| Grex > Classified > #1188: WANTED: incense |
| response 75 of 119: | 
Feb 4 03:57 UTC 2007 |
The lights are all on next door upstairs. So much for avoiding stairs if you have carpal tunnel syndrome. The currently-upstairs neighbor is walking around so quietly you hardly know she is there, and going in and out without letting the door closer slam the door. We have a month's laundry to do now that the back basement won't be smoky. We celebrated by walking three miles to Kroger and filling a large back pack with grapefruit and pineapple juice concentrate, and a large package of organic blue corn chips with non-GMO rapeseed oil and low salt, and some sweet potatoes. The Kroger employees are really nice people. The cashier said she likes scanning cases of beer for exercise. She did our 32 cans of juice really skillfully. The guy unpacking cans of tomatoes tried to find us a large size organic tomato paste. The juice unpacker told us how he lost a tooth trying to protect a cashier from shoplifters, and a few other stories of grocery crime.
| response 76 of 119: |
Feb 7 22:14 UTC 2007 |
The furnace room is still so stinky I feel sick after spending 20 seconds in there taking down my laundry. It has two 6" holes to the outside and someone propped open the door to the rest of the cellar. I hear it is pretty bad upstairs. I am offering to put in a clean filter if the upstairs neighbor leaves me one. She talked to us this morning - told us we had to wait to let in the phone company to hook up her phone (he came before we left for the airport) and also told me to call the repairman for her (she forgot I called her to get his number and neither of us have it). How long does an apartment take to stop stinking after a smoker moves out? It might help to scrub all the walls and floors, but that won't clean out the ductwork. First smoker here in at least 25 years, not counting two who went out on the balcony.
| response 77 of 119: |
Feb 7 22:22 UTC 2007 |
Well Sindi, I would say that you probably have a more sensitive sense of smell than most people. Most people I know have gotten rid of the smoke smell from their houses after quitting by re-painting and by steam cleaning the floors, rugs, furniture. I have heard of people replacing the drywall too but that seems a bit extreme to me.
| response 78 of 119: |
Feb 7 23:51 UTC 2007 |
The stinky furniture moved next door. There are no rugs. Maybe it would help if she washed the walls, ceiling, and floors. Painting would just add another stink. I wonder what it would cost to steam clean her ductwork. Jim's kitchen smelled bad for a few days after he microwaved some old beets until they caught on fire.
| response 79 of 119: |
Feb 7 23:54 UTC 2007 |
I think there are companies that clean ductwork for $50 or so.
| response 80 of 119: |
Feb 8 00:02 UTC 2007 |
Everything for People Concerned About Smoking & Nonsmokers' Rights
FIRST on the Internet for Smoking News and Documents
Wash. Post: Ridding A New Home of Tobacco Smoke is Time-Consuming and
Expensive [03/17-2]
Excerpts from: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes -- and in the Carpet and the
Curtains . .
By Cheryl Kenny [7]Washington Post [03/17/05]
It's the unwanted houseguest that just won't leave: the stale,
lingering odor of tobacco smoke. Getting rid of it can be
time-consuming and expensive. Just ask Kathy and David Houle.
Six years ago, the Houles bought a 1947 Colonial in Arlington that had
been owned by chain smokers for 25 years. "We were very nervous that
we weren't going to be able to get the smell out," said Kathy Houle.
Their worries were well founded: It took a year to get rid of the
odor.
The couple stripped wallpaper and washed the plaster walls beneath it,
then painted. They scoured trim, windows, light fixtures. They
scrubbed the mahogany front door, then sealed the wood with tung oil.
They replaced carpeting, the kitchen's linoleum floor and the dining
room's hardwood -- changes they probably would have made without a
tobacco problem -- but the odor persisted.
They turned to professional cleaners, even having their metal window
blinds cleaned and the nicotine-yellowed cords replaced. They hired a
chimney sweep to clear cigarette odor from their fireplace. They even
had their HVAC ductwork cleaned. "Getting the ducts cleaned was key,"
said Houle. "[The cleaners] told me it was some of the worst they'd
seen, filled with black gunk. And they said it was from smoking."
