Constant smell of cigarette smoke from neighbours

[goldenbaygirl]

Hi,

We have just moved into an apartment a couple of months ago. We are on the second floor of three floors. The downstairs neighbours are heavy smokers. I think the people above us smoke too. We notice that there is a constant subtle cigarette smell in our apartment (neither of us are smokers) which is really unpleasent as well as a potential health haazard for us and our baby.

The building is managed by a property management company. We are renting from the landlords through an agency. The downstairs neighbours seem nice and friendly and own their apartment. I dont want to realy piss them off, but what can I do? Could I test somehow the levels of smoke just to have proof that its getting into our apartment.

Does anyone have any ideas or experience in a similar situation?

Yours in frustration and second-hand smoke,

if you can smell it, it is getting in. Unfortunately your neighbours are perfectly entitled to smoke in their own home and you can do nothing.

have a chat with the landlord about sealing things off better, but really you will need to move on at the end of your lease.

my sympathies. Why anyone wants this smell is beyond me.

is it a modern block with concrete floors, or an older building with wooden ones?

do you know if the people downstairs have cut holes in their ceilings to fit downlighters?

If there is a plumbing duct (often in the corner of the vbathrooms and/or kitchens) there are often gaps round the pipes. It is usually possible to block these by stuffing with loft insulation, or (fireproof) expanding foam. If you have a utilities cabinet with meters, see if there are gaps or a smell in it.

thanks so much specialsubject and PigletJohn. Great advice. The building is an old one with wooden floors although strangely the smell is worst in the kitchen where there is new laminate flooring installed?!

the kitchen probably has gaps under the kitchen units, and around pipes. Perhaps you can get into the corners, especially if there is an appliance you can roll out.

People who cut holes in ceilings for downlighters are a great nuisance. Smells, smoke, noise and fire can get through the hole. If you have recently laminated it you might not feel like lifting the floorboards, but if you do, you can make plasterboard boxes, or buy smoke hoods, to go over such lamps, and seal gaps with fireproof expanding foam which comes in a can like shaving foam but is far stickier.