San Miguel

Hi All

It could well be the vent in the ensuite which is letting the cigarette smoke in, but it's not AEA that needs to sort out the problem, it's Ros y Falcon and Maria that you should be contacting.  Also, most of the time that we can smell the smoke in our apartment is out of office hours so I don't know how we can resolve it unless RyF take our word for it.  Surely the fact that a lot of us have the same problem should mean that there is cause for investigation.  I got the impression from Maria at RyF when I reported our problem that they were already aware that there was a problem and she was going to get back to me when the builders had some idea how to resolve it.

Hi Ann,

Just been to RyF office and registered the problem.  Maria was out of the office today.  We are now sure that the entry is through vent at the side of the bath in the en-suite and not the
 vent on the wall.   I made it very clear that the problem is noticeable out of normal working hours - as the smoke goes to work !!

Earlier I spoke with Carleen.  It seems the RyF have had mistaken claims of cigarette smoke in the past so wish to reassure themselves.
I wonder if  Maria will be prepared to hop over late one evening when it is present?  We shall see.

As Carleen rightly pointed out - what if a fire occurred in the apartment below (e.g. an electrical apparatus smoking), the leak is a health and safety hazard.

I 'll keep you posted.
Paul

Hi Paul

Thanks very much for sorting that out.  I must admit that I was worried about what would happen should anyone have the misfortune to have a fire.  I just hope that it won't be a major problem to sort out, but at least you've pinpointed where the smoke is coming in.

Ann & Carleen,

 

Having come off the booze (new year resolution) and having bad weather here, it left me contemplating the venting / cigarette smoke problem. 

The hypothesis: this problem is not random bad workmanship but applies to all apartments.

So why have only three of use witnessed the problem to date?

A very simplified model based on a low occupancy ratio of 55 and an assumed ratio of smokers to non-smokers of 55/45 reveals some interesting figures.

Assuming that ground floor occupants will not suffer this problem and assuming any smokers who observer cigarette smoke in their bathrooms will not report the problem then the number of observations expected at this time is 2.89 !  I.E. approximating to we three.

Here’s the really interesting part.  If the problem really is a design issue and not resulting from random bad workmanship then when all apartments are sold and assuming over an extended period all adjacent occupancies will coincide (this is highly likely given that some occupants are permanent residents) then the total number of complainants will eventually reach 202.  Again this assumes that smokers will not complain.  It also assumes that smoke can vent from apartments diagonally below in the same stair (as in my case).

If RfY do see a gradual rising number of complaints about this problem then we can be confident that they will initiate a general programme to remedy the defect.

regards,
Paul

The outlet pipework for each bathroom goes thru the floor into the ceiling void of the flat below, if its the bottom flat the pipework will be in the garage, this can be seen in most of the DV garages. 

They seem to use two construction methods to accomodate pipework, I have observed this on builds near my house.

a) use shuttering (wooden moulds) to create holes when the concrete is poured to form the floor/celings or

b) cast the floors as a solid and then use core drills or jack hammers to cut the holes in the correct place

Both these methods require that the holes are made larger than the pipe sizes to allow easy installation, if the pipe to concrete is not sealer with gap filler (a plastic expanding foam) then air can pass from one floor to the other. I think this isr why we have problems in some flats.

Now the vent in the side of the bath is to allow air to flow for the jacuzzi bath and allow ventilation/access for the motor. The vent is sealed in place with silicon seal and this can be cut with a stanley knife. Thru this vent hole with torch you should be able to see if the pipe work is sealed where it enters the floor.

In the non ensuite bathroom you can lift the ceiling tiles and slide out the way and see the plumbing for the above flat again you can observe the holes, some of these holes go sideways and I think in mine the water pipes come in this way from stop tap in the hall cupboard. Air can therefore flow from adjacent flats.

The fact that the pipes for the above flat go thru the ceiling voids makes my flat noisy when water is flushed anybody else noticed this? 

 

Alex,

Glad to hear you Air Con has been fixed at last.  

Surely a clean way to test the sealant between apartments is to

1. determine between which apartments there is contamination ie is it bottom to first floor, fisrt floor to second etc or is it the other way around.

2. buy one of these smoke devices that are used to check fires and leaks in chimneys.

 

 

John,

I agree they are called smoke bombs, they are non toxic, no smell and non staining and produce lots of smoke for a few seconds.