Dealing with neighbors' wood fireplace smoke (pipes, attic, panels, table)

[PeachyMeach]

I am having this exact same problem right now. We bought our house in August, so no one was using a fireplace, and just moved in Jan 13th - last Tuesday. This is a very residential area in Northern VA and the next door neighbors are burning their fireplace constantly. The top of their stack is well below their roof-line, hence the smoke is going down, not being blown up and away. The smoke is actually coming into our house even though we have everything closed up tight, and the neighborhood literally reeks -- not just a nice pleasant smell, but REEKS of smoke -- there isn't a breath of fresh air to be found. This is a major respiratory issue for us, and it is serious business as I am disabled and at home. I admit I only read a few of the posts and cannot believe how callous and critical people are towards someone who has this very serious problem to deal with.

[MaseMan]

There are usually local ordinances that regulate these sorts of things. I am surprised a smokestack could be below a roofline. I'd check in with your municipality.

[oldtrader]

Here in the west where we live, they have forest fires which can be hundreds of miles away, and we will get heavy smoke in the air that actually affects the visibility from our home some summers. I have lung problems, as does my wife. We had to find a way to solve the smoke problem in the home years ago, which is 1,000 times worse than a neighbor burning a fireplace.

1: We have two furnaces due to size of home, with one having two trunks for air with a filter for each of them. We installed Electrostatic air filters replacing the existing ones. These are permanent filters we take out and wash on a regular basis. We run the furnace fans on a constant basis to circulate the air through the filters, even when the air conditioning is not running. Cleans up the air very well. No more lung problems, and no more smoke smell. They cost more than cheap throw away filters, but over time they actually save you money as they are permanent. You can get them at places like Home Depot, and Low's.

2: We have 2 electronic air filters, that are a machine that electronically zaps the smoke particles and anything else in the air as it passes through. One is a normal home filter. At a Church Bazaar we went to once, the was a high powered one. No one had bought it as even the people running the Bazaar did not know what it was. I knew immediately, what it was. It had been in a restaurant where the owner had retired, to keep the air clean on the no smoking side. I had seen it and it worked great. It was the end of the sale where they had a $2 bag sale and anything you could put in a bag was $2 for the bag full. Let me buy the filter for $2. We keep those in bedrooms when the smoke is bad so perfectly clean air in the room.

Don't expect neighbors to give up burning fireplaces and stove, etc., because you don't want smoke in your home. It is easy to filter out of the air and keep the air clean. Not only does away with smoke when there are forest fires in the distance, but also cleans the air during allergy season.

[Nonesuch]

There are a number of steps that you can take to improve indoor air quality, instead of suing your neighbor.

Burning drier wood or upgrading to a cleaner-burning new model wood stove or fireplace insert helps immensely.

Originally Posted by MaseMan

There are usually local ordinances that regulate these sorts of things. I am surprised a smokestack could be below a roofline. I'd check in with your municipality.

Generally a chimney doesn't need to be taller than all rooflines, just taller than anything within 10 feet of the chimney.

In my area, most people heat, or supplement, with wood, and you can smell woodsmoke everywhere on a day like today, but it takes an unusual weather system (temperature inversions) for the smoke to become an actual nuisance at ground level.

[eddie1278]

I'm dealing with bonfire smoke making my whole apartment stink. The guy across the street has a bonfire nearly every night. It sucks that I should be forced to breathe that smell in my own home but that's the world we live in. So many entitled people with no morals that do whatever they want.

[pj55]

i too do not like that people burn wood for heat in residential areas of cities.

of course it tends to be legal. and people dont like to have their right to do thing x suppressed.

a human can heat the space around their body with the heat from their body by directly insulating their body with clothes and blankets etc. how many jackets and blankets go unused remaining stored in their closets in exchange for running heaters or burning wood in dense residential areas?

if a persons actions directly affect people beyond that person, then they are in part or wholly responsible for those affects. we should all have the right to be the sole human element of influence upon the personal space around each of our bodies. we should all begin to take responsibility for our actions ability to force another person to, for instance, breath smoke they may not wish to.

a person can eat, exercise, stand in the sun, self insulate, hug a willing partner, etc. to heat themselves without having any affect upon the world or their neighbors ability to control their environment.

similarly, a person can walk instead of driving. they can use a rake instead of a leaf blower. they can wear their own mild scent instead of powerful cologne. they can breath and exhale air instead of cigarette smoke. etc.

the idea of respecting other humans ability to control their own personal environment may seem extreme right now, but it will probably become more mainstream behavior as the world population grows and the ramifications of the many extra-personal environmental impacts we regularly have on the world becomes clearer.

until then, we live in the age of transformation. its a hard time for those of us who are sensitive.

[cully]

This is a long lasting topic it seems.

I have been talking with friends about this for a few weeks since the cold weather hit. We noticed this year there is a lot more wood burning. Not sure why.

I have noticed for a few years now that a neighbor gets rid of his yard debris carefully in a concrete thing he developed. But the smoke is billowing. I get some of the whifs of it but only once did the plumes actually come my way and you couldn't see past them. Every other time they go toward the homes on the other side. We're okay closing our windows. But I wouldn't like to live on that other side.

[oldtrader]

Wood stoves can cause a serious problem, especially if the town is in a valley, etc. It can become dangerous to one's health.

In quite a few areas of the country, they have burn, and no burn days. Before you light up your stove or fireplace, you have to call to find which it is. No burn days fine can start at $100 or more, and soon escalate to $1,000 or more if you keep burning on no burn days. Those areas also have stopped outside burning years ago so no bonfires. Burn days are days the smoke goes straight up. No burn days when it just spreads at ground level due to inversions or too many people using wood heat.

Many of those areas will not even issue a permit to put in a fireplace chimney or stove pipe so you can install a wood heat source. More areas are going this route all the time, and it is spreading fast.

[Robino1]

So people are forcing others to spend money on more expensive ways to heat their homes?

Maybe people are uncomfortable wearing all those layers of clothing in their own home. I know I would be. The more people require government to control aspects of everyday living.....

In a sense, those controlling how a person can or cannot heat their personal space IS indeed intruding on their personal space.

It's a slippery slope to losing any sense of freedom.

[Annadj13]

My apartment also fills with smoke when my neighbor uses his fireplace. It is so smoky my eyes burn.