The Houles eventually eliminated the odor, but it took countless hours
of labor and thousands of dollars to do it.
A dingy, nicotine film and noxious smells are only a few of the good
reasons to rid a home of tobacco odors. The smell can bother people
with allergies and other health concerns. It also can discourage those
who are trying to quit smoking.
The stench can even make it harder to sell a house. Chris Rhodes, an
agent with Long & Foster Real Estate, has seen potential home buyers
"turn on their heels" when they get a whiff of tobacco. "If a house is
pristine but smells like smoke . . . that's the buyer's first
impression. There is an incredible link between smell and memory,"
said Rhodes. Odors are unlikely to be a deal-breaker in Washington's
tight market, he said, but they could delay a sale under more normal
circumstances.
Jeff Bishop is a technical adviser for the Institute of Inspection,
Cleaning and Restoration Certification, a nonprofit that certifies
firms and technicians in cleaning and restoration.
Bishop said smoke odors from cigars, cigarettes and pipes (all about
equally hard to get out) are among the most difficult smells to
eliminate. Smoke particles are so small -- about .01 to 1 micron (a
human hair is 75 microns) -- that they penetrate the tiniest spaces.
He outlines four principles for removing any odor, including tobacco:
get rid of the source, clean all surfaces, neutralize remaining odors
and use sealants to cover hard surfaces if necessary.
"Fundamentally, that's it," said Bishop, author of 13 books related to
cleaning and restoration. "You have to get rid of that film of
nicotine to get rid of the odor."
Hard Surfaces
For walls, fixtures and other hard surfaces, Bishop suggests using
cleaners that include an alkaline builder, such as ammonia, and a
glycol solvent (look for a chemical name with "glycol" in it, he
said). Read labels carefully, because cleaners that work on durable
surfaces, such as kitchen counters, may not be appropriate for wood.
For walls and ceilings, washing should be followed by a fresh coat of
paint. Bishop recommends starting with a stain-blocking sealer/primer
such as Kilz. The undercoat prevents nicotine particles, which are
small enough to penetrate latex paint, from bleeding through.
Wood and linoleum floors should be thoroughly scrubbed with
appropriate cleaners.
Porous surfaces
Carpeting should be cleaned by shampooing or steam cleaning. Sometimes
even carpet cleaning isn't enough for tobacco smells, says Jim
Sellers, general manager of ServiceMaster of Arlington. "The padding
under the carpet may have absorbed the odor, and carpet cleaning does
not clean the pad." In that case, carpet and padding may have to be
replaced.
Upholstered furniture should be professionally cleaned and deodorized,
Sellers said, because the wrong cleaner could cause colors to bleed.
As with carpeting, nicotine may penetrate the furniture's padding,
rendering surface cleaning ineffective.
Henry Head, the ServiceMaster production manager who was part of the
team that helped clean the Pentagon after Sept. 11, said dry-cleaning
drapes probably won't eliminate tobacco odor. He suggested that some
porous items, such as lampshades, can be cleaned with a "chem sponge,"
a dry-cleaning sponge often used to remove soot.
Head said normally only the covers of books must be cleaned. The pages
usually will not absorb smoke odors if books are closed and kept in
bookcases.
Heating and cooling systems
Nicotine odors can get into heating and air conditioning ducts. Tom
Keys, president of Atlantic Duct Cleaning Inc. in Sterling, said
removing such odors actually is easier when ducts are dirty.
"The best for us is to have the ducts dirty already, so the odors
[adhere to] the dust, and we can remove them all together." If ducts
are not dust-coated, nicotine sticks to the metal, requiring contact
cleaning -- wiping the surface -- for effective removal.
Ducts lined with fiberglass insulation require specialized cleaning
techniques. Nicotine leaches into insulation, so it is sometimes
necessary to replace the insulation or ductwork to remove the smell,
Keys said.
Smoke particles also can adhere to the inside of chimneys; thorough
cleaning can remove them.
