Can anyone give me a few sticks of incense or  potpourri or strongly scented
candles or anything else I could burn to give off a strong odor?  Westside
Ann Arbor.  For communication purposes.  Usable without a fireplace.  Not air
freshener, which numbs the nose.  Westside Ann Arbor.

119 responses total.

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?

You could cook with a lot of curry. 

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

Doesnt incense create the same kind of health problems as second hand 
cigarette smoke? 

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. 

I did a quick search of the Ann Arbor Housing Code and I dont believe 
that having cigarette smoke go from one apartment to another is in 
voilation of that code. 

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.  

You could adopt a skunk....

Well, the police may say there is no law, and the Code may say there is no
law, but I still recommend discussing this with the Dept. of Public Health.
They may have ideas for ways to approach the problem that have not yet been
considered.

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.  

"might just get both apartments closed" - that would solve the problem, 
wouldn't it?

Asking the Dept. of Public Health would  probably reveal that they have no 
jurisdiction on this, but it would still be informative to hear what they 
have to say.

Other building of public accomodation are being affected by smoking 
restrictions. Private rentals are also considered in some regards as 
"public" as they rent to the public, and are already subject to many 
codes. I think it would be worth it to you to get more information.

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.  

I talked to the landlord, who offered to pay for any door closing hinges, and
does not know why the inspector insisted on one on the laundry area door which
she also insisted on.  I keep it propped open.   He also said he would not
rent to any other smokers upstairs while I lived there, and did not know he
was renting to someone who was going to smoke this time, and that she had
talked about moving in September but did not have the security deposit.  I
said if we could not fix or wall off the smoke problem I would pay for her
to move, a month's rent.  The people next door in the efficiency are hoping
to find a 2-bedroom to take care of their son who will be released from
long-term care (he was hit by a car) and I will tell them about the nice 2-BR
down the street, if they can handle being third floor.  The landlord wondered
how I would use the bathroom if I sealed off the basement door.  

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.

I suspect the taxes on the "work in progess" house are pretty low
right now.  At what point would that change?
It's possible Sindi can't afford to finish the house.

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.

Ah, so you have at least another couple of years at the apartment.
Moving might be an option for you but maybe this woman will choose to
move first if you are lucky. 

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.

Any chance of having friends help with the installation of any/all of the
stuff needed in the new house with Jom being the contractor?  Years and years
ago, my ex and I built our own house from ground up with the help of family
and friends [we did contract out a couple things-like putting in the
foundation of the house and the installation of the bricks in front of the
house. I think we may have contracted out the siding as well, but I don't
remember for sure.]  We started the house in the spring, worked on it primarly
in the evenings and weekends, and was able to move in before Christmas and
did a bit of finishing afterwards-basic stuff like the carpeting, linoleum,
and the kitchen countertop and sink.  We saved LOTS of money by doing this
mostly ourselves/family/friends and was able to customize the floor plans and
such to make the house even nicer.

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.  

I helped build my first house before I was 14.  My dad was a carpenter by
trade.  Plumbing usually goes in before the walls are closed in, much easier
to put pipe in if you don't have to thread it through the walls.  In fact,
when we had the plumbing quoted out here, the plumber stated right up front
that the quote did not include the taking down the plaster to gain access to
the pipes, we had to either do it ourselves or have another contractor do it.
Of course this may be a special situation since we want the waste pipe from
the toilet upstairs moved over a foot or so to allow room for a washer/dryer
unit in the bath.

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?

We put the plumbing in first, too. Less work and more cost-effective to do
it that way.  

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). 

Today Jim packed rope caulk around the door to the front hall (which really
stunk the last time I was in last summer or spring) and continued puttying
the deep gouges in the door from kitchen to basement (last tenant had an
unruly dog), and put a lot more drywall compound on three larger cracks in
the supply air ducts in the basement, and using a candle discovered that one
of the four supply air ducts to the upstairs was spewing out large amounts
of hot air because the two pieces had come apart.  This might explain why my
apartment was 10 degrees warmer than last winter (before I opened the windows
and doors, anyway).  He wired the pieces together and stuffed the cracks with
drywall compound.  I have been at his house since Thursday, using online
dictionaries for my translation work.  There are excellent ones for Slovak
and Czech.  The stinkiest part of my apartment was over the part of the
basement where the supply air ducts go through (kitchen and top of the
basement stairs).  We could also seal the holes in my kitchen floor where the
gas pipes go through in two places.  Former owners seem to have used gas
stoves in two places and an electric stove in one of them.  There are also
holes where the upstairs plumbing goes through my bedroom (not in the wall)
but we caulked around the boards covering the plumbing.  

