Grey area issue

[sho'nuff]

I have an apartment neighbor who lives directly below us (fairly new tenants) who have a tendency to smoke in their balcony right below our balcony almost once or twice an hour after work every single day.

They go out to their balcony, light it up, and the smoke and smell goes through the spacing in between the wood planks of my balcony and up and into our living room where we eat dinner and rest after work.

My wife and I dont smoke, and we respect their decision to smoke and their privacy, but I find it very troubling (more so because my wife finds it very troubling) that they have to smoke like 10-20 times a night, and during these summer nights, we want to keep our balcony sliding glass door (our only opening to fresh air other than our front door or kitchen small window) open for fresh air.
And we constantly find ourselves closing the sliding door everytime they smoke in order to not have the smoke smells come in. It is strong.

I find this violating our space. But at the same time, i see from their shoes, they arent doing anything technically wrong. I dont think i am entitled to ask them not to smoke outside in their balcony.

What would you do, or what have you done in this similar sort of situation?

thanks.

 

[whusurdadi]

Jump up and down in your apartment or drag furniture around...tell them you'll stop if they stop...

 

[chronoaug]

Can you buy some kind of portable fan and sit it at your sliding door pointed away from the house, maybe? One of those taller stand up portable fans.

 

[sho'nuff]

Originally Posted by whusurdadi

Jump up and down in your apartment or drag furniture around...tell them you'll stop if they stop...

i want to be as civil as i can with my neighbors. i dont know them as well.

 

[HORNS]

I'd go to the management and ask them to implement a new building rule. If someone smokes that damn much, then you talking to them directly will not change anything. Go directly somewhere you can actually get something done while maintaining diplomacy.

 

[jgold47]

Originally Posted by sho'nuff

I have an apartment neighbor who lives directly below us (fairly new tenants) who have a tendency to smoke in their balcony right below our balcony almost once or twice an hour after work every single day.

They go out to their balcony, light it up, and the smoke and smell goes through the spacing in between the wood planks of my balcony and up and into our living room where we eat dinner and rest after work.

My wife and I dont smoke, and we respect their decision to smoke and their privacy, but I find it very troubling (more so because my wife finds it very troubling) that they have to smoke like 10-20 times a night, and during these summer nights, we want to keep our balcony sliding glass door (our only opening to fresh air other than our front door or kitchen small window) open for fresh air.
And we constantly find ourselves closing the sliding door everytime they smoke in order to not have the smoke smells come in. It is strong.

I find this violating our space. But at the same time, i see from their shoes, they arent doing anything technically wrong. I dont think i am entitled to ask them not to smoke outside in their balcony.

What would you do, or what have you done in this similar sort of situation?

thanks.

Thats really funny, we call the guy who lives below us the smoking ninja, because he is always outside smoking when we are home. Like a comical 4 pack a day amount. And he is always like hiding in the shadows and stuff, its kinda creepy. But at the same time we have the same problem. if he smokes out back it comes in my office and living room, or if he smokes out front, it comes in the kitchen or the bedroom. Some municipalities have banned smoking in residential units for this very reason (only applies to multifamily housing).

I guess its just one of those annoyances about living in an apartment.

 

[globetrotter]

Originally Posted by sho'nuff

I have an apartment neighbor who lives directly below us (fairly new tenants) who have a tendency to smoke in their balcony right below our balcony almost once or twice an hour after work every single day.

They go out to their balcony, light it up, and the smoke and smell goes through the spacing in between the wood planks of my balcony and up and into our living room where we eat dinner and rest after work.

My wife and I dont smoke, and we respect their decision to smoke and their privacy, but I find it very troubling (more so because my wife finds it very troubling) that they have to smoke like 10-20 times a night, and during these summer nights, we want to keep our balcony sliding glass door (our only opening to fresh air other than our front door or kitchen small window) open for fresh air.
And we constantly find ourselves closing the sliding door everytime they smoke in order to not have the smoke smells come in. It is strong.

I find this violating our space. But at the same time, i see from their shoes, they arent doing anything technically wrong. I dont think i am entitled to ask them not to smoke outside in their balcony.

What would you do, or what have you done in this similar sort of situation?

thanks.


this is a real *****

 

[sho'nuff]

Originally Posted by chronoaug

Can you buy some kind of portable fan and sit it at your sliding door pointed away from the house, maybe? One of those taller stand up portable fans.

i can probably buy one and do that, but not only would it be me going around compromising our living in our home to accomodate their smoking whims, i dont think this would wholly work. it would have to be a larger area-fan; if it is just a small fan im sure bbq, smoke, scents etc that flow in from outside will still get in because of the large area of our screen door.

 

[sho'nuff]

Originally Posted by HORNS

I'd go to the management and ask them to implement a new building rule. If someone smokes that damn much, then you talking to them directly will not change anything. Go directly somewhere you can actually get something done while maintaining diplomacy.

i did, and the management is so busy with 'real' issues, they basically told me to try to deal with it with them personally. basically, take the good with the bad in these types of cases i guess.

Originally Posted by jgold47

Thats really funny, we call the guy who lives below us the smoking ninja, because he is always outside smoking when we are home. Like a comical 4 pack a day amount. And he is always like hiding in the shadows and stuff, its kinda creepy. But at the same time we have the same problem. if he smokes out back it comes in my office and living room, or if he smokes out front, it comes in the kitchen or the bedroom. Some municipalities have banned smoking in residential units for this very reason (only applies to multifamily housing).

I guess its just one of those annoyances about living in an apartment.

im glad (not for you though) that im not the only one. ..hehe. misery loves company.

Originally Posted by globetrotter

this is a real *****

+1

 

[texas_jack]

I don't think you can or could make them stop since you could keep your window closed. Sucks.

 

[sho'nuff]

i do want to have the freedom to keep my window open for fresh air at least sometimes. i can understand the occasional smoking incident, but when they got the irongrip on the air around us and we are forced to close doors due to that i get a little ticked off.

 

[sho'nuff]

^ im sure you are kidding, but my point is to see if we can brainstorm up more diplomatic negotiations, which are harder to come up with and takes more thought.

not passive aggressive tactics or compromises.

 

[Jekyll]

Could you somehow seal the cracks in the floor of your balcony? Or better yet, have them. Is there a rule against them smoking inside? That's what they should really do.

 

[Connemara]

Wait for them to come out on the balcony and then dump a vat of boiling oil on their heads.

 

[itsstillmatt]

Close your window.