Problem with cigarette smoke

[Hank]

Well, since it is in NYC, all bets are off. :-)

Hank

[Han]

Steven Bornfeld wrote in news:jj7tv2$8jg$4 @dont-email.me:

Ozone is a strong oxidant, and a gas. That's how it destroys odors, and also why it is an irritant, especially for the lungs. If your wifeis allergic to cigarette smoke, ozone might NOT be very good for her, unless the ozone is left to react with the smoke and then immediately exhausted.

If I were you, I'd stay away from ozone.

There are only 2 solutions apart from and in addition to identify how the cigarette smoke gets into YOUR house:

1. Overpressure insideyour hopuse using really fresh air
2. An activated carbon filter at the site of entry of the smoke.

[Steven Bornfeld]

No

No

Hmmm--not sure about this. I'm thinking I would have seen this when the walls were open. Might have to ask the plumber about this

No.

I rather doubt it, but--other than seeing smoke coming out, it sounds like major demolition to determine it.

Interestingly, we have some metering for several of the houses on our block with our utilities, in a locked box that Con Ed has access to. However, I generally don't smell cigarette smoke in there, so it seems unlikely.

There is no attic. However, there is a dead space between the top floor ceiling and roof. I suppose it's possible, but also sounds like a major job to determine--and in any case the problem is primarily downstairs on the living floor.

No, the garages are not adjoining.

No central vaccuum

This sounds possible, for sure. Again, it sounds like a big job--hope I'm not driven to this level of desperation. But while we only dug up the concrete floor on the basement level (for plumbing), it still would have been easier to check during the demolition. The renovations were pretty extensive, but it was by no means a gut renovation. Thanks for all the suggestions--I'll certainly keep them in mind. Will pursue them if I feel we have to, but we're rather tapped out financially by now.

Steve

>

[Steven Bornfeld]

Actually, if I knew the guy a little better I might even ask this. It's nutty enough that it might actually work.

Steve

[Steven Bornfeld]

Good point. In fact, last night wasn't so bad--and we didn't do any laundry. The night before we had--and the smell was far worse. Hmmmm....

Steve

[Steven Bornfeld]

Far be it for me to say that my wife is "off". No, there's a smell, alright. It does bother her more than it does me.

Steve

[Steven Bornfeld]

Actually, we had fireplaces (really small Heatilator fireplace) in our apartment. We seldom used it (I would actually be surprised if it's legal to use in NYC), but others in the building did. And we frequently had strong fireplace smells coming into our apartment from elsewhere in the building. The fireplaces were very temperamental--you had to really heat up the flue before starting the fire, or the stack of cold air would push the smoke down and out into the living room. By the way, here is a photo of the building with my apartment--with Al Pacino standing in front:

The building was used as the bank building in "Dog Day Afternoon". At the time it was an ink factory; it was turned into condo apartments in the late 1980s. I didn't know about the building's history until after I'd moved in in 1993. They do a lot of filming in our area, which can be a real pain. Today they're doing filming near us for the HBO series "Boardwalk Empire"--which doesn't make much sense to me because there is no boardwalk around. However, Steve Buscemi lives pretty nearby.

Steve

[Steven Bornfeld]

not, so be it.

If it ain't smoke, it's awfully strange B.O. Maybe their vicious dog Boo Boo, who once almost took my arm off.

Steve

[Steven Bornfeld]

It could happen, but prohibition didn't work out too well. Of course, anyone traveling in Europe can't help but notice that the proportion of people smoking there is considerably higher than in the U.S. This is one of the few health trends where the U.S. seems to be ahead of Europe. My neighbor, BTW, wasn't born in this country.

Steve

[Steven Bornfeld]

Well, those will be tried. Certainly before we pull out the walls, floors and ceiling. ;-)

Thanks, Steve

[gregz]

Shocking is done when vacant. You can let a room sit with ozone and it will cleanse itself. It dissipates quickly, but needs a final venting if not complete.

I bought a nice unit, a box with fan and one hour timer for about $130 . I think you can rent them.

Greg

[HeyBub]

It's not necessary to exhaust ozone. It decomposes into plain oxygen in minutes.

[HeyBub]

What symptoms do you develop when exposed to cigarette smoke?

Anaphylaxix? Hives? Overwhelming compulsion to consume badger musk?

Or do you just not like it?

[Han]

"HeyBub" wrote in news: _oydneIo2701EMrSnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

Since it is a toxic oxidant and irritant, AND because his wife is rather sensitive to air borne irritants, I'd strongly suggest he doesn't let it accumulate AT ALL in his house.

Also, minutes may not be fast enough (I am used to dealing with biological compounds that decompose in seconds, but I do know from experience how strong their actions can be). You remember my rants about prostaglandins, thromboxane and aspirin.

[Steven Bornfeld]

It seems allergy to cigarette smoke would be easy to demonstrate. There is plentiful evidence that components of cigarette smoke can be antigenic. However, most of the testing has been done with cutaneous exposure to tobacco extract (as with other allergy testing). Here's a review for the interested:

Steve

[krw]

Light a few smoke bombs in your unit and when the neighbor comes running over, screaming, go see where the problems are. ;-)

[chaniarts]

very interesting article on how habits are formed

[chaniarts]

>

my daughter lives in the west village on hudson. they're always tieing up the streets for filming.

[Stormin Mormon]

Eye pain, sneezing, coughing, that kind of thing. I said allergic, and I meant allergic. If I "just not like" tobacco, I would have written that.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

What symptoms do you develop when exposed to cigarette smoke?

Anaphylaxix? Hives? Overwhelming compulsion to consume badger musk?

Or do you just not like it?

[HeyBub]

And the reason I asked is that I've met countless people, literally hundreds, who make the same claim but are lying.

It's refreshing to meet an honest person.