Help with smoke coming through walls

dasachmo

thats quite interesting as my father stated that too, he advised closing the window and leaving the door open and because its on the top floor the warm air rises and will stop the inflow of smoke...
i tend to disagree and think its just going to allow the smoke to spread throughout the whole house so we're all breathing it in... can anyone shed any light on that?!

suegoo

Are you positive its cigarette smoke? I ask because I have a coal fire and my neighbour had smoke escaping into his living room from his blocked up fireplace.
The fire cement had cracked in my fireplace and smoke was finding its way to next door.

Swipe

If you can actually see the smoke it's unlikely it's cigarette smoke. it would have to be really concentrated to see it. Also if it's fag smoke it will smell like fags. Sounds to me like your neighbour has lit a fire in his fireplace and the chimney has a leak. look outside and see if you can see any smoke from the chimney pot at various points during the day. Will be most prominent when first lit.

pinkmexican

We had the same problem in our old flat and I got so annoyed with it that one evening I went mad and used the sealant for cracks etc on walls in the tubes and filled every join as in at the skirting at the corners in walls we also had a panel over a the stopcock thingies and I sealed that (hubby still doesn't know). For us the problem was coming through where all the joined pipes came in and out of the flats. We moved shortly, so I assume the people who moved in must have thought I had a bit of an obsession. But it's probably not as bad as when they found out I secured the vinyl tiles in the bathroom with superglue!!!:rotfl:

roger196

You could always buy a carbon monoxide detector with a digital display ( about £30 from B&Q and measures the level of CO). This will tell you if the smoke is a health hazard or a nuisance.

dasachmo

hi guys, just an update, im more confused then ever, my research has found a few things

firstly i told my neighbour again and he said he does smoke, theres not much more i can do about that.
I asked him if i could have a look, now there used to be a fireplace on our side and his... both sides are boarded up / sealed. Ours is sealed and his is too and its definately not in use.
His room adjacent to mine (where im getting the smoke from) has absolutely nothing in it apart from 3 chairs... i think he may be using it as a smoking room...

NOW, the most important thing, i phoned up the council who said that in 2008 he had a loft conversion done, which co incidently was when the smell began... now i asked my neighbour if i could have a look, and he said no and i asked him how he had it done and he said it was all legit and good.

As for the type of smoke, i cant see any fumes or anything just really smell it very strongly, it smells like cigs but also a bit like a dead animal:embarasse
Going to use our CO detector there because im assuming if its from chimney / fireplace then its going to have Carbon monox as opposed to ciggy smoke.

Will keep you updated, might be tomorow though becuase its mums bday and going to venture out to get her cake from the bakers!

AGBAGB

Any chance it's a particular pungent herb he's growing in the attic and smoking in the room? I wouldn't advise asking him though.

Basil1234

AGBAGB wrote: »

Any chance it's a particular pungent herb he's growing in the attic and smoking in the room? I wouldn't advise asking him though.

well he aint going to tell him its his ganga smoking room lol

i would suggest on your side clear this cupboard out carefully get and light a tealight candle in there and watch where the flame flickers moving the candle in different places if is blowing thru walls eg holes the candle should tell all then you can seal up i would suggest the old expaning foam that will fill up anywhere pretty much!

MissMotivation

Are you sure its cigarette smoke?? I had a similar problem with an old house. I posted on here a while ago about my neighbours smoking weed in the back garden and the house and that the smell was apalling. I sold the house in the end and when my Dad went into the loft to get the rest of my stuff down he found out what the real problem was......the neighbour was growing the stuff in his loft (the firewall wasn't complete and my Dad peeked through).

It drove me crazy for over a year because I was adamant that the smell was coming through the walls when in fact it was coming from the loft.....I think he was smoking it up there as well.

Have you checked that he has had building regs passed on the conversion? If it's not been done properly then this could be where it's coming from.

dasachmo

right guys, going upstairs and gonna try the candle and the CO tester, will update tomorow