Second Hand Smoke

Amelam959 · January 2017

We live in an apartment and our neighbors smokes on their patio and possibly inside their home. We smell smoke in our house multiple times a day, even when the windows are closed, and I am worried about the exposure to me and the baby when she gets here. Aside from complaining to our front office, what can I do to help limit my exposure to these fumes?

BeachMommy2B · January 2017

Yea this could have been added to the randoms thread, so not really necessary to have its own post as this question could easily be answered by google... Why not try adding yourself to the Intro post and lurking around the board first....

MrsCPALeslie · January 2017

She did add herself to the intro thread hours before your rude post @BeachMommy2B so you need to "lurk" before you comment. Who are you to tell her where to post. She might consider this to be an extremely important topic to make it a separate thread and im glad she did because smoke is a major issue for me. Anyways, smoke is a BIG deal to me because both my parents are chain smokers and I can't stand being around them for too long and I definitely won't let baby girl be around them that much because even when they are not smoking, the smell of smoke is so heavy on their clothes and it's hard to breathe around them and their homes stink so bad of smoke. So I've been wrestling with what I'm going to tell them because they think they will be watching baby girl at their house, it's not happening. Even holding baby girl for too long will be a problem for me. So I completely understand your concern @Amelam959

WombThereItIs · January 2017

+1 to not getting the whole "should/shouldn't be in randoms thing".

Im not sure about your place but in my house and a lot of places I've lived there are air filters for the main air intake points in the hvac system. Filters are usually cheap but you can spend more to get better filters that catch more. Maybe talk to maintence and see if they have any ideas?

Also you can buy stand alone air filter units, we had one in college because the dorm was stinky. You should be able to find them at most large retailers or home improvement stores.

BeachMommy2B · January 2017

umm i was just clearly stating we are not google... and a search of "how to get smoke smell out of house" could solve OP problem... just saying. Sorry not sorry

L1C4gal · January 2017

I'm not sure what your apartment manager is like and what their policies are, but we live in an apartment and used to have neighbors that smoked right outside their door (it was prohibited inside the apartments). Someone apparently complained enough (we should have but never got around to it!) and they posted signs that you couldn't smoke within 25 feet of the building. We still get some smoke drifting in if the wind is just right--more often than we'd like--but it's much better now. So perhaps a combination of complaining to management (start now!) and getting better air filters as @WombThereItIs suggested (I'd even push management/maintenance to pay for it if they won't change their smoking policy!) will help. Good luck!

kat81 · January 2017

BeachMommy2B said:

umm i was just clearly stating we are not google... and a search of "how to get smoke smell out of house" could solve OP problem... just saying. Sorry not sorry

I definitely see your point--I think this post could go either way--but I think that the google issue also applies to a lot of the posts we make on here that are not in the randoms (and that we believe should not be in the randoms). Even though it's about smoke, this is still baby related. Even if google has some answers, it might be nice to get some insight from us if we have had a similar situation.

kat81 · January 2017

I don't have any advice but I just want to commiserate! When I was first pregnant with DS we lived in a place where you could smoke in bars (now so many cities and states have banned this.) I was still in grad school so we were out and partying a lot with friends. AND to make matters worse we hadn't told friends of the pregnancy at first. It was SO sickening, esp in first tri!

My guess is that the amount of smoke you get is probably not going to be enough to harm your baby. That said, it is gross and I hope you can come to a solution.

NotAPlaya-JustCrushAlot · January 2017

I think this could go in Randoms to avoid board clutter. Since @Amelam959 is new and because she actually intro'd, I'll give her some leeway here. I also think @MrsCPALeslie could probably calm down a bit? I think we are all frustrated by random Google drive-bys and I don't think it's worth snapping at a reg.

pshaortao · January 2017

Well I will comment. We had neighbors that smoked back in CA. They smoked outside only that we knew of. We didnt have A/C and DD was born in Sept so we had our windoes open all the time. DH had no problem asking them to go smoke on the other side of the quadplex. He explained to them we were about to have a baby etc and we could smell the smoke easily. They were very nice about it.

