01/05/2025
The comments on this post I found are OVERWHELMINGLY targeted towards it being caused by smokers or previous owner/tenants being smokers. I’ve even had people tell me that the previous owners of their home must have smoked because they can’t seem to get rid of the “smoke damage” to the walls…
I’m here to tell you that’s a hard No honey boo boo, it’s you, it’s also everyone. It happens when you don’t use the exhaust fans while cooking or showering. You need to properly vent while making steam. You also need to make sure those vents are cleaned often. At least twice a year if not by monthly. Those can be the leading cause of fires when they are clogged with dust and lint and left running unattended.
I inspect my clients vents on every visit & clean them often for them. I also keep an eye out for these streaks and wipe them up when needed. If they are really bad I have a special flat mop I use for walls only as well.
If this was from smoking the whole wall would be yellow. These lines might look worse like this if you burn candles often too. That smoke and wax dissolves into the air and goes somewhere & I can tell which homes cook with more oils and high heat and which ones use a lot of candles.
The best fix for all of this is use those exhaust fans often and clean them often
