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Original poster

Cigarette smoke smell from neighbours....

32 replies

BopScotch · 31/03/2007 21:37

we can smell cigarette smoke from our new neighbours, its paticularly bad in DS's room. the room has bare floor boards with a rug, loads of gaps, its a terraced house. Is there any thing any one can suggest to stop it? Carpet? sealing the gaps in the floor? Any ideas welcome.

OP posts:
LieselVentouse · 31/03/2007 21:38

It might be coming in through the vents

tinkerbellhadpiles · 31/03/2007 21:39

PVA will invisibly plug the gaps and is non toxic. If you boards are not painted though, you need to get some sawdust and mix it with PVA so it comes out the right colour for bigger gaps.

Or you could tell your neighbours to quit their filthy habit?

zippitippitoes · 31/03/2007 21:41

are there fireplaces/chimneys?

ucm · 31/03/2007 21:42

bloody hell, it's a good job our neighbours smoke as well. We have to go outside to smoke as we have LO's. They must be smoking pipes or weed or summate for it to come into your house surely????

I have never ever heard of this before as smoke rises, doesn't it???

zippitippitoes · 31/03/2007 21:43

there should be a fire break between the properties

colditz · 31/03/2007 21:44

UCM if you smoke it's not that it doesn't happen - it's that you can't smell it. Honestly. i used to think my mum's house didn't smell of fags because it was big and drafty - 6 weeks after I quit, I went round and nearly heaved, it was so strong.

tinkerbellhadpiles · 31/03/2007 21:47

Maybe it's a smokey ghost?!

MerlinsBeard · 31/03/2007 21:53

the smell shouldn't come thru the walls though! it may be coming thru a vent brick or may be the previous owners smoked in the room your DS is in and its left over smell?

maximummummy · 31/03/2007 22:24

i live in a victorian terraced house and i can smell neighbours cigarette smoke but only in the bathroom which has a bare wood floor - also with large gaps. can sometimes smell what they cooked for dinner!!!

NannyL · 31/03/2007 22:38

my friend lived in a flat and there they would get the enighbouring flats smelly bathroom smells

was gross... next door would 'use the loo' and my friends flat would smell of "it"

Original poster
BopScotch · 31/03/2007 22:45

Its only happened in the last few weeks since the new people moved in, I wouldn't be so bothered if it were any other room that was affected. There is a chimney breast with the fire removed and bricked up, there are no vents that I can see though. I'm fairly certain it is coming through the floor somehow, I think i'm going to try filling the gaps in the floor board see if it makes a difference.

OP posts:
tinkerbellhadpiles · 01/04/2007 00:43

Ah -new people - have they done lots of DIY by chance? It could be that the dust is all stirred up and it may spontaneously stop in a few weeks.

Original poster
BopScotch · 01/04/2007 11:22

There was some work done before they moved in - they rent the house. but the smell isn't there all the time, and sometimes its quite faint and others - last night paticularly - its quite strong. DP doesn't think there's any thing we can do about it, but I think we ought to try something. there seems little point in giving up smoking and stoping our friends smoking in the house if all the fumes manage to get in from next door.

OP posts:
Imawurzelcoveredinchocolate · 01/04/2007 11:26

We have smoke smell coming into our bedroom thru built in wardrobe thing. And in the kitchen i can smell it to. Both walls are her walls. iynwim.
We no longer smoke but when we did it was always outside, our house is rented and a no smoking house.
When i go next door for parcels and such, she opens the door and i nearly pass out. The smell is so strong.
Almost like she never opens windows/doors etc. Nasty.

tinkerbellhadpiles · 01/04/2007 17:45

It may be a heating issue then, we have an oil boiler and now and then it would smell of peat three rooms away.

ash6605 · 01/04/2007 20:50

WE GET THIS FROM OUR NEIGHBOURS TOO. IT IS MUCH WORSE WHEN THE HEATING IS ON AND WORSE STILL IN THE LOFT.
WE FOUND A FEW GAPS IN THE BRICKS IN THE LOFT SO FILLED THEM IN AND ITS EASED IT OFF.YOU CAN STILL SMELL IT SOME DAYS IF THE HEATINGS ON BUT NO-WHERE NEAR AS BAD AS IT WAS SO MAYBE CHECK YOUR LOFT?

LadyOfTheFlowers · 01/04/2007 20:56

interersting you should say this as my neighbours cook loads of spicy/strong foods and the smell comes thru the airing cupboard, makes all our clothes stink and stinks out the ds' room.
our house is terraced and carpeted so i dont know where its coming from.

LadyOfTheFlowers · 01/04/2007 20:57

when you open the airing cupboard it knocks you out.

GYoIsReallyHavingABaby · 13/01/2009 14:16

This is an old thread but I've got this problem too. Stale smoke comes through airing cupboard which is situated in small room that will soon be used for my newborn..... So Im not that thrilled about it for obvious reasons.

Anyone had experience of blocking up pipes and making it better?

GYoIsReallyHavingABaby · 13/01/2009 14:19

Thats blocking up around pipes rather than the pipes themselves

GYoIsReallyHavingABaby · 14/01/2009 12:54

bump

pocketmonster · 17/01/2009 10:39

Hi GY - congrats on pregnancy. I'm afraid I don't have an answer as never heard of this happening or experoenced it despite living in several terraces. The worst I had was slugs getting in the cellar via the cole hole and then coming up into the living room by squeezing up between the floor boards and skirting board - I didn't see the slugs I just used to have a slug trail on the carpet in the morning.

Hope someone comes along who can help - in the meantime I'll ask my brother who works in construction cos he might know (he solved my slug problem, I thought I had a ghost slug as the trail wasn't near the door and didn't seem to go anywhere)

pocketmonster · 17/01/2009 10:40

experienced I meant..

DustyTv · 17/01/2009 10:56

OMG, I know this thread is old but I am having the same problem.

Ever since our new neighbors moved in I can smell smoke in out downstairs hallway. It make me want to retch. We live in an old Victorian terrace also but our floors are now actually concrete floors downstairs. The wall in the hallway between my house and next doors is thin though as I can here their DC and their TV and I am deaf so don't usually hear a lot unless the sound is in the room.

I have no idea what to do about it.

edam · 17/01/2009 10:59

Try posting on the Guardian's property pages - they have a problem page in Weekend magazine (on Saturday). If you look at their website, should be under Property or Homes and Gardens or Style or something of that nature.