Next door neighbor smoking and is stinking the bedroom out - is there anything I can say to her?

[RabbitFood]

We live in a 1960s ex council house and mid terrace, the only brick walls in the house are on each side, the women next door smokes like a chimly and in the past 2 weeks the smell in our bedroom is of smoke and rather disgusting.

is there a law preventing her from doing this or do I just have to go and upset her, I don't really get on with many other neighbors so one more will not bother me too much!

any advice appreciated.

Rabbit

 

[thomas]

Do you own the house? If so can't you make a complaint of nusiance?

Sorry, I was only half listening in my law lecture

 

[RabbitFood]

yes we own the house and she owns hers!

 

[thomas]

yes we own the house and she owns hers!

Well, I can vaguely remember our lecturer going off track and talking about making a complaint of 'nusiance'....but you had to own the property to be able to.

 

[Globalti]

99% of smokers would be concerned to know their habit was upsetting others so I would go round with the softly softly approach. If she turns out to be one of the unreasonable 1% then it's time to take action. My first suggestion would be to go out and buy a big can of expanding foam, lift the floorboards and fill every crack and hole in the party wall. This would improve the soundproofing as well.

 

[Dayvo]

Drill a hole in the wall and drop a lit dog-end through it whilst she's sleeping.

Fill in the hole.

She'll die of smoke inhalation and no-one will suspect you!

Seriously though, have a friendly word with her; she should be understanding about it!

 

[thomas]

If she does fuss find out if she has any allegeries. Rub a cat against the wall and then she might start sneezing as the allergens (?) go into her house .

 

[swee'pea99]

Er, I hate to say it but the answer to your basic question 'is there a law' is - I'm pretty sure - no. An Englishman's home is his castle, and he's allowed to smoke there. And I suspect that any attempt to 'have a quiet word' (or indeed 'just go and upset her') is liable to prove counter-productive. It'll almost certainly bring out the 'how dare you try to tell me what to do in my own home?' in her, turning polite-enough apartheid into open hostility.

It's an absolute bugger, and you have my sympathies, but I'm afraid beyond defending yourself with expanding foam and the like, I suspect the best you can hope for is an early visit from the grim reaper.

 

[ColinJ]

[quote name='swee'pea99']
I suspect the best you can hope for is an early visit from the grim reaper.[/QUOTE]
It's a bit sad that the only possible relief for Rabbit is to die young! Wouldn't it be better if the neighbour snuffed it instead? (pun intended)

 

[661-Pete]

99% of smokers would be concerned to know their habit was upsetting others ....

News to me. Based on my personal experience, I would put the figure at no more than 40-50%.

 

[Andy in Sig]

I think the real issue is to work out just how crap your walls are if they let cigarette smoke through. Then make good the deficit. I don't think that it is fair to ask somebody to cut back smoking in their own home. It really is a structural problem.

 

[661-Pete]

I think the real issue is to work out just how crap your walls are if they let cigarette smoke through.

A good point. At my former workplace, there was a rule that smoking was only allowed in the canteen (this was before the present ban of course). Unfortunately my open-plan office, and the adjacent canteen, both had false ceilings, and the partition wall between them only extended as far as the ceiling panels, not into the void, hence the void was shared between the two rooms. Smoke used to permeate up through the canteen ceiling panels, across the void, and down through our ceiling panels...

After numerous complaints the employers were forced to 'do something' about it...

 

[ChrisKH]

I think the real issue is to work out just how crap your walls are if they let cigarette smoke through. Then make good the deficit. I don't think that it is fair to ask somebody to cut back smoking in their own home. It really is a structural problem.

I beg to differ. I suspect your council environmental health officer will be able to assist if a word in her shell like does not. Cigarette smoke is a carcinogen and by polluting your home environment with her smoke she may be breaking the law.

 

[Globalti]

The other question is: why is the smoke-laden air flowing into your house? There must be a pressure differential that's sucking it through the flaws in the wall or through the attic if there's no separating wall up there. Do you have an uncapped chimney in your room? This can lower the pressure significantly in a room even when not lit, thanks to the venturi effect of wind blowing over the pot. Is there a leaky window at the back of the house that allows low pressure to form when the wind is blowing past it? If you pressurised your room slightly with a fan blowing air in, it would send the smoke back to her along with any odours of your own. Don't underestimate the effect of environmental factors on the air pressure in the room, they can be significant.

 

[RabbitFood]

Thanks so far, well like I said the only brick walls are on the sides of the house, the rest is plaster board and windows that make up the front and back.

We also only get the smell in our bedroom and nowhere else in the house and its next to her computer room which she spends many many hours chatting on line.

I was thinking maybe the floor boards or the ceeling, because I think that it is unlikly that it blows from her window into ours, and its only in one corner of the room!