted the entire site, & I could still smell the smell of them.
It was the ugly smell of spilled bong water & cheap beer, which had somehow permeated the essence of the apartment, but otherwise the location was great, it just had this faint, foul smell that never seemed to go away.
Eventually I reached out for professional help, & had an Heating & A/C tech come over to do an inspection & test our air quality. This was a great decision for many odd reasons – first, the Heating & A/C tech was entirely gorgeous! I had never seen a female Heating & A/C tech before, & this 1 could have stepped off the cover of a magazine. That was a pleasant surprise. The hour reason is that this pretty Heating & A/C tech was incredibly smart & unbelievable at her task, & she figured out our problem. All the years of cigarette & cannabis smoke had permeated the ventilation system. She removed an air vent & showed myself and others how much dust & dander was coating the inside of the ductwork. I eagerly signed up for a full ductwork cleaning, because it seemed prefer the answer to our problems. At the same time, it was the perfect reason to get that same Heating & A/C tech to come back again. The ductwork cleaning is busy for next week, at which point I am going to ask out the Heating & A/C tech.