Problem with cigarette smoke

[bob haller]

Probably best to open the common wall inspect for holes which could provide a fire path, and spray foam everything with closed cell foam. this would cut your heating bills too. R6.4 per inch

[Vic Smith]

Since you can't smell it, I'd try to confirm there is actually a smell. You wife's smell might be off. If she's a rabid anti-smoker, just seeing somebody smoking downwind and 100 yards away can cause her to smell cigarette smoke, You got good advice except for that omission. I'd go for positive pressure first. If that doesn't do it, the smell is old stuff that hasn't been sealed. Or in her olfactory imagination.

--Vic

[gregz]

not, so be it.

Are you sure they smoke ??

Greg

[The Daring Dufas]

I'm deathly allergic to tobacco smoke and most people refuse to believe that I can tell if the car in front of me on the freeway contains a smoker. That poison is like pepper spray to me. What kind of an idiot purposely inhales the byproducts of combustion? o_O

TDD

[Stormin Mormon]

Quit before you get to tooth brush sharing.

Comedy aside, that's a good list to check.

Comedy back on. Steve, ask the people next door to light a couple dozen smoke bombs, so you can see where it's coming through. They won't mind.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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Shared dryer vents?

Shared Stove top cooking vents?

Shared plumbing stack venting? unlikely but if there is one missing missing trap on one sink somewhere and the plumbing venting is shared then air may be able to travel...

Chimney sharing?

Light fixtures on the ceiling? check for air leaks, it's a stretch but worth a try.

Somebody mentioned electrical outlets

how about attic access doors??? silicone seal the cracks in the attic door access to stop airflow and if you ever need access back into the attic, it's easy to cut and reapply new sealant

Something between the garages?

Central vaccuum venting? or collection tank?

Air moving between the floor joists?

[Stormin Mormon]

I've found that in buildings that had smokers in the past, the smokers film on the wall and ceiling remains pretty much forever. What works for me, is to mix up Pine Sol and hot water, and scrub the walls and ceiling with a sponge mop. I've also used Amway Zoom (the blue window cleaner) on the TV that came from my grand mother's apartment. Simple Green will probably do fine, if you choose.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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Since you can't smell it, I'd try to confirm there is actually a smell. You wife's smell might be off. If she's a rabid anti-smoker, just seeing somebody smoking downwind and 100 yards away can cause her to smell cigarette smoke, You got good advice except for that omission. I'd go for positive pressure first. If that doesn't do it, the smell is old stuff that hasn't been sealed. Or in her olfactory imagination.

--Vic

[Stormin Mormon]

You start em young, and use a high pressure advertising campaign before their brains harden and set in their ways.

My favorite irony is a fireman, coming out of a smoky burning building. Takes off the air pack and lights one.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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I'm deathly allergic to tobacco smoke and most people refuse to believe that I can tell if the car in front of me on the freeway contains a smoker. That poison is like pepper spray to me. What kind of an idiot purposely inhales the byproducts of combustion? o_O

TDD

[Hank]

I used that as an example. Anything that can produce a little smoke will find the problem.

Another thought that was touched on by another poster is the range vent. When teh range vent is running, it creates a negative pressure, thereby POSSIBLY pulling air in thru the small cracks and openings from the wall.

For a 100% sure fix................ buy a house and not a apt./ condo. :-)

Hank

[HeyBub]

[...]

You could agitate your local elected betters to prohibit people smoking in their own homes.

The current political thrust in some communities may well reward you with the appropriate legislation.

[Norminn]

Entirely possible by the OP's description....being "very upset" at a faint odor of smoke leans toward obsession. I smell smoke most of the time, in the evening....neighborhood fireplace?....nobody else here can smell it. I understand folks who hate cig. smoke, but why not the same obsession about fireplaces, wood stoves and indust. pollution? Wood burning gives off more carcinogens than 2nd hand cig. smoke.

[Norminn]

You do, if you drive a car ;o)

[Stormin Mormon]

Many people are allergic to tobacco, but wood smoke is OK. I am one such.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

Entirely possible by the OP's description....being "very upset" at a faint odor of smoke leans toward obsession. I smell smoke most of the time, in the evening....neighborhood fireplace?....nobody else here can smell it. I understand folks who hate cig. smoke, but why not the same obsession about fireplaces, wood stoves and indust. pollution? Wood burning gives off more carcinogens than 2nd hand cig. smoke.

[Stormin Mormon]

I find it more essential to travel, than to use tobacco.

Me, well, I'd like to see tobacco outlawed. I'm sure it will never happen, but I'd like to. Then, of course, people will have to buy cigs off the street corner like MJ and crack and such. And cellars of buildings will turn into "smoke easys".

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

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You do, if you drive a car ;o)

[Hank]

They don't even have to be shared. Anytime the dryer is running, it creates a negative pressure which sucks air in from every little crack and crevice.

Hank

[Hank]

I never heard of anybody dying from an allergy to cigarette smoke. I couldn't find any link to that info. Got a link?

Hank

[Steven Bornfeld]

Entrances ARE close to each other, and doors leading to the back yard are fairly close too. But I'm pretty sure it's not coming in that way, except through the walls--and as others have pointed out, running the exhaust fan (which we do very sparingly) could be creating a negative net pressure and encouraging leakage through the wall. But we haven't been using the exhaust fans much at all.

Steve

[Steven Bornfeld]

When the wall was open, there were no visible holes. We DID want our contractor to insulate the wall. Ironically, our intent was noise abatement, not smoke. But ultimately it wasn't done.

Steve

[Steven Bornfeld]

Neither have I, (though it seems strange at this late date to have to prove that smoking is unhealthy). A quick search turned up articles, mostly in journals that require registration or subscription payment to view. Most focus on infants and elderly. One dealt with contact dermatitis in response to cigarette smoke. But the bigger problem (and the one that seems to be documented) deal not with direct allergy, but exacerbation of illness in people who have medical conditions (eg. triggering asthma attacks which may be life-threatening, people with cardiopulmonary disease, etc.). I sometimes start to feel sympathetic to smokers, who it seems these days can't indulge their habit almost anywhere. But the rapidly increasing body of evidence of health effects of second-hand smoke are making this more than a simple situation of personal freedom. I've certainly inhaled my share of second-hand smoke. My dad smoked heavily for about 35 years. I remember getting carsick as a kid as he smoked while driving. Although he is still living, he has lost a lobe of his right lung to cancer.

Steve

[Steven Bornfeld]

Actually, it IS a house--in NYC, many houses are attached or semi-attached. Ironically, we moved from a condo apartment (we sometimes had problems with noise there, but not smoke).

Steve

[Steven Bornfeld]

Ozone can be pretty irritating. I looked at the Consumer Reports website--they specifically named a couple of ozone-generating air purifiers "not acceptable" based on ozone being an irritant, and potentially unsafe (though I think primarily a problem for people with pre-existing lung disease.

Steve