Ways to keep out the neighbours’ smoke

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/08/2012 (4784 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Question: I live in a wood-frame condo. One owner lives on the main floor and I live on the second- and third-floor unit above. The main-floor owner smokes and the second-hand smoke carries up into my unit. I think I have figured out where it is coming from. I believe the smoke carries up through my utility room. I have noticed the interior wall dividing the kitchen and utility room does not go all the way up to the ceiling, leaving the joists exposed to my second floor. I also believe it is coming up through a corner kitchen cupboard where the wall is open with the plumbing pipes exposed.

My question to you is: How would I solve this so that I do not smell any more smoke? If I cannot rectify this problem, is there a company of some sort that could help me seal off the smell of smoke? Would spray foam in between the walls work?

I am at my wits end. Thank you for taking the time to read my letter. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

— Barb Gessler

My family recently moved into a side-by-side house in the Transcona area. The house itself is fine, but the problem is that the two brothers who live in the adjoining property are heavy smokers, and the smell of tobacco smoke is coming into our home through the wall. There is a concrete separation between the two houses and we can’t hear a thing from the other side of the wall, but the cigarette smoke is penetrating into every room where the properties connect. We are non-smokers and have a seven-year-old, so besides the unpleasantness factor, there is also health to consider.

I tried removing the baseboards in our bedroom and sealing up the airspace at the bottom of the wall with expanding foam, but it doesn’t seem to have made a difference. I asked a contractor who does foam insulation to take a look. He came over, but said he couldn’t see where the smoke would be coming from, and of course they weren’t smoking when he was over.

His suggestion was to buy more expanding foam and try to seal around the rim joists where the floors/ceilings attach to the wall. I have bought the foam, but have yet to do the job. He also said he’d never faced this problem before, so he didn’t know what else to suggest. I’m hoping you might be able to shed a bit more light on the problem. Many thanks.

— Steve Foden.

ANSWER: Both of your questions are almost identical, except for the location of the adjoining dwelling where the smoke smells are coming from. I will offer a few suggestions for both of your dilemmas, and one that you may not have considered.

You may both be on the right track in trying to identify the locations where the smoke or odours are coming into your home from the neighbour’s. In doing so, you may be able to minimize the problem by sealing these areas, but you may not be able to completely eliminate it. Stopping air movement that may be occurring between adjacent living areas is a first step, but it may not completely solve the problem. If you both do succeed in sealing any areas or small gaps you think may be letting in the smoky air next door and still notice the problem, further investigation may help. You may want to call an energy evaluator or HVAC contractor who has a “blower-door” apparatus to come and test your home. This large fan is temporarily installed in your open front door and is turned on with all the other doors and windows of the home closed. This causes an exaggerated depressurization of the home so air leaks can be readily detected. By using a simple smoke pencil or mechanical measuring devices the locations of significant air leaks can be found. If the results of this evaluation show a significant amount of air leakage in enough locations, further caulking or foam insulation installation may minimize the problem.

Cigarette smoke and other air pollutants may indeed enter your living space through small openings where air can penetrate, but there may also be other factors at work. Many of these compounds can embed themselves in the surface of walls, ceilings, furniture, carpets, drapes and other household items. While you perceive that you are smelling the smoke actually penetrating through from the other dwellings, you may actually be detecting lingering particulates that are getting into your unit from various areas. I have inspected many homes where nobody was smoking for the duration of my inspection but my clothes and skin smelled like an ashtray hours after leaving the premises. There may be only one practical way of preventing this by-product of heavily smoking neighbours.

My suggestion is to politely and diplomatically talk to your neighbours about your concerns. While it is unlikely they will immediately kick their nasty addiction, you may be able to talk them into smoking outside their home rather than indoors. I know many homeowners who only smoke outdoors due mainly to health concerns for other family members, and their living spaces are almost odour-free. If you are somewhat successful in this endeavour, and with some additional air sealing in your suite, the problem may become tolerable. If not, installation of an air purifier in your heating system or other mechanical solutions may help.

Though it may seem a little old-fashioned or just plain difficult, good neighbour relations may go a long way to resolving difficult situations like your smoke problems. Talk to the neighbours in a friendly way after inviting them for a coffee or cold beer and explain to them that this is a big concern for you and your family. You could also suggest that smoking outside their own home will prevent unsightly stains on their walls, ceilings and other areas, making their maintenance easier. You might be surprised at the positive response and simple solution to the problems. If you currently don’t get along well with them or get an overwhelmingly negative response, call your friendly HVAC contractor to see what can be done to clean the air in your home.

Ari Marantz is the owner of Trained Eye Home Inspection Ltd. and president of the Canadian Association of Home & Property Inspectors — Manitoba (www.cahpi.mb.ca). Questions can be emailed to the address below. Ari can be reached at (204) 291-5358 or check out his website at www.trainedeye.ca

trainedeye@iname.com