Neighbours fire filling our house with smoke

pinkfluffythings

My living room is full of smoke

Our newish neighbours (private rental, not very nice people) have lit their fire, the previous Lady never lit it nor have we ever lit ours.

The smoke was literally pouring into our living room, the smell was awful. We've blocked it with pillows which helped slightly, then blocked front with cardboard, opened every window.... Ive contacted my rental agent via email so it will be tomorrow before she gets back to me to arrange someone to come out

This need to be fixed as with winter coming in they will prob have the fire lit all the time, its not even cold here today!!

Could it be the flue ??

Procrastinator333

How was it getting in to your living room? Is it coming through your fireplace?

pinkfluffythings

Procrastinator333 wrote: »

How was it getting in to your living room? Is it coming through your fireplace?

Yeah, we are semi detached and share the same chinmey stack

Procrastinator333

As a short term measure, is there any way you can cover the opening with card or something and then seal all of the edges with something like duck tape, though it may do damage when it comes back off later.

Also, surely the first thing to do is knock on their door and tell them the smoke is billowing in through your lounge, get them to come see it while it is there. Any sane person would apologise and not light the fire again until fixed.

And if they are dififcult, then chances are, the reverse may happen if you have a fire, so why not give it a go tomorrow and see if you can fill their house with smoke.

mandragora_2

You need to treat this as an urgent matter. I think that if there's smoke getting in to your house, it's just not a good sign at all - I don't want to alarm you, but I'd have concerns not only about fire risk but also about carbon-monoxide poisoning. I have no idea other than a horrible suspicion that if smoke can get in from a badly vented flue, so too could carbon monoxide. Hopefully someone out there will be more knowledgeable than me, and be able to put you right, but that's certainly a concern I'd have in your shoes. I don't suppose you've got a carbon-monoxide alarm kicking round somewhere at home that you can activate, have you?

mysk_girl

They need to have their chimney lined. We had this with our next door neighbours and that was the solution. And you will probably need yours done, if you ever intend to light a fire.

mysk_girl

Sorry, just read it was coming through the fireplace? Ours was 1st floor level, I guess the back of the hearth needs sealing somehow? Repointing maybe?

pinkfluffythings

We went round but no answer, its not too bad now as its sealed the best as possible.

We won't be lighting our fire as we don't want the cream carpet to suffer.
Thank you all for the help x

CharlieBilly

Get a carbon monoxide alarm just in case not worth dying for sake of less than £20 until such time as problem is solved still worth have an alarm for gas appliances/boiler too they are every bit as important than a smoke alarm

vax2002

You will not seal the carbon monoxide, I would invest in a detector at the first possible point and if it goes off call the fire service to ventilate the house.
The Fire officer will soon bring the situation to task.

keystone

Bet the chimney hasn't been swept or tested either. Sily people but probably just thought they could light a fire willy nilly.

Their fire needs extinguishing first and foremost. Blocking up the fireplace will do nothing to protect you. If the chimney is in that bad a state they are probably poisoning themselves as well as you.

Go bang on the door and get it put out. If they don't answer tell them through the letter box that you are calling the fire brigade. I'm, serious - if the chimney's not been swept for eons theres a potential chimney fire brewing and such could easily see the end of both houses.

Cheers