Staopping Odors Coming Through Partition Wall

[marcus]

Hi,

I live in an old house (approx 200+ years old) that has a slight problem. My house used to be part of the outbuildingsof an ol Manor House. The building I live in used to be a dairy downstairs with servants quarters upstairs. The building has now been separated into two homes and the only way that yo can get between the two is via the top floor - e doorway of which as now been sealed off with a partition wall.

Recently we have had a new neighbour move in and we know they smoke becase we are now getting cigarette smoke odors coming through the partition wall. The partition is only about a door width as this formed a hallway in the old servants quarters. The rest of the divide between my and my neighbours property is made up of a chimney breast and is very solid. The partition wall itself is pretty flimsy because we used to be able to hear our old neighbours arguing through the partition wall.

Does anyone have any sugestions as to how the insulation or divide in the partition wall can be improved to ensure that these odors don't come through? I know you can get sound insulation plasterboard etc but is there a similar sort of thing that will keep the odors out was well.

Are smoke odors between partition walls normally a problem or should I be looking for a more obvious cause? I do believe our old neighbour did some work remodelling the bathroom which is the room in his property that is against this partition wall. It is also possible that a portion of his kitchen comes under our stairs. Could odors come up from there and if so is there any way that I could insulate against the odors in that sitituation?

Sorry for the long post and all the details but any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Marcus

[Staffbull]

If you dont mind loosing the few inches, I'd add another partition on top of the existing leaving as much gap as possible for rockwool (that'll soundproof) and re plastering the new boards would seal it up :-)

[dom]

If the smell of cigarette smoke can get through quite so easily, I'd be concerned about how quickly a fire (or the dense smoke from it) would sweep through from one house to the other. The building regulations has a lot to say about proper sound insulation and fire protection when dwellings are subdivided, how recently was this work done?

I'd first check out the much more serious (though relatively unlikely) possibility that it isn't cigarette smoke but a smouldering fire such as an electrical fault or a chimney problem (it isn't unknown for chimney mortar to be eroded to the point where wooden beams or thatch are exposed).

[Colin Wilson]

We live in a row of terraced houses (at first floor level), with an open passageway to the rear at ground floor level.

We get quite a lot of cigarette smoke smell coming through from "across the gap" - particularly in the cupboard under the stairs which is immediately adjacent to the passageway.

I don't think the walls between the properties are solid load-bearing walls (cinder block construction), and the smell, we presume, is coming through from between the joists.

Our only option would probably be to take up boards all along that side and fill them with expanding foam :-} (which might be the only way you could restrict airflow between "properties")

[Andy Hall]

It's a pity that one can't fill the smokers with the expanding foam and stop the problem at its source :-)

[meow2222]

Fill all gaps and crackds and paint all with something imprevious would stop smoke getting through the partition. But I suspect it may be getting through the floorboards instead.

Plastered breezeblock would be better than PB on wood frame.

NT

[Frank Erskine]

At least they are self-destructing - sadly not very quick-action.

What really saddens me (for the sake of the kids) is smokers (usually mothers, it has to be said) blowing billows of smoke at their offspring in their "off-road"-type "buggies", whilst feeding them pasties and sausage rolls.

[.]

there speaks the voice of experience.

[.]

LOL

[MB]

In our house a carpenter recently replaced a window-and-door combination with a window-- the door part was closed up. After framing up the door opening with 4-inch beams, he put a woodchip panel on the outside, then plastic sheeting glued to the frame with silicone, then glass wool insulation, and on top of that, another woodchip panel. On the outside we nailed on asbestos cement tiles, and on the inside I wallpapered with "felt" paper. Solid, warm and smoke-proof.