My Neighbor's Smoke is Killing Me! Good Questions: My Neighbor's Smoke is Killing Me!Second-hand smoke is invading my apartment. I have a new neighbor and her nonstop smoking is making me sick. I'd pay anything for a good air purifier ( I am that miserable), I just need to know which one to get. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! This is a real bummer. The best answers we know of are really sealing whatever the cracks are between your apartments and also getting a good air purifier. While good ones can be expensive, we have heard remarkable things about this one: the IQ air purifier. We got this tip from a friend who was also suffering from smoke difficulties. If you want cheaper, we'd also recommend a big Honeywell air purifier with a big carbon filter - which is what really kills the smell. • Good Questions: Cleaning the Air After a Fire? • Good Questions: Smoking Neighbors? • House of L & G: The Air Since Then... Apartment and condo dwellers, particularly residents of drafty older buildings, call us daily about the problem of secondhand smoke wafting into their homes.

Will an air purifier work? Where do I put it? Some customers have even gone as far as to purchase an air purifier for their smoking neighbors. You will need an air purifier that can remove the hundreds of particulate and chemicals in smoke. An air purifier with HEPA filtration will help remove the chemicals and gases in smoke. Cheaper air purifier models found in home improvement stores typically have a few ounces of activated carbon, whereas an air purifier that can truly clean up the smoke contains pounds. Alen, Austin Air, and Allerair air purifier units have the capability to remove smoke, depending on the amount of smoke and your budget. Where do I put the air purifier? If it is clear where the secondhand smoke is entering the dwelling, place the air purifier near it. If unclear, keep it in your main living area during the day and move it to the bedroom at night. If you prefer not to move it, the highest priority location is the bedroom. The respiratory system slows down during sleeping hours when one needs clean air most.

Will an air purifier really help with secondhand smoke? One that is appropriate for smoke will help significantly. car headlight cleaning with toothpasteWhen you change the filter for the first time and see the tar and gunk that is in the filter, you will be horrified, but you will also be a believer!ratings on holmes air purifiersKat Haig had finally had enough.air cleaner for quadrajet Enough of the downstairs neighbor in her four-plex building in Colorado Springs smoking marijuana “like a chimney.” Enough of the all-too-distinct-smelling smoke filtering up, somehow, into the apartment she shared with her son and daughter, ages 6 and 3. “It was to the point where my kids were asking, ‘What is that awful smell?’

” said Haig, 27. “It was pretty bad. “One day I just went, ‘This is enough. This can’t be good for (my daughter),’ ” Haig said. “So I just went down there.” She didn’t know her neighbor all too well, but Haig laid out the situation as politely as she could: Her daughter had breathing problems and, well, every time he lit up, their apartment upstairs did, too, with the smell. “He was so embarrassed. He had no idea I could smell it up here,” she said. “I didn’t smell it again.” Haig’s story ended well — that same neighbor later moved out — but anyone who has ever had neighbors knows that’s not always the case. Neighbors can feud about nearly everything — barking dogs, unkempt front yards, loud parties, cigarette smoke. And now, with marijuana legal for adult recreational use and more available than ever, weed joins the list, whether it’s smoke wafting in your windows or a pungent grow operation next door. The funk next door

You may find it offensive, but that neighbor lighting up a joint in his or her backyard is likely not doing anything wrong, legally speaking, as long as they are at least 21 and on their own property. “It’s like smoking a cigarette — if you’re on your back patio smoking a cigarette, you’re not doing anything illegal,” said Steve Davis, spokesman for the Lakewood Police Department. “Someone is doing something that’s legal on their own property,” he said. “We don’t always have the authority to do anything about it.” Like many cities throughout Colorado, Lakewood has a moratorium on retail marijuana sales and no specific rules guiding where pot can be consumed on residential property. In Denver, it’s legal for adults to use marijuana on their own property or with the owner’s permission. The Denver City Council, at one point, was considering a policy that would have banned smoking marijuana on private property if it was in public view — and even further, if it could be smelled by neighbors.

Neither effort took flight, though, so as long as you own the property — or have the owner’s OK — the front yard, front porch, back patio and backyard are all fair game. If you rent, on the other hand, landlords are legally allowed to prohibit marijuana use of any kind on their premises. In Haig’s case, her landlord in Colorado Springs hasn’t said anything, but many apartment complexes throughout the state are banning pot, including all federally subsidized housing projects. Rent or own, if you live in Denver and have a smell-related problem, you can always call the city’s odor police. From Jan. 1 through the end of March, Denver’s Department of Environmental Health received 13 odor complaints related to marijuana, according to spokeswoman Meghan Hughes. So far, all complaints have stemmed from the cultivation of the plant in commercial grow operations and in a few cases, personal grows in residential neighborhoods. Some callers didn’t even know the musky aroma was pot until the city came on scene to investigate, Hughes said.

None were in violation of the city’s odor law, and in fact, smells in general rarely reach that threshold, said Ben Siller, a city investigator responsible for looking into odor complaints and signing off on commercial grow permits. Violations occur only when an odor exceeds a 7-1 ratio — when one volume of odor is detectable within seven or more volumes of non-odorous air. Think industrial-level smells, like a smelting plant, Hughes said. “Growing marijuana or smoking it is never going to violate that standard,” Siller said. Still, Siller said the city investigates every odor complaint it receives. Sometimes, there can be easy solutions to irksome aromas — such as a commercial grow facility that just needs a reminder to replace its activated-carbon air filters. In one case earlier this year, the city received a complaint about a house in southeast Denver with a “discernible odor from the street,” he said. Siller involved the city’s Neighborhood Inspection Services, and upon further investigation, they found some 25 marijuana plants in the residence, well above the maximum

allowed for personal recreational use. “That didn’t violate our odor standards, but by bringing down the number of plants at the address, it probably reduced the odor,” Siller said. “There really shouldn’t be much of an odor if you’re within the limits, which is 12 plants.” Whether it’s marijuana, tobacco smoke or barking dogs, all neighbor conflicts share many of the same dynamics, said Clay Fong, program manager for the City of Boulder Community Mediation Service. “Managing conflict is difficult for people,” Fong said. “Marching right over there immediately might not be the best option.” Many tend to look at their homes as their castles, but almost everyone is part of a larger community and has an interest in maintaining a good relationship with those around them, he said. “Every living circumstance has some degree of compromise, no matter where you live, unless you have no neighbors around for miles,” Fong said. Nip neighbor problems in the bud

Clay Fong, program manager of the City of Boulder Community Mediation Service, offers tips for approaching a neighbor about a bothersome issue. Assess your comfort level. How comfortable are you approaching your neighbor? Is a face-to-face conversation or leaving a note better for you?If your buttons are “really pushed,” you may want to wait a day or two to cool down, Fong said. But generally, the sooner you act to address an issue constructively, the less likely it is to escalate into one of those neighbor horror stories.Explain the impact of your neighbor’s action — maybe you’re more sensitive to smoke — but don’t make it a personal attack.You don’t want to come off like you’re making a one-sided demand. “What we want to do is say, ‘Stop this behavior!’ — but look at it as an opportunity to build neighborliness moving forward,” Fong said. “Offer some positive solutions and don’t look at it as a battle.”If you’re getting nowhere or feel uncomfortable, free or low-cost mediation is an option in many communities along the Front Range.