response 1 of 119:

Jan 19 03:47 UTC 2007

I do not need dead squirrels, we have one already, or other suggestions of
something similar.  We already have garlic, onions, and cabbage.  What spices
might I cook that would be strong smelling and lingering, other than chili
peppers?

response 3 of 119:

Jan 19 13:06 UTC 2007

I have some incense for you, Sindi.  I'll put it in an envelope 
and leave it on your porch sometime today.

response 5 of 119:

Jan 19 18:07 UTC 2007

Incense creates particulate matter, and could even be an allergen. I think
*all* smoke is unhealthy. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incense

"Recently research was carried out in Taiwan that linked the burning of
incense sticks to the release of minimal amounts of carcinogens by measuring
the levels of Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons within Buddist temples. Sitting
in a smokey room, all day, every day may cause cancer after many years."

What exactly is the object of smelling up your place, Sindi? To get back at
the neighbor with her smoking? I'd instead start with the department of public
health since it is rental property, and there is a problem if you can detect
a neighbor smoking. 

response 7 of 119:

Jan 20 01:59 UTC 2007

The police said there is no law against smoke or smells going between
apartments.  So the only way to prevent it is for neighbors to cooperate, or
block wherever it is getting through.  We have put many hours into trying to
block it.  It is reduced but still enough to make me feel sick for several
days whenever I spend a few hours there.  The upstairs neighbor claims to be
a respiratory therapist/technician with allergies.  The police also did not
seem concerned about doors slamming.  The front doors slam if people go
through them from the front hallway without holding them as they close.  I
have asked Jim to put a door closer on the door that we put onto my living
room.  It might help keep the smoke level down in the living room, where I
have a window open, since the smoke appears to be coming up the basement
stairs and maybe also directly into the kitchen.  We could also put a door
closer on the basement door.  I cannot seal it off because my bathroom is in
the basement, which is why there is this problem in the first place.  The
leaky ductwork from upstairs runs through my apartment (in the basement). 
We sealed off the front door already (to the smoky hall).  
Thanks for the incense, Mary.  The porch of the new house?  (We are at Jim's
for a few days).  Thanks for the curry suggestion slynne.  I could add some
extra chili peppers to Jim's portion, since he likes chili peppers.  
He says he also likes garlic, which I don't usually cook.  And I like onions
and cabbage fried together, maybe with curry powder.  

Having the fan blow into the living room helped for a while until the car
fumes started coming in.  The front yard is used for parking.  Having them
blow out pulled the strong ashtray smell into the living room.  I may have
to open a third window  and blow into the living room right next to my desk
if the door closer does not help.  If it does work, I can leave the kitchen
door wide open and the basement door (to the kitchen) wide open and run the
bathroom exhaust fan.

My neighbor got very upset at a very small amount of noise when we were
moving a small wooden strip on the front doorframe to adjust the
weatherstripping, at 3 pm.  If she complains about slamming doors, I can
complain about slamming doors at all hours and explain why I need a door
closer to keep the smoke out of my living room.  

I don't know how much incense I would need to burn to equal the amount of
carcinogens produced by two packs of cigarettes a day.  Kiwanis probably has
more if I need it.  I have occasionally burnt onions by accident.

We might keep trying to plug holes in the heating system by running a fan in
the kitchen door blowing out, while walking around downstairs with a lit
candle.  

response 9 of 119:

Jan 20 16:08 UTC 2007

Someone suggested discussing this with the neighbor's therapist but that would
require cooperation, which I have never had from the neighbor.  We are waiting
a few days to see whether it helped for the police to talk to the neighbor
about not smoking in the apartment.  He said she was addicted and could not
be expected to quit.  I said she had quit for a few months and just started
again recently, at which point he said he would talk to her.  I did not talk
to him again after this.  He also said there was no city law against smells
between apartments.  Complaining to the city might just get both apartments
closed.

There is a $650/month including heat apartment for rent not far from where
she works (less than a mile, free U of M bus).  The landlord has not been home
for a couple of days.  I want him to suggest this to her, and also pass along
my offer of me paying $50/month towards her rent there from whenever she moves
until the end of this year.  It would probably be cheaper than she pays now,
considering she is heating to about 80 without storm windows, on the top floor
with 3.5" of insulation above and none in the walls.  My place is still about
55-60 with two windows open, and drops to no less than 48 in the kitchen with
the door open wide for a few hours.  

The side apartment here will probably also be opening in the next month or
two and is a large efficiency, probably a bit cheaper.  Not many windows, but
she sleeps days anyway and ran an air conditioner last summer instead of
opening up.  

response 11 of 119:

Jan 20 19:51 UTC 2007

The lease did not forbid smoking indoors.  I was lucky that the last two
upstairs smokers lived with nonsmokers and went out on the balcony to smoke.
She does not want to get cold.  So I have two windows and a door open instead.
Getting both apartments closed would not solve my problem of a place to live.
We are going to keep working on the physical problem, starting with
weatherstripping two doors and maybe then running the bathroom exhaust fan
continuously, leaving the kitchen door open when I am there, and putting a
door closer on the door between kitchen and living room.  Also spending more
time in the basement with a lit candle and a fan upstairs blowing out, which
pulls the smell upstairs immediately.  That might make it easier to find more
leaks.  The front hall is already sealed off from my place, that worked.
Jim also adjusted the door from the back basement to my basement to close
tightly.  And of course we put duct tape over all visible cracks, or drywall
compound in the larger holes, in ducts and wall, and plastic over all my heat
vents.  
I am probably the only one in Ann Arbor running a window fan this month.
More on Monday.  I need another couple days to recover from the smoke
poisoning.  

