secondhand smoke

I have to deal with cooking smells (and at times burning food whereupon the hallway is used as a "ventilation shaft") and marihuana smoking. To shield my asthmatic lungs from smoke of all types coming from neighboring apartments I use:

1. Air Filters. Rabbit Air and Blue Air work best for me. Make sure you perform the square footage vs. model calculations to ensure adequate room coverage.

2. A Door Draft Blocker. The kind that's basically two round tubes with a piece of fabric in the middle. Blocks drafts as well as smoke.

3. Sealant for electric outlets. There are foam gaskets are you can try or you can try spray foam. You should not use latex foam near or in electric outlets. Ask for the correct foam to use at a hardware store. See this webpage for more info:
http://greatstuff.dow.com/where-to-use/living-space/electrical-outlets/?f=playlists&app=youtube_gdata

4. Clear caulk. Sealing small crack areas between walls and floors with clear caulk is on my to do list.

Best of luck!

Correction: "There are foam gaskets you can try..."

I have the same smoker problem, a mild but noticeable smoke smell, the smoke is coming from an apartment down the hall (new people moved in). I took the time to find the source, which I highly recommend, because if it's coming from below that is going to be a different problem for you.

A fancy air purifier can be $400-$700, plus pricey filters, which is more than I wanted to spend at the outset--I wanted to spend as little as possible to solve the problem.

So as a first line of defense, I purchased a small HEPA filter at Gracious Home on the Upper East Side for less than $50. It made a big difference after a few hours. It's a cute white ball (they come various colors) with a blue glow. I run it 24/7 when I'm there, is whisper quiet, and now there is virtually no noticeable smoke smell--what I mean is: I really have to crawl around, close my eyes, and see if I can still smell it, to detect even the faintest whiff.

Location of the filter is crucial, I found, because my smoke problem is coming from under my door. So putting the ball on the floor near the door is what did the job.

Rather than an unattached draft blocker, which only works when you're at home to put it against the inside of the door, a better solution is weather stripping that attaches with adhesive to the bottom of the inside door surface. You can also get the kind that goes all around the door. This will also help save on your air conditioning bill, and reduces the filter's burden. I'm going to order this stuff on line.

If the ball hadn't worked so well for me: Amazon.com sells a filter than gets rave reviews in smoking situations that uses only water as the filter agent. I think it's about $170, and you never have to purchase filters, although you have to dump out the water once a day. If a smoker moved in below me, this is what I would try.

Karla Harby VP
Rutenberg Realty NYC
kharby@crrnyc.com

I have had excellent luck with a Honeywell air filter. It is cheap and works wonderfully. I bought it at Home Depot, it cleans all the air in my large apt very quickly. Within 4 hours, it completely freshened the whole place. You'll love it.

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100060599/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

Hi Julia,

I highly recommend that you nicely deal with the management company, and if they or the doorman/super can let you know who just moved in, or you can otherwise find out, nicely deal with the smoker. Even if it doesn't lead to an immediate solution, it's important that everyone understand that it IS a problem.

Also, if you live in a postwar building, you can try to press the management company to keep the mechanical ventilation in good repair, and up to the required standards. That means that all apartments should be depressurized, and I believe the corridor ventilator should be PRESSURIZED, thus forcing smoke (including in the event of a fire) back into the apartment from which it came. But I might be wrong about that last point, and I'm not sure what the logic is regarding a fire in the corridor (which seems way less likely to happen).

Many smokers are basically junkies, and will come up with the usual array of rationalizations and defensiveness that any junkie would, but others understand concepts like "outside only", and in fact many would like to quit and need the extra push. But yes, many smokers are basically junkies. The only cure is incremental desocialization of smoking, which is why it's such a good thing that spiked walls are slowly closing in on smokers (beaches, parks, hopefully soon x yards from building/store entrances) ... but they can escape from the sides by quitting. Sadly, there have been no substantial advances in lung cancer treatment in the past 150 years.

You do have an absolute right to a smoke-free apartment. Lung cancer is by far the biggest cause of cancer death, more than the combined total of all other popular cancers. 90% of people who get lung cancer are/were smokers. It really doesn't require a lot of research to determine within reasonable doubt that the remaining 10% of cases were caused at least in large part by second-hand smoke. Unless you're in the tobacco industry, or they're paying for your political campaign, or you're a junkie -- then you need "beyond a shadow of a doubt", which is best left to Hollywood.

Plus, Julia, one of the many nice things about renting is that you can say "fuck you, inattentive management company, I'm moving", or use even more colorful language if you prefer.

alan, who knew you could be so passionate.

Send a nice prospective lawsuit letter to smoker and mgmt company, like asbestos the tail liability of having to live next to a smoker is huge for the Mgmt company and smoker. Fk the smoker.

Why don't smokers create smoking only buildings?

True story, a borker owns an apt for sale in the building. Her husband is a smoker. That dude chain smokes outside bldg. When I asked the wife/broker about being interested in her unit (completely with a straight face) She said smoking decreases the value of the apt she would never let her husband smoke in it.

So lung cancer for hubbie. A ok! Losing $100k to redo all the closets, floors and drywall...... Not OK

One time this past Xmas, my family got in a cab..... It reeked of smoke. When I said, 'hey did someone smoke in here?'. My wife gave me the look. 'it's the Fking driver.'. Had to exit cab, cursed out the driver took his medallion number and called in a 311. Fk him and his mama.

Put out a couple of bowls of white vinegar. It is amazingly effective.
I learnt that back when one still had parties where people would smoke INSIDE (ba bum bummm).
Bowls of vinegar before you go to bed and the stink was gone -honestly! - in the morning.

I have a doglike sense of smell, btw, so if it works for me, bla bla bla...

>Send a nice prospective lawsuit letter to smoker and mgmt company,

What an idiot. Let me guess, the letter should be sent by registered mail. That really scares em'. And to put it in context of alanhart, that "junkie" will give up his or her addiction based on a threatening letter.

>Had to exit cab, cursed out the driver took his medallion number and called in a 311.

Calling 311 with a complaint about residual smoke. Very effective. Are you going to appear at the hearing if there were one for smoking when passengers are not in the car? Or were you planning on skipping the hearing and sending a "prospective lawsuit letter"?