> I don't know about annoying neighbors and smells.
If you live in a lower income area, get used to your condo/townhouse occasionally smelling like marijuana and/or tobacco whenever the neighbors decide to hotbox. Also get used to arguments and loud music late at night on weekends.
> That seems to be a design and engineering issue.
I'm sure you could build hermetically and acoustically sealed condos that keep out all unwanted noises and smells, but those sound like "rich people" condos that are not very economical.
>That sucks. IME, one needs to pay a bit of a premium to live someplace where you can be assured of not having such headaches (not that wealthy people are better neighbors, but that problem-free residence is in higher demand).
Oh yea, 100%. The second place I got the problem was not nearly as bad but still made me feel sick about once a month during a "party" or something.
I had the pleasure of living next to 3-4 college kids. I guess they split the rent. I also moved to Texas where its generally not as legal so I believe they tend to use devices that limits the smell/spread. So it wasn't nearly as bad but sometimes you just wanted peace from that, ya know.
And yep, to the particle analogy. I had plenty of good interactions with people. Sadly, the negative ones just sucked too much.
> But the most depressing was a bad smell from nearby chimneys of their neighbors. Apparently they couldn't do anything about.
This is fixable, but requires central air in the house. Just don't ever open your windows in the smog season, and have all air intake go through a set of filters (before it's pumped into the rooms) which take out all particles and smells. Not the cheapest thing to buy and install, but should solve the problem.
> Assuming the noise or smell was somehow contained, what's wrong with living next to a concert venue or Sriracha factory
Pretty big assumption, my friend. Generally they're not, or they're not contained well enough, or people are just old and grouchy so they go form homeowners associations and ban Sriracha factories. That said, I do agree with your overall outlook here, I'm just afraid that a lot of (particularly older, more traditional people) don't, so it's unrealistic to expect change. People don't like change, and they sure as hell don't like changing the way things change.
Multifamily housing typically doesn't consist of hermetically sealed units. If your neighbors are doing something that produces odor, if it's strong enough, others are going to smell it in their units too. Additionally, shared spaces in the building often ending up smelling too. This isn't limited to pot smoking but it is a common enough occurrence that it's unreasonable to mock someone for mentioning it.
Did you see that picture of his kitchen? :-) I think his neighbors were either very tolerant or in that class of 'everyone in this building sticks to their own business and we like it that way.' kind of place.
Loved the link to the methane risk though, reminded me of the poor concert goers that tried to light up a joint under a shared poncho on the grass at Shoreline Ampitheatre before they added piping. Fortunately none of their close were flammable.
Smoke is in play in this discussion. Not just smoke, but smoke of products that are chosen for their bioactive nature. Tobacco smoke in particular is all kinds of problematic, but cannabis is not harmless and even wood smoke is hazardous. This is not merely a discussion about scent-related experiences, it's a discussion of exporting health hazards into other's environments on top of exporting a smell that's widely considered unpleasant.
But even assuming health issues weren't in play, there might well be a case that being an acceptable neighbor involves keeping many forms of sensory exports to a minimum. Loud music can be rude. Loud music or construction projects after 9pm are rude. Storing your asafoetida on the balcony would be pretty rude too, even if it can be used to make some super tasty food. Fish in the microwave will make you unpopular at some offices. So... yeah, we can go "by this logic" if you like, it's just not where the case stops.
Last time I checked, fuel and many other fluids in cars are carcinogens or otherwise toxic. Leave that shit out of any place that isn't adequately equipped to clean it up.
> You're free to join a homeowner's association which will micromanage not only smells but also the location of your garbage can.
Here in Germany, that is usually governed by city codes anyway, no need for an HOA - trash cans usually have to be in a separate room indoors (for large complexes) or in an enclosure (e.g. [1], the first grab off of Google). We don't need micromanaging HOAs (and don't have them outside of condo complexes), because decades upon decades of experience have led to a democratically agreed set of basic rules - in this case: society has democratically decided that they don't want trash bins standing around in the open, partially because that's a fucking eyesore, partially because free-standing bins just attract vermin and pests.
> I think he just has a heightened sense of smell and that's why he had air filters stronger than law requirements installed everywhere
Quite possible. I have a very strong sense of smell ever since I started hormone replacement therapy and it's driving me crazy how people can put up with some bad smells.
- I can pinpoint mold with a surprising accuracy -- it's everywhere, you'd be scared.
- I can tell when a bathroom is not properly ventilated -- had the office test it out and they changed the entire air ventilation system of that part of the building because it was not up to code.
