Cooking fumes in my kitchen from the flat below

Eldi_Dos

Have you thought about getting smoke detectors and placing them where you feel fumes are entering your flat. If they go off,stage a evacuation of the building until the source is found. Might focus minds.

If you do get around to firestopping gaps this,can be done from below as well as your flat.Expanding foam is not the correct material for this.

astron4

Eldi_Dos said:

Have you thought about getting smoke detectors and placing them where you feel fumes are entering your flat. If they go off,stage a evacuation of the building until the source is found. Might focus minds.

If you do get around to firestopping gaps this,can be done from below as well as your flat.Expanding foam is not the correct material for this.

That's not a bad call actually! I'll do that! How is firestopping from below?

Also, how do I stage an evacuation?

DullGreyGuy

Eldi_Dos said:

Have you thought about getting smoke detectors and placing them where you feel fumes are entering your flat. If they go off,stage a evacuation of the building until the source is found. Might focus minds.

If you do get around to firestopping gaps this,can be done from below as well as your flat.Expanding foam is not the correct material for this.

How do you make the whole building evacuate by the smoke alarms installed by you in your flat @Eldi_Dos ?

Even in our corporate offices with linked fire system an alarm in one part of the building only initially results in others in the same phase being evacuated not the whole building. 

Emmia

Eldi_Dos said:

Have you thought about getting smoke detectors and placing them where you feel fumes are entering your flat. If they go off,stage a evacuation of the building until the source is found. Might focus minds.

Unfortunately this could all be a bit "the boy that cried wolf"... And unless the whole building has linked fire alarms is unlikely to be effective in getting an evacuation.

You'll also (if it's just cooking smells) not endear yourself to your neighbours.

I wasn't best pleased at being evacuated from a hotel in the rain at 2am in Edinburgh in January once because some idiots thought it would be fun to set the hotel alarm off. And this was a hotel with a load of other guests I'd never see again... Rather than my home.

OP I know you're really worried about fire risks, but setting (false) alarms off is a terrible idea.

Eldi_Dos

Who said anything about false alarms, the detector will trigger a alarm once a threshold has been reached.
Remember not all smoke detectors are on ceilings, it is common practice in many buildings to have detectors in the floor space of raised floors.

fluffymuffy

astron4 said:

How do I resolve this? Our managing agent is waiting for instructions from us and won't do anything on their own. I am genuinely concerned about this, but I am being blocked by the other two directors.

I also called the fire brigade and they said that they're not responsible for demised areas, and that I'd have to convince the other directors.

Start by putting it in writing. Make a written record of the actions you have taken already (contacting the fire brigade) and your concerns about the risk of fire and smoke spread from failings of fire compartment. Send it by recorded delivery to the other directors.

ThisIsWeird

astron4 said:

One of the directors is in the flat downstairs actually. Last time I called him was due to very strong smells. He came upstairs and said that he couldn't smell anything... I guess one can be used to certain smells, what can I say.

However as you say, next time, when there's fumes, I'll call them upstairs.

Are you saying that one of the directors is causing the cooking smells?! In which case, of course he's unlikely to smell or see anything in your flat compared to his

I'd have thought that this issue is best sorted from below, tho'? Where is the smug and smell getting out of his flat? Ceilings are easy to check - they are just flat expanses. So there is likely 'something' amiss, like the sealing around an extractor in his flat?

You say that your kitchen only has a recirculating hood? Any idea what he has? I wonder if the ducting has failed on the - presumed - route to outside? Or has it been fitted incorrectly, so the exhaust is being pumped into the floor/ceiling void?

astron4

fluffymuffy said:

astron4 said:

How do I resolve this? Our managing agent is waiting for instructions from us and won't do anything on their own. I am genuinely concerned about this, but I am being blocked by the other two directors.

I also called the fire brigade and they said that they're not responsible for demised areas, and that I'd have to convince the other directors.

Start by putting it in writing. Make a written record of the actions you have taken already (contacting the fire brigade) and your concerns about the risk of fire and smoke spread from failings of fire compartment. Send it by recorded delivery to the other directors.

This has already been done in an email. The managing agent is included. The other director doesn't seem to budge. She now suggested that me and the flat downstairs (who couldn't care less) split the costs of a type 4 FRA! I am about to reply that compartmentation is not a flat-specific issue and it affects the entire building, and therefore it's the responsibility of the freeholder to run it. See how that goes.

The reluctant director mentioned that the building is old and "it is what it is", built of traditional material and alternation to the walls / ceilings cannot be entertained.

astron4

ThisIsWeird said:

astron4 said:

One of the directors is in the flat downstairs actually. Last time I called him was due to very strong smells. He came upstairs and said that he couldn't smell anything... I guess one can be used to certain smells, what can I say.

However as you say, next time, when there's fumes, I'll call them upstairs.

Are you saying that one of the directors is causing the cooking smells?! In which case, of course he's unlikely to smell or see anything in your flat compared to his

I'd have thought that this issue is best sorted from below, tho'? Where is the smug and smell getting out of his flat? Ceilings are easy to check - they are just flat expanses. So there is likely 'something' amiss, like the sealing around an extractor in his flat?

You say that your kitchen only has a recirculating hood? Any idea what he has? I wonder if the ducting has failed on the - presumed - route to outside? Or has it been fitted incorrectly, so the exhaust is being pumped into the floor/ceiling void?

He has a recirculating hood as well. There was never a duct for an extractor fan in any of the flats, so all the flats have a recirculating hood.

I have seen his kitchen ceiling and there are no visible holes / gaps, apart from spotlights. However these guys are cooking extensively for 4 hours twice a week (they hire a cook). Onions and garlic are the main ingredients that they seem to be frying, regarding the smells. However, I suppose there must be a good dose of smoke whilst they cook.

My floor, and the area that smells the strongest (under my sink and inside a cabinet next to it, where my boiler, pipework and gaps are) is exactly under that part of my kitchen. Again, smoke should not be penetrating the fabric, even if there was a slight smell.

We discussed installing an extractor fan, but nothing has been done, or will be, if you ask me. Why would someone "do me a favour" and spend a couple of grand for something that's not bothering him?

astron4

DullGreyGuy said:

Eldi_Dos said:

Have you thought about getting smoke detectors and placing them where you feel fumes are entering your flat. If they go off,stage a evacuation of the building until the source is found. Might focus minds.

If you do get around to firestopping gaps this,can be done from below as well as your flat.Expanding foam is not the correct material for this.

How do you make the whole building evacuate by the smoke alarms installed by you in your flat @Eldi_Dos ?

Even in our corporate offices with linked fire system an alarm in one part of the building only initially results in others in the same phase being evacuated not the whole building. 

Thing is, a smoke alarm goes off every now and then from neighbours that cook heavily or burn oil, but that's on their flat, so no one gets alarmed ('scuse the pun). I don't know how my alarm would be any different, and as the other poster said, might turn out a case of "the boy that cried wolf". I've ordered a smoke detector though and will be here tomorrow, see how that goes. But again, judging from their so far dismissive behaviour, they most likely to say "oh yeah, it's just smoke from downstairs because we're cooking").