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| smokers next door | |
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| Topic Started: Jul 24 2012, 05:13 AM (571 Views) | |
| haili | Jul 24 2012, 05:13 AM Post #1 |
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Gold Star Member
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We finally got a break from the heat and I was enjoying having the patio door open. Then the smoke came in and it really irritates my throat and stinks up the house. They come outside to smoke and sit right against the fence near my door. The trouble with summer is if it isn't barbecue smoke it's cigarette smoke. There's nothing I can do about it either since people are allowed to smoke outside. Winter is starting to look better all the time. |
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| Deleted User | Jul 24 2012, 05:20 AM Post #2 |
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Deleted User
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That's why whenever we take a cruise, I won't pay extra for a room with a balcony. Many cruise ships bar smoking anywhere indoors except, sometimes, one bar, but guests are permitted to smoke on their balconies, and you never know when you are going to end up with a chin smoker next to you. Haili - don't know your living situation, but I am guessing an apartment building or condo with balconies? If so, you may want to try a potted tall conifer or three on the end of your balcony if the smoking neighbor is next door on either side of you. Many tall dense conifers can live in large pots and a "privacy screen" between you and the smoking neighbor could help eliminate at least a portion of the smoke. If the smoker is below you, however, that will not work. |
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| haili | Jul 24 2012, 09:04 AM Post #3 |
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Gold Star Member
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b-j: it's a town house with a 6 foot high fence but they sit right against the fence, which is only a few feet from my sliding patio door. It's just the way the air flows that wafts it my way. I have clematis vines along that fence but just cut them right back since they were done blooming and I wanted to re-nail the trellises. I think I may just have to stop leaving the door open while they're at home and hope they soon all return to work, school or whatever. |
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| Darcie | Jul 24 2012, 09:06 AM Post #4 |
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Skeptic
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The building I am moving to is a smoke free building, you can't even smoke in your condo or on the property. It is one of the few buildings in London like that. Worth it for me. |
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| Deleted User | Jul 24 2012, 11:20 AM Post #5 |
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Deleted User
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Haili - Is the fence solid? If so, and the smoke still drifts in, you would need really tall conifers and that would be pretty expensive, but if it is pickets or lattice, then plant the biggest conifers you can afford in the ground fairly close together on your side of the fence, and move the clematis to where it can climb the conifers (looks really pretty when it does that). I am allergic to all kinds of stuff, so we specifically bught a house that was surrounded by conifers because they keep out all kinds of airborne stuff. |
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| haili | Jul 24 2012, 01:05 PM Post #6 |
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Gold Star Member
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b-j: unfortunately it's a condo and we can't have things above the fence. Maybe when the vines grow up again, they'll block some of the smoke. I know I'm overly sensitive to cigarette smoke though I used to smoke many years ago. Maybe it's karma, coming back to bite me after all my years of polluting the air. |
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| FuzzyO | Jul 24 2012, 02:47 PM Post #7 |
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Put a big fan out there blowing the smoke right back at them! |
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| haili | Jul 25 2012, 12:42 AM Post #8 |
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Gold Star Member
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That did cross my mind, but I didn't want to start a feud. I could maybe put one in the living room in front of the door. |
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| Trotsky | Jul 25 2012, 12:50 AM Post #9 |
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Big City Boy
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haili, If you can put a fan in a windowon the OTHER side of the house blowing in clean air that will pressurize your house a bit and force air OUT the patio door. I'm in a similar bind and on the cooler days of Summer I would LIKE fresh air but I am not far from the Second Avenue Subway construction and all my windows point right to it. With windows open I get an incredible amount of dust on EVERYTHING over hust a day or two. So I keep the place sealed and the A/C ON. Yah gotta do what yah gotta do. I doubt that any plantings or even a FENCE (short of a cinder block wall) would keep out the smoke if the wind is blowing from the smoker to you. (Check the weather for days where the wind is blowing the OPPOSITE way and then open up. :will power : ) |
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| haili | Jul 25 2012, 05:09 AM Post #10 |
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Gold Star Member
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Trotsky: the a/c is on almost all the time now. I'm hoping these people get jobs or go back to work most of the time soon. I don't have a window I can open downstairs except for the front door and I feel like I'm in a goldfish bowl when that's open. Time will take care of this problem but I'm liking summer less the older I get and feel like a shut-in. |
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| Deleted User | Jul 26 2012, 01:07 PM Post #11 |
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Deleted User
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haili ... if you are living in a condo or townhouse complex, there are bound to be some sort of bylaws, rules & regulations in place. If you have a strata council, discuss your issue with them. I do not know the rules in Ontario but in our province it is against a provincial law to smoke within 20 ft. of a building or near a window, doorway, patio, deck, or where there is air intake. Also under our strata property act, there is a clause that another cannot behave in a manner to affect the health of another or take away their pleasure & enjoyment of their unit. If you have a strata council and they deal with the situation, you are not directly involved with your neighbor so would not be starting an unpleasant situation. Have you spoken to your neighbor explaining how it affected your health and if they would not mind, distancing themselves from your place. |
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| haili | Jul 27 2012, 12:21 AM Post #12 |
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Gold Star Member
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I spoke to the property manager when they had the barbecue in the same place as they now smoke and was told that they have a right to barbecue, so I assume that they also have a right to smoke. I didn't want to get into it with them right now since they have had some family problems so I thought I'd wait until the opportunity came up in conversation. They put the barbecue in a different place this spring which helped with that. These yards are so tiny they can't get too far from the doors but it would help if they moved out a bit. Also when my son comes to visit, he smokes but usually only a few times a year and in the middle of the yard, so I can't say too much. |
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| Delphi51 | Jul 27 2012, 07:11 AM Post #13 |
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Member title
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Tough situation. It must happen a lot in crowded cities. There should be some product to help. Is there a fan that sucks smoky air in through a filter? Or up like a chimney? The neighbour is smoking outside, so he must be aware it is a problem for his family. They might appreciate a gift of information or one of these devices. http://www.livestrong.com/article/228478-the-best-air-purifiers-for-heavy-smokers/ We've come a long way on this issue. For half my teaching career the staff room was the place where teachers smoked. I must have become sensitive to it; I spent as little time in the staff room as possible for the last year or two before it was finally banned. |
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| heatseeker | Jul 27 2012, 12:21 PM Post #14 |
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Veteran Member
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I own a triplex in Montreal -- three apartments stacked on top of each other. Now that I am a non smoker it is amazing how sensitive I have become. When one of the guys on the main floor lights up I can smell it all through my apartment. My apologies to all the people I pissed off during my smoking years. signs081 |
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| haili | Jul 27 2012, 01:12 PM Post #15 |
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Gold Star Member
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Me too! When I smoked I never thought it would bother anyone that much but now I'm hypersensitive. I've been keeping the patio door shut except for early morning for about an hour. The front upstairs windows are open at night but not the back until the middle of the night when I wake up. I don't even go into the back yard when they're outside - which is a lot lately. Surely they'll have to go to work one of these days. I'm not buying any new equipment to absorb the smoke, but use my a/c more often these days. |
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