Neutralizing odors
When odors persist after the cleaning is done, it may be necessary to
neutralize them.
There are two ways. One is to apply a chemical opposite of the
material that is causing the odor, usually through a fogging machine
that converts the chemical to a gas for maximum dispersement.
Head questions the effectiveness of those "pairing" chemicals. "To
chemically counteract an odor, you must use an exact opposite," Head
notes. "Since every brand of cigarette is slightly different . . . one
chemical may not be effective in treating a particular brand."
However, IICRC's Bishop maintains that chemical neutralizers cover a
broad enough spectrum of odors to make them "fairly effective."
Bishop and Head agree that ozone oxidation is the most effective way
to neutralize smoke odors. In that process, an ozone generator
converts oxygen into ozone, destroying odor molecules in the process.
High-powered, whole-house generators, which require that everything
that survives on oxygen -- people, pets, plants -- be removed from the
home, floods the home with ozone, usually for three days. The cost is
roughly $300.
TV infomercials and Internet sites hawk products and devices to
eliminate the odor of tobacco. Head, who labels the Internet "the
largest source of misinformation on odor issues," contends that in his
15 years in the business, he has never come across an Internet product
that works.
For households with smokers, Bishop recommends a HVAC air filter that
catches particles as small as 1 micron. Head said ionizers, which
catch particles through an electrostatic charge, reduce airborne smoke
particles but do not remove particles already adhered to surfaces.
For short-term exposure to tobacco smoke, Bishop suggests limiting the
smoker to one room and placing a small fan near an open window to pull
the smoke out.
Smoking outside helps reduce tobacco odor but does not eliminate it:
Clothes absorb the smell, which then transfers to closets and drawers.
[14]Raising Smoking in a Custody Dispute
[15]Smoking in Condos and [16]Apartments
[17]File Complaints Against Smoking
[18]Toxins in Tobacco Smoke
[19]Dangers of Secondhand Smoke
[20]Govt. Rpt. on Secondhand Smoke
[21]Tobacco Class-Action Law Suits
[22]Sue-Big-Tobacco List of Lawyers
[23]Tobacco Settlement, Multistate
[24]ASH's New International Site
[25]Smoking Facts & Statistics
[26]Children and Smoking
Presented as a public service by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH),
2013 H Street, N.W., Wash., DC 20006, USA, (202) 659-4310.
ASH is a 36-year-old national legal-action antismoking and nonsmokers'
rights organization which is entirely supported by tax-deductible
contributions.
Please credit ASH, and include ASH's web address: http://ash.org
| response 81 of 119: |
Feb 11 15:50 UTC 2007 |
I talked to the repairman (asked him to replace the furnace filter so the furnace room will not smell like an ashtray when I hang laundry in the basement) and he said he is painting the upstairs apartment. The windows are open there. It would have been a lot less stinky to just wash the walls. He has no idea why she moved in before he painted. The new neighbor is no more friendly than the old one but at least she does not yell obscenities and pound on the door. I left a polite note asking if my playing piano after 8 pm would interfere with her sleep. (She is unemployed but chooses to sleep from 8 pm to 4 am). I got back a nasty note and a nasty phone message to the effect that of course anyone would object to piano playing at 8 pm when they are getting ready to go to sleep. She is half deaf, and I really wanted to know if she could even hear it without her hearing aid in. The last two neighbors actually told me they liked my piano playing (and the police were never even called about it!). The paint smell is not coming through the ductwork, but I burned the oatmeal this morning so had to open the kitchen door. The neighbor showed up at it and demanded to know what I had done to the water, she had no water. Some questioning revealed low hot water pressure, which is normal around here, off and on. I tried to explain this to her. Then she asked what I was doing with the cardboard box of newsprint she had put in the trash. (I removed it when I transferred some plastic from the front porch paper recycling bin to the can, which had filled since pickup Friday, and was going to recycle it). She told me I should never take anything out of anyone's trash. I told her to go complain to someone else and closed the door. I will ask the landlord to let her know I am not the resident manager (I don't want to be responsible for letting in the phone company, or the water pressure, or if she blows a fuse either). The third apartment may have been taking a shower. The upstairs neighbor should have good pressure at 4 am to 5:30 am (which is when the radio next door went on full blast for 30 min one time when Jim stayed here). Jim expects not to be called again to fix her phone service, her computer, or her fax machine, or to move furniture. I wonder what makes some people so angry at the world. Mary, we never did use your incense, do you want it back?
