Neighbours BBQ Smoke Entering My House

LGeppys on 05/11/2021 - 15:14

Hi all, after a bit of advice.

I just moved into a place and recently with the warmer days my neighbours have started using their smoker. They start it early in the morning and leave it going for 8-10hrs at times. Unfortunately my house is very close to where their smoker is positioned. There are periods where I can see puffs of smoke blow over their fence and onto the side of my house. All the windows are closed, except for the bathroom which is about 2cm open to help prevent mould. But when I smell the smoke I close it. I also have an air purifier running to help.

I’ve tried to search online for rules about smoke, but haven’t found anything related to a bbq smoker (only fireplaces and chimneys). If it was a regular bbq that lasts 30 mins or so, I think that’s reasonable. But given it goes on for hours, are there any requirements for them to need to install a flue so the smoke is lifted higher? At the moment the smoke doesn’t even make the roof line. It just carries over the fence then towards my house. Given the proximity ~1.5m, the smoke is not very diffuse, so the smell is strong. None of the smoke blows into the direction of their own house, so they probably don’t realise how bad it is. I let her know about the smoke but they’ve done nothing to fix it. They’ve got it sitting against the fence and don’t want to move it elsewhere.

The other downside is with warm days, if they’re smoking, I can’t use my evaporative cooler because I need to keep the windows closed, or open them and get inundated with the smell of smoke. So regularly leaving my windows shut doesn’t sound like a very comfortable solution.

I don’t want to be a Karen, but I do think it is unreasonable to have smoke drifting into my place for hours on end. Are they required to manage the smoke to minimise the pollution to my side of the fence? Has anyone had a similar experience? If so, how did you resolve it?

Home & Garden

Comments

  • pformag on 08/11/2021 - 17:16

    Brother in law lives next to a comp pitmaster. Smokes most weekends, has multiple ones going. He gets a ton a free food, because old mate is not doing it to eat, but to practice for comps.

  • swagkage on 08/11/2021 - 17:41

    Surely if the smoker is close enough it shouldn't be a problem for a garden hose

  • Mr Random on 09/11/2021 - 08:39
    +1

    I use an offset smoker as well. Unfortunately these things take the 8 or so hours to cook a good meal. But I would not want to be sending smoke signals to my neighbours.
    The initial stage of smoking meat can produce a bit of smoke due to moisture in the wood, but after that, if they know what they are doing, there should be little to no dark smoke. It should be pretty much invisible.

    One of two things to try;
    * Tell them when they are smoking their meat, to move the smoker as it causes you breathing difficulties due to the smoke getting in your house. Smokers are usually quite heavy, maybe lend a hand if they need it (even though it's not your responsibility).
    * If that fails (due to them being un-neighbourly), say you have a friend who smokes briskets, and that they get better results by using dry wood (sounds like they are not drying out the wood onto of the smoker prior to using it if it is causing so much smoke), and that the food will taste better.
    * Last resort, request a 50% brisket/ribs tax for your troubles.

  • JPMelb on 09/11/2021 - 10:24
    +1

    i'd look towards getting them to reposition.

    Otherwise there is little you can do other than approach the council to see if they have a fire pit policy and if that can extend to a smoker.

  • BargainCowboy on 09/11/2021 - 12:11

    I had a neighbor in QLD who used to have a nice little open bonfire almost every day in winter. Reported him to the council, 3 days after it stopped forever. Smoker is not open flame though, so will be harder to mitigate.

  • koplik8 on 09/11/2021 - 13:37
    -2

    Got an easy fix. Call the fire brigade and report a structure fire. I can see plumes of smoke coming for the rear of the building

  • anzacpaul on 09/11/2021 - 15:28

    Nothing better than when I smell a neighbour firing up their weber/smoker.

  • quikchip on 09/11/2021 - 22:17
    +1

    Buy a bag of fertiliser and put it on your side of the fence. I don't think they'd want their meat smoked and fertilised.

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