WWYD Cigarette Smell in Apartment Hallway

[Raggedeannie]

My H and I have lived in our apartment for three years and really love the building. We've had very few problems with management and no problems at all with fellow tenants. About a month ago, I started to notice that our hallway (between our door and the west elevator) stinks of cigarette smoke. H commented that his allergies have been acting up. We don't smell it in our apartment and normally when I go to work, I take the east elevator and don't have to walk through areas that smells like smoke. When we take the car out for lunch or dinner, we have to walk to the west elevator.

Today when I opened the door, the smell in the hallway was quite strong. I asked management and was told that smoking is allowed inside the apartment units so there is nothing they could do. They suggested that we put a door stopper under our door to prevent the smoke from entering our apartment.

But the issue is not the smoke entering our apartment, but that we have to walk through it in the hallway on the way to the elevator. Shouldn't the tenant at fault put a door stopper under THEIR door? Can I write them a note and put it under their door asking them to do so? "Hey neighbor! I noticed that the hallway started smelling like cigarettes and it is upsetting my allergies. I don't mind if you smoke in your apartment, but would you mind putting a draft stopper under your door to keep the smoke from escaping into the hallway? Thanks!" Does this sound douchey?

FWIW, I've been able to narrow it down to about 3 apartments, but can't tell which one is the culprit.

[slug*bug]

We've been frequent apartment dwellers over the last few years and this is one of my huge pet peeves, so I hear you: I hate smelling cigarette smoke.

That said, I think this is one of those things that comes with apartment living. I don't think there's too much you can do unless they're smoking somewhere other than inside their apartment.

[bliss]

I think it's kinda douchey. It's the hallway. It sucks but it's one of those places that smoke gets trapped. If YOU have a hard time with it get glade plug-in for the hall or something.

I'm sure I'm in the minority on this one though.

[fuckstick]

You live in an apartment building. This is the kind of shit you unknowingly sign up for when you live in an apartment. Suck it up and deal with it.

[mrssavy42112]

You CAN do that, but it’s unlikely to get any results. We also have the same problem. The hallway reeeeeeeks of smoke. When we first went to see the place, the apartment itself didn’t smell like smoke at all. AT ALL. Then we move in & it was practically a sauna of smoke. We’ve spent so much time & money spraying the foam in the cracks of the wall, multiple air purifiers & also used the door guard. It has helped, but hasn’t gone away.

The management always says the same thing. They can’t tell a tenant what to do within their apartment. The fact that the smoke gets out & into the hallway or into the venting is something they can’t change. The guy told me, ‘smokers have rights too & telling them to stop is in violation of it.’ I’m not asking them to stop. I just don’t want it in MY apartment! *sigh* We’ll be out of here when our lease is up in February.

[vanillacourage]

I don't think leaving a note saying "I don't mind if you smoke in your apartment...." is going to get you the results you want.

I'm with the others that I would hate it too, but it's part of apartment living.

[jennistarr1]

It's not going to harm you, it's something that annoys you...I would just get past it

[LoveTrains]

Yeah, it totally sucks, but it is what it is. I would just try to get a thing to put under your door, or try to move to a non-smoking building. They are apparently now an option and getting some decent publicity around here. I believe a pretty nice bulding in Boston (Archstone Avenir) is smoke-free and I also think that they are making public housing smoke-free in Boston...but don't quote me on that. It might just be something that is being discussed.

[LoveTrains]

Aug 17, 2012 13:02:05 GMT -5 jennistarr1 said:

It's not going to harm you, it's something that annoys you...I would just get past it

Actually, walking through second hand smoke clouds can harm the OP. And there is also the tar/nicotine residue which can coat the hallways, the rugs, the walls, etc. It is nasty.

[Deleted]

It sucks but it is what it is. The woman who lives upstairs from us smokes and our hallway smells like smoke or fabric softener when our neighbor across the hall sprays it. The building next door which we have to go in to get to our storage unit smells like dirty Depends so there are worse things than smoke.

[Deleted]

It sucks, but that's just part of apartment living.