Cigarette smoke perculates through the walls from next door. Ugh. How can I seal it?

Hi.

New to this group, but hope I'll see you often.

I have an unusual problem. I live in a 1960's Wimpy built terraced house and my next door neighboour smokes non stop. In the small bedroom and the hallway, which share the wall with next door, the stink of stale fag smoke is terrible.

I can't ask him to stop smoking in his own home, but as I'm coming up to decorating time (for the first time in this house) I want to put something on the walls to try to seal out the perculation. My first thoughts are a couple of coats of a diluted sealant, to soak it into the plaster. But which one would be best? Or any other ideas? Anyone had this problem before?

Thanks in advance.

Reply to
Mike Barnard
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Hopefully one day the tax and other measures against this filthy and disgusting habit will price it out of the market. Why people believe that they can smoke and inflict this sh*t on everybody elsetogether with their healthcare burden I have no idea However, in the meantime there should be some measures you can take.

I suspect that there are flows of air between the houses through small gaps in the walls. Are the partition walls some form of block or studded or ?? It would seem to me that the air pollution is more likely to be coming through gaps in the walls (perhaps below the floors) rather than through the plaster(board). Therefore I would focus on sealing those with silicone or other sealant first. Diluted PVA should certainly be effective at sealing the plaster, but I doubt if that is the source of the problem. Perhaps you could try ventilating your house thoroughly, then close it up and sniff around carefully near the walls and floor for where the fumes are coming from.

.andy

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Reply to
Andy Hall

I Add:

Along with alcohol as this must cause more misery, damage, disturbance, noise pollution, family/marriage break ups, injury & deaths than smoking!.

Mike P.

Reply to
Mike P.

I am more than happy for people (I don't know) to smoke in their own privacy - it pays tax that I would otherwise have to pay. If nobody smoked, the taxman would want more from me.

But on the other hand, I absolutely loathe the habit, so am keen to see it banned from all public places.

Does that make me a hypocrite?

Reply to
Snowman

Got to agree, when I did a first aid course the instructor (who was also a volunteer at our local infirmary) said he had never seen a man beat up a woman for the price of a packet of cigarettes but he had seen lots of domestic violence caused by drink . Both horrible habits, drink when taken to excess and smoking at all. Have sympathy for those who are addicted but don't see why I should have to suffer the consequences.

As to the original question smell is unlikely to come THROUGH the walls maybe over or under them .The row of houses I live in have one vast area under them so any noxious odours could be traveling that way . It is nigh on impossible to make a house air tight, indeed some air flow through a house (not draughts) is required (air for combustion, to keep wooden joists from rotting e.t.c.).

Reply to
Soup

Just my two-penneth but I'd say you can, or at least you can ask him to contribute to the cost of solving the problem. You share the responsibility for the poor quality of the party wall, and if he were playing loud music you would expect to complain to environmental health.

Or am I taking it a bit too far?

Reply to
Rich

contribute to the cost of solving the problem. You share the responsibility for the poor quality of the party wall, and if he were playing loud music you would expect to complain to environmental health.

Reply to
Mike P.

Not really, because the improvement in health of the population through not smoking would reduce healthcare and other costs relating to it; so theoretically National Insurance would be reduced. In practice, the saving would be squandered, so there would probably not be a tax reduction.

.andy

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Reply to
Andy Hall

Whilst I'm no supporter of smoking, the taxes they pay are far in excess of any cost to the state in health care - especially when you consider their shorter life, so less old age care.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

Would you also expect them to pay for dog smells - or cooking etc?

If you have a faulty house in this sort of way, it's up to you to do something about it - not your neighbour. Anything else would be opening up a can of worms.

Reply to
Dave Plowman

Semi-detached houses were originally a good idea, making houses more affordable. Unfortunately, over the years, due to the greed and shoddy building practices, these dwellings have become nightmares to a lot of owners and must be the cause of enormous stress. Inadaquate sound insulation is usually the major problem. I've never heard of smell transmission, but I can't say I'm really surprised. I'm afraid the only answer to all these problems is a detached house. My neighbour is extemely quiet, but I still like the 16 foot gap between our houses.

Terry D.

Reply to
Terry D

That statement is open to argument. This isn't the place to have that discussion, but if you add up all of the costs involved I have my doubts that is the case. There are a lot of "hidden" costs in dealing with smokers which don't make the news headlines.

PoP

Reply to
PoP

I'd use a solvent based undercoat on the wall. It's the only thing that covers nicotine stains so I guess it would be a better seal than PVA.

Reply to
stuart noble

Expanding foam may be youir friend here.

If you can identify where the air is getting through.

It almost certainly is NOT diffusion through plasterboard etc. That makes a good partuculate filter.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Right. I smoke, and am totally ambivalent about it. On balance I wish I didn't, but I actually like it. I certainly don't believe in thrusting it down other peoples noses tho.

OTOH, there are many things that other people do that offends even my desensitized nostrils - many perfumes over applied leave me sneezing wheezing and gasping - and frankly, I would far raher see diesels fitted with particulate filters than smoking banned. FAR more dangerous to the general public IMHO.

Alcohol is definitely THE most antisocial drug around tho, if statistics are analysed. Smokers kill themselves and irritate others. Heavy drinkers mostly kill other people at rather young ages often. Alcohol is more damaging to the body than heroin.

I have no doubt that smoking will, in time, pass out of common use, as snuff already has, but lets rather concentrate on more serious issues: Diesels in particular generate FAR more nasty carcinogenic compounds of very similar composition than cigarette smoke at a distance does.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Not at all, as a smoker, I think thats a reasonable compromise. Except that I would not 'ban it from all public places' but 'restrict it to the open air, and such places as are specifically designated'. So that one can have the choice, as to whether one wishes to go to a smoking, or 'non-smoking' pub/restaurant etc.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Ah, but you forget all those pensions now drawn by an ageing population that would otherwise have died ten years earlier...where is Shipman when you need him :-(

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Make that 400 yards.

I went up into a friends terrced house roof once. NO DIVIDING WALL AT ALL. You could here em at it half the night. Spose they could hear us as well.

Flooors too. Unless the partition wall was built first (and sealed) quite likley a common underfloor void.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Perhaps I should have qualified my comment, in my mind I really meant, ban it from all *inside* public places. Certainly some of the smoking and non-smoking areas in restaurant are a joke - you can end up sitting at a "non-smoking" table which is right next to a "smoking" table. Often even if it doesn't appear to be smokey, when you go home your clothes smell awful.

This I think is the sort of situation where breathing other peoples' smoke constantly, can kill the non-smoker. (Isn't that what happened to Roy Castle, or was it not proven?)

Reply to
Snowman

I think restaurants will all ban smoking in the next few years. They must be worried about liability towards their non-smoking staff. Health and safety at work. Give it five years and you probably couldn't get insurance for a restaurant without a non-smoking policy.

Christian.

Reply to
Christian McArdle

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