apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I'll bring this up from a lower thread in hopes of some good suggestions! With summer weather approaching and windows/doors being left open, what do you do when the neighbors smoke? My balcony is right next to my neighbor's, and she is a chain smoker (along with her boyfriend). Having a west facing apartment it gets warm so I like to leave the balcony door open in the evening, but then the smell of smoke permiates my living room. Any suggestions?

Have you tried an air purifier?

I would position a fan to try to ward off some incoming smoke, and also use the fan to circulate so that your room doesn't let the smoke settle in.

I had this problem at my last apartment. I feel your pain. It would drift into our windows as well as our shared laundry room and all of my freshly laundered clothes smelled of smoke instead of lavender.

Luckily she wasn't a chain smoker so we would just close the windows every time she lit up (I don't think she ever made the connection). After a few minutes we would open everything up again.

I would probably move, that's how strongly I feel about it. I almost did move a few months ago when I had to deal with this problem, but luckly I live in a no-smoking building and I bothered my landlord until he got tired of me complaining and did something about it.

Scent eliminator sprays are kind of non-AT in their mass-produced artificiality, but they do work in clearing the air of lingering odors.

I speak as one whose neighbors in SF were chain pot smokers.

I ask on behalf of my sister...what do you do your neighbours' smoking seeps into your apartment through the walls? Or perhaps a shared bathroom vent system?

Air purifiers, people!

OK, new question: How the heck am I supposed to clean my dirty second floor windows on the outside? They have screens on them, so even for the one I can reach by hanging off the fire escape, I couldn't take them off. Is there something super powered that will get all the dirt off? It's yucky!