response 13 of 119:

Jan 21 07:01 UTC 2007

If you devoted the time you have spent working on this problem working on the
new house instead, you might get it finished enough to move into and the
problem would be solved.  You said that you couldn't move into the new place
because there wasn't any plumbing.  Fully plumbing a house shouldn't take more
than a day or two, especially if the wall covering isn't up yet.

response 15 of 119:

Jan 21 15:56 UTC 2007

Glenda, have you ever designed and installed plumbing in a new house?  The
plumbing also has to go in after the heating, and the heating is going in the
floor, and the floor goes in last, after the ventilation and wiring and
wallboard and windows (we have only storm windows in now) and painting and
doors and probably a few other things.  We might be able to put in temporary
wired-in heat and plumbing before the floors but there is a lot more to do
first.  Most of our time is spent doing research and design.  This month we
are insulating the cellar ceiling under the porch and we need to paint a
board.  There is a well ventilated furnace room under my apartment that can
be used to paint so I will get that much use out of my apartment.

The taxes were $1400/year and I forget what they went up to this year (with
inflation).  They will be about $4000 when the house is done plus whatever
percentage the average house price goes up between now and then, on the part
that is not done yet.  Minus $1200 back from MI, which has not gone up in 25
years despite everything else at least doubling.  Still a bit cheaper than
rent, even if you add water and heat costs.

We have most of the materials, except for heating system, concrete for the
floors, wallboard, and interior windows, and glass for the front porches.
All of this together might be as much as I pay for two CT scans.  I will be
done with CT scans in winter of 2009 and hope to have much of the house done
by then too or at least 250 square feet with plumbing.

Off to paint a board and maybe weatherstrip my apartment doors.

response 17 of 119:

Jan 21 17:06 UTC 2007

The landlord says she will be out by September and probably this spring.
He persuaded one family to move (they had two adults and two kids in a small
1BR, and two cars in the driveway by driving them past each other through my
yard at all hours) by raising the rent.  We won't be working on the house from
early Feb to late March so I don't need to cook for us at my place (which is
a block away) and after that it won't be so bad to have all the windows open
until July, when the furnace will go off.  It is running when it is 75 out.

First we will try the weatherstripping and door closers.  The police told me
it is not unreasonable to be nailing things at 3 pm, which she complained of
last time we weatherstripped the front door.   And that there is no law
against letting doors slam, like she does at all hours going in and out.  The
door closers will help keep smoke from going between rooms.  The
weatherstripping will also help us determine if the smoke is only coming from
the basement, in which case we can seal off the basement door and use a bucket
instead of the bathroom for a few months.  

I got a large bag of weatherstripping (paste-on foam) from freecycle.
We can burn incense in the cellar and test whether the door is airtight.
Or weatherstrip before painting a board down there today.  There is no city
law against painting during the winter, which my landlord did one February
in the hallway so I had to leave my window open for a month.

response 19 of 119:

Jan 21 23:29 UTC 2007

Lots of friends have offered to help and sometimes we use help, but right now
there is nothing for even me to do, and when there is, it is mostly research.
We spent the day discovering that two microwave ovens, a stereo system, and
a tape deck here no longer work, and a serial mouse was confusing the computer
so the modem was not working, then we heated up leftovers and picnicked at
40 degrees.   My hands are too cold to type now so bye.  

response 21 of 119:

Jan 22 06:58 UTC 2007

Our plumbing is all (with one exception) going into the interior walls, which
are completely open.  In Austria someone showed me how he was putting plumbing
in the concrete block walls (with a chisel).  

Shouldn't Cross be asking what plumbing has to do with incense?

response 23 of 119:

Jan 22 16:43 UTC 2007

We will be running most of the electrical wiring in surface conduit or
wiremold, after the wallboard.  We have temporary fluorescent shop lights in
now, very handy.  Most of the comforts of home.  The toilet gets flushed with
rain water and we bring over bottles of drinking water and try to wash dishes
with them.  I froze yesterday, a hot bath did not thaw me, and I am spending
the day trying to get warm (mostly in bed) while Jim weatherstrips the first
door, which might contain the smoke (in the basement) or at least will let
us know if it is coming from both sides of that door.  Weatherstripping the
door to the front hall eliminated half the problem, last summer.  Three more
doors to weatherstrip after that, if necessary.  I could seal off the laundry
room (and wash in the kitchen sink?), which is where the return air passes
through a channel formed by nailing a sheet of metal over the joists, but then
there is a risk of the pipes there freezing.  No basement wall insulation 
The ductwork there is an absolute mess, some of it leftover from before it
was split into apartments and not used.  

If I have to seal off the entire basement area, we would have to use a bucket
as a toilet.  I doubt privies are legal in the city.  A usable kitchen would
be nice.  The smoke may be coming in through holes in the floor (where the
gas piping comes in for the stove, in two different places).