- I could even smell if the driver in front of me is smoking in their windows closed car while I'm driving behind it with my own windows closed -- changed my air filters.
I'm absolutely certain that a lot of buildings are lacking in air quality and if I were the owner of any industrial or commercial building I'd make sure to invest in top quality air filter.
> I drive past the steel yard every day for my commute and you can not have your windows down or let any outside air in all along 77 because the smell is so disgusting.
You might already know this but you're also driving past a wastewater treatment plant, and through a pretty sparsely populated area. It's not representative of the metropolitan area as a whole.
> The completion report said, “While not an environmental remedy, because there are no significant risks, a VIMS consisting of a vapor barrier and a sub-slab venting system has been designed and installed.” Installing these apparently could cost millions of dollars. It’s curious to me that Roux would plan to build four VIMS, or even build one, if they really thought VOCs were not an issue.
That sounds awfully like the way that ordinary houses are constructed, especially anywhere with (naturally occurring!) radium in or under the soil. When one builds a house with a slab foundation, one first builds a capillary break (a bunch of rocks with no fines, perhaps — this is an air-permeable layer), then applies a vapor barrier (polyethylene sheets), then pours the slab directly on the vapor barrier. The only thing special about sub slab venting is a pipe from the capillary break to the roof that may or may not be fan assisted. The goal isn’t so much to remove gas from under the slab as to reduce the pressure under the slab below the pressure above the slab such that gas doesn’t intrude.
All of this except the pipe is done regardless of soil gas concerns — water vapor coming through the slab destroys floor coverings.
I know basically nothing about commercial construction, and I could easily believe that vapor barriers are optional under parking lots.
Given that the VOCs in question are easily measurable in real time with a cheap sensor, it could be interesting to measure the VOCs at the lowest level of the parking lot over time. Some parking lots have CO (or CO2?) sensors that control exhaust fans. If there is less car activity at 3am, the fans could turn off, and that could have any number of effects.
(Also, the author doesn’t seem to have tried to distinguish between gasses coming from the building and gasses coming from under or outside the building. There is no actual evidence I saw in the article that the problem is a problem with the site. Heck, a building air intake being contaminated by gasses from the parking lot could introduce a fair amount of CO and NOx even if the levels were too low to set off a CO alarm. Builders mess up the airflow in buildings all the time.
Sadly, NOx sensors do not appear to be available at comparable prices to tVOC and CO sensors.
Another downside you might not have considered is that you may have also adversely affected your neighbors if you live in shared housing. Not everyone enjoys the smell of pot, and I've had neighbors that made me miserable from the constant pot stench seeping through our shared wall.
lol, way to layer on the sarcasm. I live in a complex and I can smell weed every time my neighbor lights up on the balcony even though my door is closed. I like the guy and he doesn't really have an alternative so I don't mind, but it is a bit annoying!
I feel that's understating it. When I first moved to the bay area we drove by these multiple times. I assumed it HAD to be some sort of sewage treatment facility (after all where I used to live in Maryland had one near by and it smelled very similar).
They're really cool and interesting but yes I recommend viewing from afar or keeping the inside AC on when driving near it.
"at most, your landlord will need to get rid of the smell for the next non-smoking tenant"
And while you're there, will need to find a way to get rid of the smell for everyone in a 500 feet radius (im exaggerating, of course).
While I'm absolutely ok with it being legal, and it certainly should not be a criminal offense...it at least should follow rules similar to tobacco with a twist. That shit can seriously ruin the day of everyone living around. Entire city parks are becoming impossible to go through unless you're looking for a contact high.
So it definitely does not deserve to be a crazy SWAT team involved criminal offense, but victimless, not quite.
> If you wanted to run your exhaust next to me in a restaurant I'd complain about that.
That's fine, I'm not a fan of smoke in restaurants or indoors anyway. It's already banned here.
> If your exhaust pipe was pointed at my face on the sidewalk again I'd complain.
This is exactly what cars are doing on the sidewalk. It's not like the emissions travel in a straight line. No one is blowing smoke directly at you either.
> A lot of offices have gone to perfume/cologne free because it is offensive to a lot of people.
If you live in a lower income area, get used to your condo/townhouse occasionally smelling like marijuana and/or tobacco whenever the neighbors decide to hotbox. Also get used to arguments and loud music late at night on weekends.
> That seems to be a design and engineering issue.
I'm sure you could build hermetically and acoustically sealed condos that keep out all unwanted noises and smells, but those sound like "rich people" condos that are not very economical.
reply