| response 82 of 119: |
Feb 11 17:22 UTC 2007 |
You could write a collection of short stories about your neighbors!
| response 83 of 119: |
Feb 11 18:07 UTC 2007 |
Feel free to publish with fictitious characters. Did I ever tell you about the feuds between another neighbor and the one upstairs (she insisted on moving her mailbox away from his) or between that neighbor and a previous one next door (#1 did not want #2 to park in the driveway while unloading groceries even though #1 has no car - just in case friends wanted to drive to the door). Or the neighbor who was senile (but friendly) and one day another neighbor came to my door to report that the senile neighbor was last seen headed towards Main St. in a red bathrobe. We both went after her and found her at the store just as her relatives showed up. Or the really crazy neighbor who had two large barking dogs in the back yard (no pets allowed by our landlord) and threatened to shoot anyone who came near, and broke the window of another apartment one night (she said she forgot her key and thought it was her window), and used to have wild parties and blow all the fuses in the house. SHe disappeared suddenly, and the next tenant was getting phone calls (she left her phone and phone account) from the city drug enforcement branch. My landlord is not fussy about security deposits. I am hoping not to have anyone but friends knocking on my door from now on. It is nice and quiet here now. Despite an open window upstairs (paint smell) the furnace is only running half as often as it was when it was 40 degrees out, before Jim reconnected the disconnected ductwork and plugged some holes. My first upstairs neighbor used to juggle bowling balls for fun, at midnight. There was one who used to try to kill herself once in a while. Has anyone else at grex had strange neighbors?
| response 84 of 119: |
Feb 11 18:31 UTC 2007 |
I don't need the incense back, Sindi.
| response 85 of 119: |
Feb 12 19:31 UTC 2007 |
Another neighbor who has been helping this one said she called the police and asked about the legality of removing things from trash cans on private property and was told it was not legal. She apparently did not tell them it was not her private trash can, but one shared by the house. When I called the police out of curiosity and described this as a shared trash can, out of which I had taken a large cardboard box of newsprint to recycle and so I could put my real trash in (on Sunday it was full, after a Friday pickup) the woman answering questions was quite amused and said she thought it was a 'good idea' to recycle paper that I found in my trash can and 'you're fine' legally. The only way to get trash into the two 96 gal cans shared by four people in 3 apartments is to either put it in right after pickup, or remove something that is in there and recycle it, because they are always full of construction trash from the landlord's other house next door. So the nice neighbor may stop helping this one now, but is enjoying the details of the soap opera, 'better than TV'. I wonder who she will get to fix her car and computer for free after this.
| response 86 of 119: |
Feb 12 20:31 UTC 2007 |
I think you should just finally have it out with her over a game of rock/scissors/paper
| response 87 of 119: |
Feb 13 00:42 UTC 2007 |
Have what out? I don't expect to have anything more to do with her.
| response 88 of 119: |
Feb 13 01:34 UTC 2007 |
Yea, except I'm guessing she's not going to let you off the hook so easily.
| response 89 of 119: |
Feb 13 05:29 UTC 2007 |
Off what hook? She can't keep me awake at night because I gave up sleeping downstairs from a kitchen long ago and go somewhere else. It is hardly to her advantage to start a battle of the noises since she does sleep there. I asked the nice neighbor to pass along to her that she should contact the landlord or repairman if she has problems with the water or needs to let the phone company in, not me.
