Wood smoke making kids ill

@swingingbytheseat @hattie43 why would the op make it up? She’s said the flue is close to her house due to livong on a hill. I for one can smell wood burning a lot now in the evenings when I walk my dog - I’ve never noticed it before, but I live in a semi rural
area so it’s not a huge problem for us. In regards to it getting trapped - my neighbour used to burn garden waste and even with the windows shut and our gardens being a fair distance apart - I could smell it strongly in my house and especially my airing cupboard for some reason.

There’s no way other peoples smoke invades your house to that degree .

@Soontobe60 car emissions, gas boiler emissions should be tested and fall within certain guidelines.

OP’s neighbours are not following guidelines

Lobby your MP to support a ban on wood burners in urban areas. They currently have a target to reduce PM2.5 concentrations by 30% by 2030.

Wood smoke from fireplace/wood stoves doesn't get bad in our area, but I can't tolerate it at all. We shut windows, and we have air purifiers in all rooms except the loo. Forest fire smoke is the worst, I wear a mask inside then, try that. It does help.

I can see that being a problem.

In my final permanent post, I had to use a so-called 'classroom' which was actually designed to be a study room or office. There were no windows, apart from a sealed skylight and a window to the corridor.

There was an air conditioning system over which I had no control.

Ever so often, we'd get the symptoms that you describe - courtesy of a nearby industrial estate where Lord knows what was being disposed of via fires. My protests to the LA were to no avail.

Air purifier and also air quality app

1. Keep your windows firmly closed.

2. Your neighbors are burning any old crap on their stoves.

I ran a multi fuel stove and the only time it really kicked up a smoke was when I was getting it started. It barely smoked when in use (which is the beauty of stoves, you can regulate the output).

just open a window and stop being ridiculous

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/23/wood-burners-linked-to-2500-deaths-a-year-in-the-uk-analysis-finds

Tons of research they are affecting air quality and harming people. Creating particulates research now connect to heart disease, diabetes etc... When people boast or post about having them I see absolute fools...
Why return to Victorian era pollution?

I developed adult onset asthma after a wood burning stove was added into a property I spent a lot of time in. It really can affect you. I had to stop visiting as I was getting regular asthma attacks.

I hope they regulate them soon, but in the meantime time see if you can find an air filter system for your house to protect your kids.

It seems that the only solution is to open your windows during the day and use an air purifier.

It happens in our house every single year too. Our house stinks, our dog comes in from the garden smelling of wood smoke.

I agree. It's the people doing the burning who need to shell out to make sure they are burning what they should. It's strange of that poster to suggest that's the same as you paying for a filter,

We have one and are rural so any smoke indoors is from ours. I've noticed that on still, foggy days or when the wind is in a certain direction, or if the wood is slightly damp and smouldering rather than burning, we have noticeable smoke in our bedroom, and it's come from the flue outside rather than from the stove downstairs. I think in these conditions it's sort of trapped below roof-level rather than dissipating on the wind

I believe it because mine is. I run an air purifier and it tells me when the air quality is poor so I can see it.

OP, get an air purifier.

Buy an air purifier

They should be banned. People burn all sorts of shit with no regard for anyone else. I like fresh air in my house, not the smell of burning plastic and whatever crap Joe Public wants to use as fuel.

Oh do educate yourself. Wood burners produce more PM2 pollution than traffic for starters.

I doubt aeroplane fumes are making OP's children cough and eyes water either.

I bet you have a wood burner and live in a built up area.

You haven't understood. Offcuts are random pieces of wood, eg they might be painted over with stuff like creosote or bitumen which are noxious when burned - as my parents have experienced a neighbour doing. This problem seems way more extensive than I realised...

Four houses here have woodburners and the only time you smell it is outside when they're first lit. Other than that there's nothing and certainly not in the house. The flue had to be positioned high enough so as not to cause an issue, your neighbours need to get that checked.

I bet the wood burning polluters are the same ones banging on about plastic tat and land fill. Yet there they are with their cosy log burners filling the air with smoke.

I've no idea where you are but in London you are supposed to follow the rules set by the local Council and all sorts of fire regulations.

I recommend you get a couple of good quality, high capacity air purifiers, perhaps one for the ground floor and one for upstairs.

The Levoit 600S, available from Amazon, is recommended by Which? as a Best Buy.