The previous renters of my apartment suite were a group of hard partying college kids.
Before I moved in the landlord had new carpets put in, and repainted the entire place, and I could still smell the stink of them. It was the ugly odor of spilled bong water and cheap beer, which had somehow permeated the essence of the apartment. Otherwise the place was great, it just had this faint, foul smell that never seemed to go away. Eventually I reached out for professional help, and had an HVAC tech come over to do an inspection and test my indoor air quality. This was a great decision for two different reasons – first, the HVAC tech was absolutely gorgeous! I had never seen a female HVAC tech before, and this one could have stepped off the cover of a magazine. That was a pleasant surprise. The second reason is that this pretty HVAC tech was incredibly smart and good at her job, and she figured out my problem. All the years of cigarette and cannabis smoke had permeated the ventilation system. She removed an air vent and showed me how much dust and dander was coating the inside of the ductwork. I eagerly signed up for a full ductwork cleaning, because it seemed like the answer to my problems. At the same time, it was the perfect reason to get that same HVAC tech to come back again. The ductwork cleaning is scheduled for next week, at which point I am going to ask out the HVAC tech.