Smoking and making meth

[Jason1833]

We just listed our property. It’s a newly renovated MIL attached to our house. Everything in the place is new, we had professional photos taken. The listing was awesome. We got 8 bookings in the first 24 hours listed. And our first guest either made or smoked meth in it. It’s a different smell then smoke smell. We can’t get the smell out. Needless to say we have delisted our property. We canceled our next guest who was scheduled to arrive due to the smell. We live in the other side of the property and share heating ducts, we have a young family and meth is highly toxic not only to us but also to future guests. If this has happened to you, what did you do to clean? Do we have to throw everything away? Does anyone know how to do clean this? I am now reading horror stories that Airbnb dose not pay for damages such as this? And more horror stories that you have to remove everything down to the studs. I don’t know how to clean it. I called Airbnb and they were super unhelpful. Did absolutely nothing. 

So much for being a host. It wasn’t worth the $148 we made on the stay. 

[Anonymous]

@Jason1833   I think in order to determine the right cleaning process, you'd need to be able to know whether the home was being used to produce meth (which is actually quite an elaborate, waste-intensive process that probably would have thrown up some red flags during the stay) or merely to consume smokable drugs. The latter seems far likelier, especially if it was only one person in a short stay, but you can try asking the police to have a look (I'm honestly unsure if they have time for that).

The smell left behind from merely smoking drugs can be very pungent, so it would be worth renting a heavy-duty air purifier and leaving it running in the unoccupied unit for the full recommended time (be prepared for a shocking power bill). I don't think you'd have to throw everything away, but any soft furnishings (curtains, carpets, upholstery, bedding) may need a deep cleaning. The risk of your family's heath being affected by the residual toxins in the home is very, very low, but I do have to caution you that it's common for heavy drug users to accidentally leave behind some of their stash - sometimes squirreled away in very odd hiding places. My biggest fear would be that a curious child would find a little baggy of shiny crystals and not know it was something dangerous. Not to freak you out too much, but maybe don't leave any children unattended in that unit until it's had a very deep clean.

[Jason1833]

Thanks for your feedback. Ya, reading online it appears people rent these units to make drugs. It was weird because the smoke alarm went off a few times. The individual messaged us saying it was toast burning. Well when we went in after he left the brand new toaster was not used. There was water on the floor and he used the shower but not towels or any of the provided toiletries. There was ash on the floor and splatters of something on the walls and then the smell. Oh my it’s in our entire house now. This has been such a horrible experience. 

[Gabriela1456]

Hi Jason, I just went through that on my new construction property in Troutdale, but the guests rented through the other main STR platform (VR BO). Horrible experience! The house was left a complete mess, disgusting, funk smell etc. I called the Multnomah county sheriff and she was so misinformed and sad that it is not possible to cook meth in just 10 days, but a single google search led to reliable publications saying otherwise. She wished me good luck. I saw that you can buy test kits on amazon to test for harmful residues the property. As far as the smell goes, my cleaner treated the carpet with a carpet washer (looks like a vacuum) and she ran the ozone machine I bought for the property.

Do you have any updates on your case?

[Debra300]

@Jason1833,

If you decide to return to hosting after you have remediated the possible drug residue situation, you may want to consider having an environmental control and system/appliance that's not connected to your vent system.  We have an apartment attached to our home, and we disconnected our central air and heating system's vents from the vent registers in the apartment.  Then we installed a mini-split AC/heat pump in the apartment.  We did this for a few different reasons:

1. We didn't want the whole house system running just to heat or cool the apartment.
2. We wanted guests in the apartment to have the ability to set the temperature independently from the whole home system.
3. We didn't want to share ventilation with our guests.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Jason1833 

this is just terrible 😞

I just googled about the meth lab smell, does your place smell like that?

A telltale sign of a meth lab is a powerful chemical smell.
...
Chemical Smells

• Paint thinner or varnish smell.
• Fuel smell.
• Ether or a "hospital smell"
• Sour or vinegary smell.
• Ammonia-like smell (like the smell of window cleaner, fertilizers or even cat urine)