....and I can't stand it. We have common hot water baseboard heat and I have caulked around all water pipes. There's no insulation between the ceiling of the condo below and my hardwood floors which are covered with wall-to-wall carpeting. Crazy idea: Taking up the carpet and putting a layer of Tyvek under the padding? What do you think? Any other ideas? Thanks in advance.........
Move. If its like most condos, particularly in CA, you cant stop it since you wont pull all the walls down and seal the 4 inch space between the floor and outer wall....any and all electrical conduits, AC lines that may be there, plumbing...etc...
As a smoker, the worst thing you could do would be to ask the person that lives below you to stop..particularly if you own the units. You might find that the Cigar of the Month club suddenly starts to meet there....every week.
I think if you can prove that the smoke wafts into your condo at a certain rate (once a day, once a week, etc) you can get a court injunction against your neighbor smoking.
hSue Ann wrote:
Only in california could a person get an injunction against a person enjoting a smoke in their own home.
If normal human activity (like smoking) is *that* offensive to you then it's up to YOU to move. How irresponsible is was for you to buy a condo above a smoker in the first place!
Smoking is abnormal. Why is it that those who find it objectionable are expected to put up with it or move when they are in the majority? I have always loved the sign, "I don't mind if you smoke if you don't mind if I fart."
Sorry I don't what to suggest here. Fortunately I live in a detached home with very few smokers in the area, but am well aware of many people with problems similar to yours.
And then, if the smoker was not willing to tolerate that, one could argue that if they were there first, that the act of smoking is a part of their daily lives, and should the person above them wish to be smoke free, that they move, and pay court costs for the first injunction and the second counter suit, since the adiction to a legal product and the injunction against a normal daily activity has violated their rights...yea..I can see this in a state like CA... In order for that to hold, one would have to have a court make smokes illegal....I would think....and thats not going to happen...if it does, banning smoking in your own home, then somethings gone terribly wrong in this country.
Sell your condo and move to an isolated beach house or way out in the country somewhere.
Possibly the worse thing you can do is to attempt to force a neighbor, or anyone, to do something or stop doing something they enjoy.
Make an enemy of them, then you just might find out how difficult and nasty some people can be.
You might by hook or crook win the original fight, but your chances of winning the war are very slim.
Hound Dog
ROTFLMAO!!! ONLY in Amerca!
Let's assume a polite request to the unit below would be fruitless, even if you offered to pay for their Nicoderm.
Forget the personal comfort and convenience angle. Because it's a condo, everyone has a common interest in the safety of the buildings. I'd say take it up with the condo association and make an attempt to have the entire community smoke free. Not for your personal satisfaction, of course, but to reduce the fire hazard. Lower the insurance premiums. When there's money involved, people pay attention. If the non-smokers outnumber the smokers, you have a shot. If there are more smokers than non-smokers, I'd say you may as well just move.
Joe F.
Here are all of my crazy ideas:
Remove all baseboards and seal up cracks btw wall and floor. Do the same with window and door casing. Reinstall baseboards & casing. Install airtight seals onto all outlet box and wall switch plates. If you really want to be thorough, remove flooring down to subfloor, caulk all cracks, caulk around pipes, etc., paint subfloor with primer and install new floor. Increase the air pressure inside your condo somehow. (This is how hospitals isolate rooms.) Your condo might be sucking air out of downstairs unit due to depressurization. Or find the source of depressurization (e.g. fireplace, range hood) and close it or somehow provide a makeup air supply .
George Elkins
I'm suprised to hear that condos aren't already isolated from each other! That sounds like a serious fire hazard doesn't it? If cigarette smoke can get through then so can smoke from a fire and, for that matter, the flames themselves...
John
Yes, in California I'm pretty sure you could, so I guess you have to balance the benefits of being in a smoke free environment with sharing walls and common ownership with people who you've made into enemies.
Have you tried talking to them for starters? I'm a smoker, and I really do respect the rights of others to not breath my smoke. I quit for years because it bothered my daughter.
Something I've learned over the years is that often the most reasonable solution is to just state your issues and your willingness find an amiable way to solve the problem. Believe it or not, an attorney taught me that! He said he's constantly amazed that it's so often the last thing people think to do.
Good luck. I do believe the law in California is on your side if you choose to go that route.
ZsaZsa
California has amazingly strict laws against smoking.
When I worked in an office I wasn't even allowed to legally smoke outside within so many feet of the building lest my offensive smoke waft into someone's window.
Smokers have no rights in California that I know of, not even the right to smoke in their own homes if someone claims they can even smell it.
Oh boy, yet another power to give to a condo association! Talk about legalized fascism.
The thing is that I don't think that in California an HOA has the power to make any rules that could impact on the value or saleability of the members property.
A non-smoking condo development would restrict sales to non-smokers and thereby limit the potential to sell.
Of course, the case could be made that a non-smoking development would be an added value, but someone would have to prove that statistically, and I don't know how they would do it.
IMO, if one must participate in an HOA, the best idea is to limit it's powers, not grant it more. HOAs do not exist for the benefit of the owners, they were created to protect the developers.
I really do
for years
reasonable
an amiable
I sure wish all smokers were like you. The few times I've informed smokers that their smoke was bothering me, I've been basically told where to go, and my request ignored.
Bob
I'm an off and on again smoker, and even when I smoke, other people's smoke often bothers me too, especially in restaurants, so I kind of straddle both sides of the fence.
It is rude to puff in people's faces though, just as it is to act all smug and self righteous at the very sight of a cigarette. There are extremes on both sides of the issue.
The same thing happened at the 4-plex condo where I used to live. My neighbor, whose wife has severe asthma, was determined to blame somebody in my unit for smoking and for the smell of it filtering through our paper-thin walls. One day, the couple came over to complain AGAIN and the wife suddenly looked at her husband with astonishment, commenting a few moments later that she couldn't smell anything in my unit to indicate anybody even smoked there (true!). This being the case, her hubby persisted in finding out why they still smelled so much smoke all the time. He finally discovered the source. He removed the bathroom medicine cabinet and discovered that the area behind it was wide open, with no insulation behind it to block anything (smells or smoke) from other units. He packed the whole area with the thickest insulation he could find and their problem was solved!
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