Neighbours’ cooking smells are making me miserable

[Hidingplace]

Not sure if I’m posting in the right place. We live in an Edwardian terrace. Back of the house we are only joined to right hand side with back bedroom and kitchen. The neighbour’s cooking smells come into our house and it’s driving me mad and making me feel ill. Smell is strongest in porch and then in back bedroom and upstairs corridor. When you open our front door it’s as though we have been cooking. They are a lovely old couple, I know they’re not doing anything wrong but they obviously love to cook so do it twice a day and it’s grim. Often smells like Brussel sprouts or they cook a lot of fish (we’re veggie so even more unpleasant). I really need help with

1. A strong air freshener which can be sprayed to straight away mask the smell

• so far I’ve only found in sense covers the smell but that takes a while and is also smokey

2) Who do I get in to help me cover holes? A builder? Floorboard people? I don’t know who could help in this situation.

I know it sounds trivial but it’s really getting me down and guests have commented on it. It’s worse in winter as they obviously cook heavier food and we can’t have all the windows open all the time.

Any help much appreciated. Thank you 😊

Cut a lemon in half to absorb cooking smells, also burn tea lights or other candles as they keep the air moving, there are also candles that reduce cooking smells (usually sold in the same part of the supermarket as matches).

Some sort of extractor fan ?

The 3volution plug ins are quite strong and effective at masking odours but I find it a bit chemically/nauseating (I’m very sensitive to smells so it might just me be). You might prefer it to the smell of fish and Brussels sprouts though! Lots of different scents to choose from.

If you get on with them, have you asked THEM whether they have cleaned their extractors, would they like a hand in cleaning the filters etc. It could be worded in a casual, non judgmental way.

This reminds me of a case in China Town, London where the entire street was evacuated due to the threat of a chemical causing burning in the eyes, watery eyes and nose etc. Turned out, a Chinese restaurant was cooking up their annual chilli sauce supply! Cooking smells can cause havoc, so I do sympathise OP.

The chef’s candle is this one

https://amzn.to/4f2sdzO

I agree with asking them to try and ventilate a bit though.

Try an air purifier. You will need to do research as they are not all created equal when it comes to removing smells. Apparently though, the right one can be very effective.

sharkclean.co.uk/product/shark-neverchange5-air-purifier-max-hp300uk-zidHP300UK

A good air purifier will definitely help with this problem.

Do you have bare floorboards, or open fireplaces on the joint wall?
The smell is coming in somewhere. We used to get car exhaust fumes coming into our front room until we filled all the gaps between the floorboards.

Thank you everyone, I am going to try as many of these as I can! I’m so desperate. @JC03745 They’ve recently had a new kitchen put in, the smell came though before but downstairs near our kitchen so one thing to be thankful for is that it’s less prominent downstairs. I don’t really feel I can say anything tbh, they’re really old and have to put up with a lot of crying from my baby. I know they’re not doing anything wrong it just gets to me.
@NotbloodyGivingupYet Yes I think it’s coming through from the floorboards and maybe holes in cupboards that are in a shared wall? I am considering getting carpet upstairs but not sure I can afford it. There are so many little holes around our house that I suppose I need to fill but I’m not really sure how.
Abyway, will start searching to buy the recommendations!

@Hidingplace my DH bought those tubes of clear sealant like the sealant guns you use around the bath, but dries clear. We had no money then either. Squeezed it along the gaps and used a plastic scraper over the top to keep the boards clean and keep the sealant in the gaps.

We had this. Turns out that builders in the past had done 'something' (we never found out what) in their house, maybe knocking a wall through and replacing it with a steel beam. Bricks were disturbed on our side under the first floor floorboards - we got the holes filled, Problem solved. You need to find the hole, there is one somewhere. Start under the floorboards in a corner upstairs, that's where ours was.

My neighbours smoked inside and the stale cigarette smell in our upstairs bathroom was awful. I replaced floorboards in there with chipboard and solid lino (nicer than it sounds!) And it stopped the smell so must have been through the floorboards somehow. Also an edwardian terrace.

Meaco air purifier

The misery of living with smells from neighbours needs to be talked about much more. It can be disgusting. At one point I had people nextdoor who smoked skunk, and it was just unbearable in my lounge. My parents have a neighbour two doors up who smokes cannabis in his garden, and even that gets carried into their house if they have a window open. I remember them being away recently and I forgot to close the tiny top window in their kitchen - the whole of the downstairs reeked of it the next day.

One of those electric essential oil defusers

I agree that living with neighbours’ cooking smells needs to be talked about more and taken more seriously - even if not a lot can be done. It can make life utterly miserable. At various times I get the stench of weed, cooking smells, firepit smells, woodburner smells and this on top of constant neighbour noise makes me feel like my senses are under attack.

Before any bright spark says move to the country, that’s not an option for many of us. We don’t all have the luxury of choice.

OP, you have my sympathy. The only thing I can suggest is to echo what others have said about sealing cracks, though that in itself can be a job as you have to find exactly where the smells are coming in. Then get yourself a decent air purifier (or two).

Thank you all. I’ve already tried the cooks candle but I think the smell is too powerful for it to mask. I found an essential oils spray on Amazon that people recommended that is pretty good but nothing is making it go completely.
I’m so fed up. I think I’m maybe going to get a builder or a handy man in to help me cover holes and then get a carpet upstairs. I have a baby so literally don’t have any spare time for I do this sort of thing of filling holesz. We can’t really afford it tbh so It’ll be a loan but I can’t go on like this. God knows what they are cooking as it smells revolting. I’d honestly prefer the smell of weed!
Long term I just want to move. My dream is a detached house, even it’s half the size. Last terraced house we had rats coming in from next door and Airbnb and this house we also have rodents, noise to the extent you can hear actual words and awful awful smells. It’s unbelievable!!

I would be careful with carpet as they absorb and hold smells.

I'm really sensitive to smell and have tried loads of things. In terms of longevity, smoky incense is the only thing that lingers. Candles and essential oil products are nice at the time but don't last.

I have a patch in the hall where I can smell what I've cooked. Those chef's candles are the only thing that eliminate it rather than covering with a strong perfume. I have the tea lights and just one cures it.