Smoke-proofing my apartment?

Hey guys, it's been a couple years since I've actually posted on the forums, but I thought someone might be able to give me some advice. I graduated college 6 months ago and took a job 5 hours away from my hometown. I didn't have much time to scope out apartments before I took the job, so I had to decide based on online pictures and chatting with the landlord. The apartment is not bad for my first apartment and the rent isn't outrageous.

The only problem is that everyone in the other 5 apartments in my building smokes. Some of them weren't living here when I moved in, so it wasn't very noticeable at the beginning. Specifically, my next-door neighbor (whom I share a ventilation shaft with) is the heaviest smoker of them all. It leaks through that shared ventilation shaft, as well as one of my power outlets and the door to my apartment. Although I found out that it is technically illegal in Indiana to smoke in the shared building area, the neighbors still spend enough time in the hallway that I can tell when one of my neighbors has recently walked by my door purely by smell.

I have tried nearly everything I can think of to solve the problem, but I'm running out of ideas and need help. I have placed carbon filters in the vent and have sprayed foam sealant in the vent and the power outlet. I have added additional weather stripping to my door. I have air fresheners in most of my rooms. I complained to the landlord last week and she talked to my neighbor, who apparently agreed to not smoke in her bathroom anymore. Whether or not she is still smoking in the bathroom, I smelled it coming through that vent when I went to the bathroom this morning.

I have never had to deal with removing or preventing smoke, so if anyone has ideas on how I should solve this problem, I'm up for it. I went to my parents' house for Thanksgiving and we could smell smoke on most of my laundry and even my pillowcase. I don't want everything I own to be covered in the smell of smoke just because my neighbor has bad habits. Do I need to find more ways to prevent the smell from getting in? Do I try to be more militant toward my landlord? Or do I cut my losses, break my lease, and find somewhere else where all of my neighbors don't smoke?

Okay, first of all are you dealing with remaining smoke odor in your apartment unit as well as people currently smoking?

If your apartment did have a smoker...well, you are fukked! Tobacco smoke has tar that meaning the smoke permeates the tar makes it stick everything (walls, floors rugs, rug pads, furniture, vents, vent conduit, etc) So you will needs to strip EVERYTHING down to bare wood, drywall, and cement. Then wash everything down with detergents to remove everything. Then scrub all the vents and conduit going into the apartment. Then put an ozone generator in the apartment or a few days or more (you can be there while its running). And then repaint, and get new rugs and furniture

So in other words...fucking forget about it if you want smoke odor out if it is IN THERE with you.

If the smell isn't in your apartment, then people have a few ideas:

• First, wash all you walls & floor s, and then clean/toss everything including rugs and furniture that came with apartment.
• Second get an Ozone generator, run it on high when you go out to work and put it on a timer to turn off 90 min before you get home...unless you have pets.
• Get a HEPA air purifier for your place and run it all the time...it will be "white noise level" noisy.
  
  Yes, you have to do all three! Yeah, that's time...and about $300

The only thing that will really 'destroy' outside smoke odor is ozone, but you should not run it while you are in the apartment. The three things above will likely help, but what woudl RELALY help is those fucker not smoking inside like a bunch of dirtbags

The guys above me smoke quite a bit and it drifts into my drafty apartment. Towel under the door does the trick. Still builds up in the communal area but it keeps it from my flat (and my asthmatic lungs) which counts. Actually it sounds like your problems are more deep-seated than mine. If there's a ventilation system involved well... damn.

My house was owned by a heavy smoker and even now after 15 years you still get the smell of smoke in some of the rooms.

Ask your landlord of you can killz the walls and ceilings. That will help some, but will also cost you a lot of $.

As much as it sucks, you're probably going to have to move. Even if you can clean the current smoke smell out of the apartment, you're not going to get your neighbors to stop and it's almost impossible to keep smoke out if you are surrounded by it. I don't know about Indiana specifically, but you can often get out of a lease without penalty if you have health problems caused by living there (and your landlord can't or won't fix whatever is causing your health problems). You'd have to go to your doctor, but I can't imagine they'd have much of a problem with providing the paperwork. It's worth looking into at least.

From a quick google search it seems like most solutions are for ridding the smell not fighting a constant source of it so I don't know how much luck you'd have on that. How much longer is your lease? Basically it seems like your only real solution is to move out. You could always try to talk to your apartment manger about the situation. Is there an open apartment you can move into that isn't adjacent to a bunch of smokers? Most the time landlords dislike losing reliable tenants. Or do they own other properties or some shit so you can avoid legal issues of breaking lease on moving? Or do you live in Utah or California?

I am surprised nobody has said the most obvious answer yet. Start smoking so that the smell wont bother you anymore.

Where do you live that everyone smokes indoors?? Even the smokers I know don't smoke inside...

Pack your bags and move away.

...for real, I don't have a better suggestion. You'll probably get used to the smell eventually, not sure if that makes you feel any better.

I will clarify a few things first:

@monkeyking1969: The person who previously lived in my apartment didn't smoke. Also, no furniture came with my apartment and I do not have pets.

@shindig: Regarding ventilation, I can't tell if the smoke travels through the ventilation shaft or around it. Either way, it gets past the carbon filters in the shaft and the foam that seals off the empty space in the shaft.