There was one situation when we smelled it inside with the windows shut, especially in our only bathroom. Turns out one other unit was getting remodeled and the workers were smoking inside and it was coming into our place through the bathroom vent. It wasn't ongoing though but they stopped as soon we figured it out. They had no idea it would happen in the first place and they were apologetic (plus smoking inside during a remodel seems quite unprofessional). I would at least have a conversation with the other tenants and let them know that its getting into your place. They may be just clueless as well. And hopefully they respomd nicely as a result

nda_roxybabe · January 2017

That sucks, I would be pissed. I cant stand the smell (Who can besides smokers?!). Obviously your units must allow smoking? You could try buying an air purifier and see if that helps at all.

jayandaplus · January 2017

Welcome @Amelam959!

Like others have suggested, you could get an air purifier, talk to maintenance about changing the filters, and you could even talk to your management to see if there are units not around smokers. I'm not sure where you live, but maybe even a different complex could be a solution. I live in NC and there are complexes that have nonsmoking units, and while you can't stop people from smoking outside, it might be better. Like @pshaortao said you could try to talk to some of your neighbors. Good luck and welcome to May 2017!

fbmandy55 · January 2017

As a former smoker, I feel for you. It totally grosses me out. I never smoked inside my home, nor would I ever hold baby while smoking. I even had a smoking jacket I would wear and take off before coming inside.

But my guess is that little if any smoke is actually going to get into your home, at least not enough to be dangerous. Air filters should take care of the issue and a purifier should take care of smell.

mamatowildones · January 2017

We sure like our board organization... not sure why it gets everyone so riled up. But to answer your concern, I had a neighbor who smoked as well and I just made sure to close the windows and use fans and air purifiers. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Unfortunately it's one of those things you just have to deal with. It isn't going to be enough to cause any harm. Just be aware and try to do what you can.

onebadmotha · January 2017

I definitely feel for you- I can't stand the smell, not to mention the horrendous health effects of second hand (and third hand) smoke. I respectfully disagree with @mamatowildones that smelling smoke inside your home multiple times per day wouldn't be enough to cause any harm- exposure to second hand smoke that often is definitely not healthy for you or for baby. Among other things, it increases SIDS risk, which would be enough to have me in that management office every freaking day. Maybe they can move you to another unit if smoking inside is permitted? Even if it isn't, many states have ordinances regarding how close to a building smoking is permitted. I would definitely look into that. Your neighbors activities should not interfere with your safe and reasonable enjoyment of the home that you pay for.

mamatowildones · January 2017

@kayemjay2 to clarify, once all steps I suggested are taken, I wouldn't THINK it's enough to cause any harm. When I had everything shut and fans and purifiers going I couldn't smell a thing anymore. My neighbor only smoked outdoors though, and maybe 4x a day.

onebadmotha · January 2017

mamatowildones said:

@kayemjay2 to clarify, once all steps I suggested are taken, I wouldn't THINK it's enough to cause any harm. When I had everything shut and fans and purifiers going I couldn't smell a thing anymore. My neighbor only smoked outdoors though, and maybe 4x a day.

Ohhh gotcha- I misread that, my bad. With purifiers, etc, in place, you're probably right.

NotAPlaya-JustCrushAlot · January 2017

mamatowildones said:

We sure like our board organization... not sure why it gets everyone so riled up. But to answer your concern, I had a neighbor who smoked as well and I just made sure to close the windows and use fans and air purifiers. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Unfortunately it's one of those things you just have to deal with. It isn't going to be enough to cause any harm. Just be aware and try to do what you can.

We do like our organization. Drive-bys and especially AW posts are SO annoying.

Not looking at you on this one, OP. I forgot to say welcome in my earlier post. I agree with PPs on the secondhand smoke. I'd be annoyed and slightly concerned.

laurapalmier · January 2017

I feel for you! All pps have made excellent recommendations for you

I also live in a building and generally we're all very nice, clean, friendly people but there's one guy who's door is around the corner and at least 30 feet from mine who smokes inside and it often stinks up the hallway. On Sunday morning I was sure I was smelling smoke inside our apartment and around 10am I went to get some groceries and the hallway was literally a wall of smoke. I have to walk by his door to get outside and there was music blasting (thankfully our apartments are extremely soundproofed) and like 12 pairs of shoes outside his door. I said to SO, "what if we had a baby now and had to walk through that?" He contacted the concierge when we got home. Not sure what has come of it yet but haven't smelled smoke since Sunday.

Also, who is partying with music blasting at 10 am?? I can admit to partying and staying up all the next day but usually by 10am it'd just be me and a few friends lounging or having a sleepy day by the river.

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