Urban Diplomat: Can we tell our neighbours to stop smoking—for the sake of our baby?
Dear Urban Diplomat,
My husband and I have detected the smell of cigarette smoke coming through the shared wall of our semi-detached home and into our baby’s room. We’d hoped to bring this up with our neighbours during a casual encounter on the front porch, but we rarely see them, and I don’t want to knock on their door, which might seem confrontational. After all, they have every right to smoke in their own home. Any advice on how to handle the problem?
—Smoke-sensitive, LESLIEVILLE
If your floor plan allows it, move the nursery to a smoke-free area of the house. If it doesn’t, then suck it up and pay your neighbours a visit. Bringing your lifestyle suggestions to someone’s doorstep is generally a bad idea (ask any Mormon missionary for his daily door-slam tally), but you rarely see these neighbours, so there’s no borrow-a-cup-of-sugar relationship at stake. Begin by Björning the baby adorably to your torso, and adopt a self-effacing tone: “I know this is asking a lot and I will totally owe you a year of flower-bed weeding, but would you mind smoking in a different part of the house? The smoke drifts into Junior’s nursery.” You’ll likely receive an eye roll and a door slam, but if you’re lucky they’ll remember your baby’s cherubic face the next time they light up and at least consider acquiescing to your request. If they don’t, resort to option C: move.
Send your questions to the Urban Diplomat at urbandiplomat@torontolife.com
(Image: houses, Paul Robinson)
, but you rarely see these neighbours, so there’s no borrow-a-cup-of-sugar relationship at stake. Begin by Björning the baby adorably to your torso, and adopt a self-effacing tone: “I know this is asking a lot and I will totally owe you a year of flower-bed weeding, but would you mind smoking in a different part of the house? The smoke drifts into Junior’s nursery.” You’ll likely receive an eye roll and a door slam, but if you’re lucky they’ll remember your baby’s cherubic face the next time they light up and at least consider acquiescing to your request. If they don’t, resort to option C: move.
Send your questions to the Urban Diplomat at urbandiplomat@torontolife.com
(Image: houses, Paul Robinson)){kind=link}
There must be a way to remodel the wall that you share such that no smoke travels through it? Granted that will probably cost a bit of money. But maybe your neighbours would be willing to share in the cost to get a bit more sound protection etc.
There is also a air purifiers that are pretty effective.
If you can smell a cigarette then you should call in an engineer and have them look at the separation wall between your properties. That should be a fire wall and not penetrable by such a small amount of smoke.
Aside from that, you are over-reacting – you live in a city filled with fumes and toxins that are far more hazardous than a next door neighbour’s cigarette. Get a grip.