How much should a fireplace stink (for the neighbours)

[Calee03]

Hi all. I've never had a proper fireplace myself so don't know much about them... We live in an area where some of the houses are old ex mod houses if that's even relevant, all the houses originally had open fireplaces but when refurbished to sell on they were mainly closed over but some people have bought the houses and reinstated them - we haven't.

Anyway, there's a family a couple doors down. I can only assume they have reinstated the fireplace. Not lived there long, we've been here several years and never had this issue.

But it absolutely stinks! Not just a little smoky smell but a full on fire smell. I honestly thought that someone's house was on fire or someone close by had a bonfire but it's billowing out her chimney. It smells like smoked meats, I have a really sensitive sense of smell too and it's really catching my throat and making me want to gag/cough. I had the back door open briefly to let the dog out and it was awful. Even Dp is complaining and he has a crap sense of smell (not covid 😅).

But my question is, is this normal? To smell it like this? From 2-3 houses away, also with a gap. I used to live in a flat before this and never had a fire place growing up. Grandparents had one but it was never used!

Sure it's giving me a headache!

I can also smell it with doors and windows firmly shut! I went out to my car earlier and the smell on the street was awful!

Depends what they’re burning.

If it smells that badly they might be burning something weird.

I wonder if their wood is wet? We only burn seasoned wood (rarely- it’s mostly phurnacite) and there’s no perceptible smoke from the chimney.

Yeah, it stinks. Some more than others depending on what they are burning.

To me, it smells like smoked meats but it obviously isn't that. When I started smelling it earlier I thought Dp had decided to cook and burnt some hot dogs in our own kitchen!

Meat?

Probably burning a body.

Best not to piss them off…

@TheLightSideOfTheMoon

Meat?

Probably burning a body.

Best not to piss them off…

I live in an area where most houses have woodburners and open fires (people don't generally have central heating here) and it's a lovely subtle smell. Nothing like what you're describing, so I'd think they're burning something they shouldn't be!

@TheLightSideOfTheMoon

Meat?

Probably burning a body.

Best not to piss them off…

smells like smoked meats like smoked sausages, bacon or ham! Didn't actually mean raw meat like flesh tbh - my bad 😅 I felt like someone was cooking sausages in my house even though we'd just had take away!

We live rurally and have been used to bonfire smells. I don't mind a subtle bonfire smell but this is just a weird smell!

Our old house we had a large garden overgrown with laurel trees and found the wood when burnt, particularly when green, smelt AWFUL, really really deeply compost (has all sorts of nasties in too) so stopped burning it pretty quick.
Could they be clearing their garden and burning fresh vegetation?

They might be needing their chimney sweeping. An unswept one can really smell.

They need to make sure their chimney is swept every year or they could have a chimney fire and that is pretty scary. If they burn wet wood it will stink and smoke like crazy. I don't know why it might smell like meat though - might they be burning all their rubbish I wonder?