To want something done about next door's cigarette smoke smell in my house?

[TastyMuffins]

I own my own terraced house, one of the adjoining houses is privately let and the new tenants are smokers, when they smoke in the house the smell comes up through the floorboards.

I have lived here for over ten years and both houses have had major renovations including victorian hearths removed and new rear extensions. I believe removal of a hearth on either or our side or theirs has left a gap under the houses which causes the problem. The smell is worst in my bathroom and living room where the hearth used to be. The new tenants moved in a couple of weeks ago.

Am I being unreasonable to expect the landlord of the neighbouring house to sort out this hole to stop the smell coming through? Should I speak to the tenants? I guess it is unreasonable to ask them not to smoke in their kitchen (which seems to be where the smell comes from).

[jamdonut]

I'm on the OP's side(zombie thread or not), except the smoke is weed,not cigarettes.

It is disgusting ,makes me feel sick and seems to seep through the walls...you can smell it all over our house.

[WorraLiberty]

curry is not a health treat cigarette smoke is you must be a smoker to put a post like that you need to live with this problem before you post a comment like that. its a danger to children living in the house that has to put up with it.

I'm not a smoker

The smell of stale cigarette smoke from the house next door is not a health threat...unless you're the sort of person who needs to leave the house in an oxygen tent.

This thread is 2 fucking years old

The neighbours could well have buggered off by now.

[Ledkr]

No. I disagree with those saying its like cooking smells.
I get this from next door sometimes and it smells vile.
Now I am what they call a social smoker so am certainly not anal about smoking but sometimes my lounge smells rank and it does piss me off.
Find out where it's coming in and drop the landlord a line.
He might be pissed off they are smoking in there as rented houses are normally non smoking.

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

I know it's a double zombie but lolo at yankkie's smoking being a health treat. Harhar.

[BergholtStuttleyJohnson]

I get this in my house too, comes in through the old fireplace neighbours smoke weed aswell. It doesn't bother me massively, I presume it's mostly just smell and not the same as passive smoking given it must pass through a miniscule gap. I just open the windows.

[TheUnsinkableTitanic]

lol
a double zombie thread :)

[xylem8]

if both sides have had work done the hole is just as likely to be your doing as next doors. There should be on smells coming from next door in a sound house. He smells can get through then fire can. You need to make contact with the landlord and see he he will stump up half the cost oe getting someone io to investigate where the hole is

[holidaysarenice]

It is likely that they aren't supposed to be smoking in the house. Many rented house insurances forbid it for fire safety too.

It is anal but if ur like that mention it to the ll and let him decide what to do. I.e mention the smoky smell not 'will you fix the problem'

[ForgetfulNameChanger]

RUN IT'S A ZOMBIE

[yankkie]

curry is not a health treat cigarette smoke is you must be a smoker to put a post like that you need to live with this problem before you post a comment like that. its a danger to children living in the house that has to put up with it.

[JollyJellyBear]

We had this in our old house when new neighbours moved in. We traced it to the gas meter cupboard which was just pasterboard at their side. stuffing it with. insulation stuff sorted it out.

[zoobaby]

Ooh - just saw Madge's astute observation of the date of the OP. Sneaky one Wendover.

[zoobaby]

Totally agree with Tasty about how it is absolutely positively annoying when you're a non-smoker and you have it forced up your nostrils and you can now get fresher air down the pub than in your own home. Despite whatever arguments are made, that one fact remains and it sucks so badly and is just so hair-tearingly frustrating to have to deal with.

We live in a purpose-built block of flats, with concrete between the levels, but the scenario sounds spookily similar. We tried to nicely approach the landlords who used to live there, and with whom we thought we had a good relationship, but they basically laughed at us and told us where to get off .

Turns out that there were gaps in the concrete between floors, but also between rooms (bathroom/kitchen share a communal wall with pipes between). Our only solution was to pull every single kitchen cabinet out, to locate the holes and fill those blighters with can upon can upon can of expanding foam. We don't care if their ceiling collapses under the weight of that stuff... as long as we no longer get offended by the stink.

[MadgeHarvey]

This thread is over a year old for fuck's sake! Why not just start a new one?

[GoEasyPudding]

If you have any trouble with the DIY on a job like this you could get some advice from companies that offer sound proofing to homes.
While you wait an air purifier might be worth looking into.

Theres been some harsh feedback on this thread. Ciggy smoke is deadly and smelly all at the same time - death by rancid smell is something you should be able to avoid if you want! I live in a edwardian semi and our attic space was linked with next door and not divided up. We had to build a brick wall in the attic as it was a fire risk.

I guess you are looking at the same situation, I expect there is some shared below floorboards area.

[Ephiny]

It doesn't seem right that smells are coming through the floorboards.

We live in a terrace and yes we can smell when neighbours are smoking in the garden or having a barbecue and we have windows open, but nothing coming directly from their house into ours.

Obviously investigate on your side first though.

[Wendover]

Picture this: 2 grown men live next door, they smoke and drink beer every night. Their bathroom is adjacent to my bedroom. Old house and floorboards run through from our house to theirs. Imagine the scenario in their bathroom: cigarettes and racing pages while sat on the toilet!! I solved the smell coming through by sticking tape over every one of my floorboards and sealant around the edges. It really does work and hopefully the smoke is now filling their bathroom.

[TastyMuffins]

Thanks for the interesting mix of replies here!

Most defintely not wanting to tell them what to do in their own home because I don't actually want them smoking outside, that would be worse! Before anyone moans, I am fully aware that I can't stop them smoking outside their house or even my house.

I have contacted the letting agency I thought was letting the property to ask if they were and they replied to say they had let it but their tenants moved out and offered to pass on anything to the landlord.

I will remove the bath panel and see if I can see anything under there as that is my best hope. If it isn't something I can fix myself, see about getting a builder in and if it is a party wall issue request the landlord to go 50/50. I guess the worst he can do is to refuse.

[COCKadoodledooo]

I believe removal of a hearth on either or our side or theirs has left a gap under the houses which causes the problem.

Am I being unreasonable to expect the landlord of the neighbouring house to sort out this hole to stop the smell coming through?

In view of what you say in quote one, YABU, yes. You need to investigate on your side too, it is not solely down to the landlord.

[valiumredhead]

BAN obviously !

[valiumredhead]

Oh YES, I'd LOVE a complete bad!

[NoHunIntended]

I also have this problem, can't sleep with the windows open as the neighbours smoke underneath them, on all sides. Bring on the complete ban.

[JanMorrow]

I wouldn't like this either! It would drive me mad. I used to live above some really heavy smokers and the smell would permeate our bathroom (I'm assuming it's where the pipes came in) and it smelt rank. Urrg.

And for the people say stuff like "for fucks sake stop policing what people do in their own homes", they clearly can't read. It's quite clear you're not doing that and you haven't even thought of asking them not to smoke, you just want to fill the gap in.. which is fair enough. Ask the landlord what he thinks and maybe consult the builder who did your alterations? They might be able to suggest something!

[stupefy]

You cant get cancer from cuckoo clocks though can you Amara.

[AmaraDresden]

I can believe it newmum - smoking is EVIL! The law clearly needs to ban smoking in our homes, or even outside their front door judging by people's comments on this thread...

OP clearly wants the landlord to tell them not to smoke or fix the problem that SHE has. Hmmm, and you wonder why we're being harsh on her? Jesus, we can hear next door's cuckoo clock and when they talk, I should tell them that they need to take the batteries out and wear ball gags. Or maybe grass them up to their landlord for crimes against clocks.

People smoking in their homes shouldn't be considered bad neighbours either, believe me we've had some bad neighbours.