@cameron: I don't have asthma and my health hasn't been affected by it yet. My girlfriend did get noticeably sick from visiting me for a weekend. Do you think 3 months of slight exposure to secondhand smoke is enough to show up on an examination?

@milkman: I am beginning to get used to the smell and it scares me so much. When I came back to my apartment after being gone for 5 days, it had a very faint smokey smell that I didn't normally smell.

Lastly, I am probably only going to be in this area for the next 1-2 years. My current lease is up in August.

I see this situation going one of a several ways:

1. I suck it up and deal with the secondhand smoke as cheaply as possible. I use odor-fighting spray on my clothes, put a towel under the door, etc. All of my belongings will have a slight odor of smoke when I move after the 1-2 years.

2. I spend larger amounts of money to fight the smoke. I buy an air filter and/or an ozone generator, maybe paint my walls with KILZ. I have the means to afford it, but I also don't want to waste all my money on something that might not make much of a difference.

3. I force my landlord to pay for the things I mentioned in 2. They have been somewhat receptive to helping me out so far, but I don't know if they will be willing to drop a few hundred on me. Maybe go halfsies?

4. I move to a different apartment that the landlord owns. They have a pretty large selection of apartments. I'm just scared that if I move to a different one, there will be another neighbor problem (crying baby, drunk college kids, less parking spots), or worse, a smoker moves in near me a couple months later.

5. I move to somewhere that will guarantee me a smoke-free environment. Maybe I rent a small, cheap house so there aren't neighbor issues. I spend money breaking the lease if I can't get out of it from a medical excuse. I spend all of my free time for a few weeks packing up my things, hunting for a new place, and physically moving everything. I then hope that I can remove the remaining smoke smell from my possessions with more time and money.

Any of these seem better than the others? I'm kind of worried that I am going to either ruin all of my possessions, waste a lot of money trying to protect them, or both.

How many plants do you have?

This is the first and most important question. Never forget that our green brothers and sisters have been cleaning our bullshit air for billions of years. So, get lots of plants. Before you do something drastic.

I've smoked in every type of room, apartment and house I could think of. Places that don't smell of smoke have at least two things in common: plants & open windows. Basically, you need to circulate your old air with new air. Fresheners are a cherry on top, not a main.

You're going to want one bigass plant. As big as you can fit and afford. Then just pile in as many small ones as you can on shelves and corners. You'll be happier, living in a greener place, and it'll smell fine.

You should be able to find an apartment that doesn't allow indoor smoking if you look. That's really your best option.

Don't sweat the possibility of some different issue at the next place. Perfect apartment situations are rare, but they're also rarely so bad that you can't handle them.

Dude. If your GF got that sick that quickly....you might have a bigger problem than smokers. I might just be acting paranoid, but you might want to check for mold.

Wet towels under doors are good at keeping smoke for entering and leaving enclosed spaces. It's an old trick.

@mikehawk: Dude, if your girlfriend got sick after a few days it wasn't the smell of smoke. That just doesn't happen. Something else must have made her sick, I'd more concerned about that. Secondly, a few months of slight exposure won't show up in a medical exam. 20 years of moderate smoking probably won't show up in a medical exam.Thirdly, while the smell of smoke is gross and smoking is bad for your long term health, there's no need to be scared of getting used to the smell. Seriously dude, chill. The stress is probably doing more damage to you then the smell of your neighbors smoking.

Here is my idea and see if you like it

Have the landlord buy the ozone machine. Its GREAT for smells like removing chemical solvent smells, paint vapors, smoke, weird cooking odors, etc. So a landlord could use a $150 device for many things around that building, and he can "loan it to you" while you are there. Hell, just him using it in the other apartments when he has to rent them again would MORE than pay for it on his end.

Then you buy the Air Purifier/Filter and use it around the apartment. You will likely have uses for it at other apartments as well. I use mine year around for pollen and dust. Actually, using ist is rather nice because it cuts down on dust - if you have electronics like computers and consoles they won't suck up as much dust. Likely using some KILZ on the walls might help a bit too

Dryer sheets in the vents helped during college when people were smoking funny cigarettes.

@mikehawk: I don't know, but I suspect you wouldn't have to prove you're actually getting sick. It's not like any competent doctor is going to deny that second-hand smoke is bad for humans. I've always found doctors pretty willing to help with this kind of thing if they can (though I've never tried getting out of a lease). They want you to be healthy, and living in a smoke pit is not healthy. That said, I don't know your local regulations, so it's possible this isn't something a doctor can even help you with there, or there could be a substantial burden of proof on you. Can't hurt to go see about it though (assuming you have health insurance).

You should move to one of the landlord's other units until your lease is up, then move out of the building. You'll feel much better and you can't put a price on that.

@geraltitude: I can't vouch for the effectiveness of plants removing smoke, but that is definitely a refreshing idea. Plants are great! They improve any environment. Get a plant, everyone!

As a person who lives with a smoker, go with the plants to reduce the lingering smell of fresh smoke - we have a host of chilli plants and although I am certain our flat still gets stinky, non-smoking visitor are always surprised with how little it smells. If it is drifting in from elsewhere, a few dense plants near the vents could help. And even if not, plants are nice!

Pretty sure they figured it out by now.