| response 90 of 119: |
Feb 13 14:35 UTC 2007 |
re:trash It is my understanding that once a person puts something into the trash and sets it out at the curb, they no longer own it and anyone can legally come along and take whatever they want. In the case where the bins are on private property to be used collectively, it might be more hazy but I'll bet that since you also have access to those particular garbage cans, it is ok for you to remove stuff. At any rate, as I am sure you already know, your chances of having the cops bust you for it even if it is illegal are about 0%
| response 91 of 119: |
Feb 13 14:56 UTC 2007 |
Someone on the freecycle list wants to come pick up my collection of cardboard boxes, maybe Thursday morning on her way to check out the Kiwanis collection, and the one I took from the trash can is particularly sturdy. Even if it were illegal to remove trash that someone else put into my trash can, I would like to see her prove ownership of the box. Or the newsprint in it. Maybe I should put a 3-way divider into each of the two 96 gal trash cans to reserve my spot, with little plastic name labels for each of us. But then nobody could put in a box that fills the entire can. I am away from it all for a few days at Jim's house to shovel snow here. Nobody is shoveling snow at my apartment this month. I wonder whether she would call the police and accuse me of trespassing on her property if I used the front hall (which Jim spent 5 hours making easier to enter by working on the lock). Then I would not have to walk through the snow and ice to my front porch mailbox.
| response 92 of 119: |
Feb 14 21:18 UTC 2007 |
The soap opera continues. Today I put my trash in the trash can after removing the box of Detroit Free Press again (I recycled it this time, and put the box with my others, next to an identical one) and closed the furnace room door again (which I think legally is supposed to be closed because of city regulations). The friendly neighbor next door in back came over to ask what was going on with the 'bitch' that moved to the front apartment. She kept pounding loudly on the wall that separates her bedroom from his apartment (I told him it was the bedroom - she always chooses the noisiest place to sleep days). I suggested he either ignore it or pound back, and if she called the police to complain about his using the toilet during the ungodly hours of 7 am and 7 pm, to have them come talk to me too. The other room in the front apartment is not next to the rear apartment, and the upstairs apt is still vacant. The other neighbor has not heard from my new upstairs one and expects not to. He will enjoy the continuation of this soap opera, which he says is 'better than TV'.
| response 93 of 119: |
Feb 14 21:44 UTC 2007 |
Did the new neighbor hit on you?
| response 94 of 119: |
Feb 14 22:17 UTC 2007 |
I am confused. Is the friendly neighbor complaining about your former neighbor who smoked or about your current neighbor in that apartment? You should give all of these folks nicknames ;)
| response 95 of 119: |
Feb 14 22:28 UTC 2007 |
Former-upstairs-neighbor-now-next-door-front-neighbor. Former-next-door-upstairs-now-here-upstairs-neighbor. Next-door-back-friendly-neighbor. Across-the-street-used-to-live-in-my-apt-23-years-ago-neighbor. Neighbor #3 (friendly) is complaining about #1 (smoker) pounding. Each house has three apartments. The third triplex is empty and being renovated prior to sale (which explains our trash cans always being full).
| response 96 of 119: |
Feb 14 23:39 UTC 2007 |
Ah. I used to have a neighbor who pounded on my walls a lot when my friends and I were being too loud. Of course we were 18 years old at the time and stayed up all night so we had it coming.
| response 97 of 119: |
Feb 15 00:32 UTC 2007 |
Have you ever had anyone pound on the walls when you used the toilet? The funny part about this is we could hear what was going on upstairs in the bathroom and the bedroom. Oddly enough, we never called the police or even banged on the ceiling with a broomstick. The crazy neighbor has the option of sleeping in the front room that is not next to anyone else, or moving upstairs which is completely isolated. This way someone else could move into the apartment over hers and maybe even do something frightful like go up and down the stairs during the daytime.
| response 98 of 119: |
Feb 15 03:17 UTC 2007 |
No, I never had anyone bang on the walls because I was going to the toilet too loudly for them. I had a roommate once who would get mad if I flushed the toilet in the morning though.
| response 99 of 119: |
Feb 15 03:39 UTC 2007 |
Jim put in something that is pressure assisted, and also has a large chunk of wall missing, and he does not flush it while I am sleeping because the sound travels all over the house. But a gravity-type toilet should not be very audible in the next room.