Maybe with 33% more heat (and smoke) going upstairs, the furnace will not be
running 90% of the time.  It has very worn and very noisy bearings and sounds
like a truck going right under my desk.  

Jim went back to work on rewiring the new cellar again.

After fixing three holes and a separated duct, Jim came back and still smelled
smoke at the top of the basement stairs.  Tomorrow he will keep working on
that door (filling the dog gouges and then weatherstripping it with the tough
rubber tubular stuff in a metal edge that you staple or nail on).  The
landlord left a message on the phone there which Jim picked up asking him not
to work on the problem tomorrow because the upstairs neighbor was very nervous
and might have a breakdown.  The police said you could work on apartments
between 7 am and 8 pm.  Jim swims until 8:30 am.  

We have some new ideas.  I have offered the landlord $500 if she leaves and
it will have to be by Feb 1.  There is a place closer to where she works, top
floor, for probably less than she pays now.  I would be willing to pay
$100/month for using the place as a storage locker until it is habitable
again, without working on the smoke problem.  Electric heat upstairs would
solve the problem.  The landlord might lose less money paying for that than
renting me a storage locker or having the place empty.  The neighbor next door
in the efficiency may be moving soon and her place is cheaper and relatively
isolated (nobody upstairs, some stairwell noise if the next upstairs neighbor
is as loud going in and out).  

In the meantime Jim will continue weatherstripping.  

It occurs to me that you might try overpressuring your apartment, so air
cannot leak into it from areas with smoke. You could do this with a small fan
in a duct set in a window that opens to an area of "clean" air. That would
also partly solve the overheating you experience (in winter).

I forget - is your unit heated by a common forced-air system? If so, my idea
would not keep out fumes picked up from return air vents in other apartments.

I tried blowing air in with a large fan (from the porch) and it blew in car
fumes, and even when it was working there was still enough smoke to make me
sick for a week afterwards.  It still hurts to breathe today.  The two
apartments have 'separate' heating systems but her ductwork goes through  my
apartment and is extremely leaky.  I have not been heating.  I wore three
pairs of heavy wool socks, three wool caps, warm sweater, down vest and down
jacket for the few hours I was there Thursday.  Jim pointed out that with her
duct put back together the basement will not be as warm and therefore my
apartment will not be as warm either, but a lot of heat just comes through
from the ducts to the wall, which radiates.  

Tomorrow he will be looking for more holes in the ductwork to plug, and also
weatherstripping the door at the top of the basement steps.  Maybe the
landlord will give me a key to the house next door that he is fixing up to
sell so I can use the bathroom there, since mine is in the basement.  Or I
can use a bucket and empty it somewhere.  The ground is probably not diggable.

The furnace fan, despite having very worn bearings, is still rather strong
compared to a small window fan, and if I put a very powerful window fan
blowing in, it would get very cold in there and freezet he plumbing as well
as me.  It might work in May and June.  She heats when it is 75 out but the
furnace should be off July and August.  

Thanks for the idea.  We tried a lot of things already.  And we are not going
to stop working on it for a day to be considerate of someone extremely
inconsiderate.   I am paying rent and should be able to use the place and it
is legal to work on it during normal working hours.

but if she has a breakdown, she might *have* to move. 

"blowing air in with a large fan (from the porch)" is not the same as what 
I suggested. That just circulates air at the point you blow; it does not 
overpressure the interior. To do the latter you have to have a fan that 
completely fills the cross section of the duct (or a squirrel-age blower), 
and seal other gaps (as you are doing). Of course, you would have to 
install such a blower where it brings in clean air, if that is possible.

The furnace blower doesn't matter as it just circulates air.

The fan in the window was overpressuring the interior, not circulating air.
It was bringing outside air in.  

Jim tells me after a day's work yesterday he smelled smoke again in the
evening.  

