Cigarette smoke

I live in a Lovell-built semi-detached house, which was constructed in

2001.

A few months ago some smokers moved in next door. Since then we've noticed the smell of smoke in the rooms that adjoin next doors house (our kitchen, dining room and 3rd bedroom). I'm pretty sure that the smoke isn't coming in through the windows.

Can anyone suggest where the smoke could be entering our property? In addition is there any way I can confirm the smell we are experiencing is indeed smoke?

Cheers

Reply to
tvmo
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When I was doing some work and had floorboards up etc, I suddenly realised I could smell the cooking and cigarette smoke from next door. I noticed where the upstairs floor joists went into the party wall there was some large gaps and old cement had fallen out etc. I fill the gaps with expanding foam and the smell went away. There must have been an air path through the wall ! The downstairs floor joists ran lengthways with the house, so no issue there. If 2001 build, I would have thought cavity party walls, but where joists enter party walls is a likely place. Also, fireplaces sharing chimneys - but not likely in a modern house.

That's a tricky one. Invite the neighbours round for dinner and give them a cabbage soup starter, followed by bean casserole and home-made fig rolls, and see if the smell changes ! Simon.

Reply to
sm_jamieson

Thanks Simon,

That's a good point about the joists, though I'm loathed to take the floor up.

Not too sure about the dinner invite and the cabbage soup, but nice try.

Cheers

Reply to
tvmo

Set a smoke bomb off in your house and sit outside and see if they notice. :)

Reply to
Mogga

Just inhale some for a few seconds. If it is indeed passive cigarette smoke, you should develop several life threatening diseases within minutes & will probably die in a matter of days - according to the statistics used by the anti-smoking lobby.

I suggest you kill your neighbours - they are the anti christ.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

He didn't say that they were Jehovah's Witnesses.

Reply to
Andy Hall

ideal CHRISTMAS gift for your neighbours Smoking cessation products :) get it from

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smoke sorted

Reply to
get pumping

Excellent! I got up early today to finish a patch repair on my shed roof before the forecast rain and was in dire need of a chuckle. Thanks for providing it :-)

-- Rob

Reply to
Rob Hamadi

They do have semis in the USA. They just call them duplexes.

Reply to
Rob Hamadi

In the days before smoking was banned on airliners, it was usual to find a pattern of smoke stains on the outside of the hull when it was stripped for painting. A skilled eye could even use it to judge whether parts of the hull were showing early signs of undue stress. If it can leach through solid aluminium, I doubt a party wall in a modern house is going to provide too much of a barrier.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
nightjar

Thanks for all the sensible replies. I can't blame the neighbours they are really nice people and are entitled to smoke in their own home if they wish.

The break in the partition wall, perhaps by gaps either side of the joists is the probable answer - excellent suggestion. The smoke smell is mainly coming from under the skirting on the adjoining wall with the neighbours.

I've got someone from Lovell coming around this week to have a look so I've got to get my neighbours to smoke like hell that day.

Thanks again.

Reply to
tvmo

Oh..just go round the skirting with some decorators caulk.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

That's one solution, but it doesn't exactly solve the problem. In addition, I block up one exit and the smoke will find another.

Reply to
tvmo

Hi,

I'm having a similar problem, except i live in a flat... Here's the long and boring story... I experimented with lots of different things because the cigarette smoke was driving me nuts (and probably making me ill) but I have gradually reduced the problem. Eventually, I ended up just trying to pinpoint problem areas and reduce the airflow between the downstairs properties (ie the smokers) and mine, by blocking off (or taping off - silver duck tape is the best but it's a bit like being in a sci-fi film with silver everywhere) any areas that might produce draughts. The smoke was seeping through the flat door, the old chimney/fireplace, floorboards and then into the gaps between the walls (it is a Victorian property, so the boards have shrunk, allowing the smoke to permeate). I draught-proofed the door with rubber sealing strip from a DIY store, filled problem gaps between skirting and wall with nice and cheap polyfilla (from powder) and laminate/skirting gaps with polycell flexible/decorator's filler (or decorator's caulk) to allow movement. It took AGES to do it but it was worth it. Yes, you are correct that when you block one gap, the smoke finds another, but the amount of smoke entering your property will be reduced and after that, the best solution if you want to eradicate it is to keep going until you have sealed everything that you can!

The only area left that I'm having trouble with is the kitchen because I can't remove the units to seal behind those but I'm working on it. I have spent so long agonising over this so I can really sympathise...

Go for the caulk/sealing filler - it works!

Reply to
scotsgal

Further to my previous post, I just realised the smoke is seeping through the invisible gaps between the boards of the laminate flooring in my place. If anyone can give advice on what I can do about that, it would be great. Maybe I'm hypersensitive to it but it wakens me up in the morning... and although I didn't install the laminate, ripping it out and replacing it isn't really an option.

Reply to
scotsgal

Use a fan to pressurise the room slightly.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

The smoke was seeping through the flat door,

Yes, but should you have to? An older property is bound to leak in those places. Isn't it incumbent on your neighbours not to cause a nuisance by filling your property up with smoke? Quiet enjoyment and all that.

Regards Richard

Reply to
geraldthehamster

Hi Why not burn one of those scented candles instead of trying to hermetically seal a room? Or maybe just open a window, or learn to live with it -there are much greater sources of pollution to deal with :-) Or is the OP a troll?

Al

Reply to
al

In message , al wrote

Are you a smoker by any chance?

Reply to
Alan

Yes, but you'll block the bigger holes so reducing the amount of smoke ingress. You could track the holes by generating a negative pressure in one house (extractor fans on next door, assuming they'll assist, on in your house if they won't) and going around the skirting with a thing called a smoke pencil. In the absence of a smoke pencil, a cigarette will do. Blower doors are increasingly being used in this manner to achieve air-tightness compliance with Building Regs (commercial stuff only, I think).

The unused flues are a prime suspect. The acidic compounds in smoke residues from coal/wood fires corrodes the mortar & also bricks often get dislodged unnoticed by peeps nailing on skirting boards. If they have an air vent into their old flues, that may be the main route.

Reply to
Onetap

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