My daughter moved into a new apartment in Indianapolis. The apartment is on 2nd floor and it is supposed to be a non-smoking apartment. But the couple downstairs smokes all day and the smell is coming to her apartment.

Apartment management is refusing to take any action. Is there anything she can do to mask the smell?

Breaking the lease is not an option, she is stuck for 12 months.

Please send me your suggestions to mask the smell / reduce the smell.

Zep Smoke Odor Eliminator does a reasonable job with smoke smells left behind. I'm not sure how well it would work on an on-going basis. Odor Control foggers might be worth investigating as well.

I like that Zep product also.

Warning -

It will get worse before it gets better.

Are you certain she doesn't have case of sudden settling asthma and she needs a reasonable accommodation from management?

If the smell is creeping in I do not see much help coming from the sprays and such. She will have to keep spraying every day and that will get old really fast.

I doubt that sealing all the spots where smoke can enter will help either.

My duplexes are slowly becoming non-smoking. But I can't make one side non when people on the other side smoke. It gets in everything and everywhere.

If she signed a lease stating non-smoking environment then she should pursue that. Maybe other tenants are complaining as well?

Sorry I did not answer the question.

Here is a small list of things that will mask the smell of smoke sometimes.

-Cat Urine

-Wet dog

-Curry

-Anything medium or above in size that has been dead for a while

When she viewed the apartment, before moving in, did she not recognize this?

It would be really bad if the buildings alarm system went off every time this happened.

If it is visible where smoke is coming in maybe water can travel out the same way.

If she knocks on the downstairs tenants door and they answer with a cigarette in their mouth, perhaps a big bucket of water in the face will put out the fire.

First of all is this just a two-story building? Are there other units that they complain or feel the smoke is coming into their apartment?

Note Walmart's sell theatrical smoke machines, and they are really cheap the day or two after Halloween,

they can produce a LOT of non-toxic smoke. I got a couple of them to fill apartment up with smoke and then I use a big window fan,tape it up around the shroud with plastic and duct tape to seal it off,. And then blow the air from outside into the unit.pressurizing the house/apt,. I also get the remote control for both fan and the smokers so I can be outside when this is done. (Also disable the smoke Detectors.) Give it a little while for the smoke to build in the unit and then turn the fan on by remote.

I do this to houses and some apartments to find air leaks for energy conservation. So any leaks between your daughter's apartment and those tenants might see what happens from air leaks,.. the smoke will greatly show up in the upstairs apartment. You might say you do this for disinfectant reasons, (its not exactly true but maybe it might stop viruses and fungi from leaking into her unit,)..and let them know that it will be done weekly,.so that it might inspire them to do leak sealing themselves or hire somebody to seal all those leaks.It usually only take a few hours and a few tubs of clear caulk,.We like Dap products, goes on milky and dries clear, That should help immensely.

by the way I often hear from people not to get their house too tight. We have tried heroics to see how tightly could get a property as a game.Never been able to get an older house too tight,.. If your place is more than a few decades old I challage you to try. People are often amazed to see where the smoke is coming out from the exterior of their house. Now you can also get information by using a real blower door,.. some states or utility companies that do this for free showing how leaky or not your houses is,( via a blower door).. however they can't tell you where the leaks are coming from a pressurized house. Again we have tried to find leaks by using the fan in both directions sealing the cracks inside and outside and still usually fall short of having a too tight house.as per the blower door instruments report

I have a tenant, a master samurai with a sword, handed down thru three generations. He is also the Chair of the Philosophy department at a major University. As we both agree (him and I) the "Pen" is mightier than his sword.

Is your child sent his Landlord a registered letter, saying:

"He rented a non-smoking unit due to his Medical Needs". Don't go into detail. His is putting the Landlord on notice that unless he remedies this downstairs tenants CONSTANT SMOKING the comes up thru the ceiling and thru his flooring/walls, molding, Causing him to have to Leave the unit in fear of a serious reaction. He is entittled to Peace and Quit under the Housing Rules.

That unless resolved soon, he will have to look for another place to live and the entire cost of packing, moving, another landlords credit/background check, thru on utility services, AND if the rent is higher, he will have to cover the difference. Expect a $5,000 bill.

Most of the people that I see these days come from the poor side of town. Its amazing what smoking costs, not only the costs of cigarette's but all the associated costs, esp health impact. The American Cancer Association says it works out to be 35.00 a pack,..I first thought that was way overblown but after looking into it,.. I think its pretty close, Not only health care. The average pack now costs from about 5.00 in Kentucky to almost 13.00 in NYC.I believe the average in the US is over 7.00.

If you want to see some interesting facts Google THE REAL COSTS OF SMOKING,..you can look at different sources but they all are pretty close to what a lifetime of smoking cost in just the cigarette cost of one pack a day,

In my town their seems to be panhandlers on every main St intersections,..it seems like most of them have a lit smoke in their mouths with signs of please donate me money,.

I don't know how many packs a day they consume but I think it has to be more than one.

I make a pretty good buck, but I think smoking is too expensive for me.

Anyone old enough to remember that fathers use to give out cigars with either pink or blue wrapping to celebrate their child's birth,..I guess assuming that many guys would appreciate and smoke a cigar.