Today I phoned the landlord who is 'pretty certain' the neighbor will be out
by May 1.  He says she spent two days in the hospital with high blood pressure.
(Her third time in the hospital in a year, the other two supposedly for drug
interactions).  And has not smoked since Thursday.  And has only smoked when
I am not there.  And only smoked 1/2 a cigarette.  And would not smoke in the
apartment (she told him probably Friday, he did not recall).  And would give
me her sleeping schedule so I could be quiet then.

I pointed out that if there were still smoke in the apartment we would have
to continue working on the problem, and close doors firmly and maybe with an
automatic door closer.  THe landlord left us one (I forgot to ask where). 
The one to the upstairs apt makes a great deal of noise whenever she goes
through the door.  And maybe use a bucket instead of the bathroom if it came
to sealing off the basement door with rope caulk like we did the front hall.
The landlord grew up without plumbing so we talked of that for a while. The
ground is too frozen to dig a privy right now.  

If the neighbor in #3 moves, the upstairs neighbor, he thinks, would be
willing to move to that efficiency apt with nobody upstairs or downstairs and
a separate air supply.  She could ask people not to let door closers slam from
7 am to 7 pm.  

Jim will continue working on the weatherstripping and he promised not to
'hammer' this afternoon.  He will be using a staple gun.  

There are no rules against talking loudly in your own apartment.  I can hear
and understand upstairs phone conversations (this end) sometimes.  Jim and
I have been talking in the kitchen not the living room until now.  He listens
to talk shows.  He said if you were not supposed to make noises that you can
hear outside your own apartment, she should not be using her toilet,
especially from 11 pm to 7 am when people might be sleeping.

I know this is getting ridiculous.  Laws were only meant to be invoked when
people refuse to cooperate.

If there is a heaven, your landlord will be there, eventually.

I'd kick everybody out and start fresh. ;-)

Jim said he did not smell smoke there yesterday.  I will go check when I stop
feeling sick.  I froze for a few days in the apartment with the windows and
door open, and then on Sunday at 40 degrees at the building site, and still
have swollen glands.  Jim will continue working on the door to the basement
(with a belt sander after he puts more drywall compound or wood putty in the
gouges) but he thinks basement smoke would still come upstairs into the
kitchen around the plumbing and gas pipe holes, which he also needs to plug.
There is plumbing going through the bedroom (to the upstairs kitchen above
it) but we already caulked the boards covering it.  At worst, I might be able
to tightly weatherstrip from living room to kitchen and hold my breath going
through the kitchen to the living room (I have to use the kitchen door since
the front door goes through a smoked hallway).  The side apartment may be
vacant in a couple of months.  Ideal place for a smoker who sleeps days.  It
used to be a local food store and has several times as many fuses as the rest
of the house, labelled meat freezer, etc.

As far as I know, there are no laws or regulations that forbid smoking in your
own apartment. As long as she's not breaking any laws or regulations, why
should she be forced to move?

There are no laws against working on your apartment between 7 am and 8 pm.
Why should I be forced to move?  The landlord said he would not have rented
to her if he knew she would smoke in that apartment.  He does not have a
written lease.  Many property owners forbid smoking and/or pets.  I don't know
of any that forbid listening to the radio during the daytime - why should I
have to be super-quiet just because someone on the other side of a thin
ceiling wants to sleep then?

I'm not suggesting that either of you move.  I'm suggesting that since you
both have serious need for extremely low rent, poorly maintained housing, that
you accept that reality, rather than trying to manipulate your landlord and
her into letting you be the one who stays.  

If Cindy can provide a doctor's note stating she has special respiratory
considerations then he's on the hook for whatever smoke seeps into her
apartment.

I cannot accept smoke in my apartment and still live there so Jim will
continue to work on the problem if the smoke continues.  If the neighbor wants
to cooperate so will I.  I was very quiet for a whole year, using headphones
to listen to music, not playing piano unless I heard her walking around, not
talking loudly, etc.  I can do it again.  Jim did not smell smoke there
yesterday so he did not work on the place yesterday.  

I'd be afraid of the lady trying to gas stove herself to death cuz that also
could get you too.

You are being plain silly, Todd.

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