Neighbour's cooking odours coming into our unit when they use their range fan
1/1/2021 at 4:12:39 PM
I am a long-time resident of an end unit townhouse. Two years ago, new neighbours moved in. Food smells, often strong, started streaming through all of my home's heating vents and fill every corner of my home. This happens 2-3 times per day. If I catch the stink at the beginning of its entrance, the neighbour's range fan is always running (audible from my home).
I've tried air purifiers, spray, blocking off the kitchen exhaust, running my own kitchen exhaust fan and it doesn't seem to help. Neither does having my furnace on at a low setting continuously.
The neighbours are aware. A city building inspector found no leaks in the kitchen ductwork of either unit.
The odour is present in the attic, as well as in the party wall. The kitchen exhaust ducts' terminals are on the roof, next to each other. The kitchens are back-to-back next to the party wall.
I am at a loss as to how these unpleasant odours are getting in here. What can I do next?
1/4/2021 at 2:05:07 PM
Would it be possible to raise your neighbours terminal on the roof? Extend the duct on top of the roof by 4 or 5 ft for example to try to discharge the odour far from the other vents?
Have a nice week.
1/10/2021 at 3:06:19 PM
Correction to my original post: my furnace *fan* runs continuously at a low setting.
From the Safety Codes Officer's report:
"Comment: -- - The range hood exhaust fan in question is ducted completely to a roof jack
as far as I can tell from a visual inspection. It is undetermined if there are backdraft
dampers in place for either home. It appears that the roof jacks are close to each other. It
may be that there is some smell coming through the roof jacks. I do not feel that moving
the roof jacks further apart would solve the problem and this is not a life safety issue.
Although the range hood exhaust fan is connected with flex piping, it is connected and
doesn t appear to be leaking air out of it. It would be fairly costly to change the flex piping
to metal and this would also not solve the problem. This is also not a life safety issue."
Note: I'm not sure about the roof, but my own range fan has a backdraft damper.
Things are tense with my neighbours (especially after they rejected mediation), so I would like to try to find a solution that doesn't involve their co-operation, if possible.
Thank-you for responding.
1/20/2021 at 11:02:57 AM
Have I posted this in the correct forum? Should it have been posted in the "Maintenance and Repairs" forum instead?
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