No party wall between terraced properties?

[nameisme]

Hello all

I posted a thread about this sometime ago but was unable to find it.

The problem was our neighbour has been complaining about our cookig smells getting into his property.
We live in a terraced property. Partly seperated via a tunnel leading into back garden which is shared.

We have now discovered that there is no party wall at all other than in the loft between ours and his property. Above our kitchen ceiling is about a half a foot gap which leads all the way through above the tunnel and al the way through above his kitchen ceiling/below his bedroom (where he is getting our cooking smells). It's just joists and floor boards. No wall. So that's why our cooking smells get into his bedroom. The smells just rise to ceiling and through his floor boards into his bedroom.

We are trying to get the cooker hood externally vented and redo the entire ceiling. Aftet that we can not do anymore if he is still getting our cooking smellls.

Out of interest could a party wall or some kind of insulation be installed between our properties to stop the smells? If so would this be a very costly and a major reconstruction job?

Would filling the gap with wool also help? Or something more than wool?

 

[endecotp]

I posted a thread about this sometime ago but was unable to find it.

Neighbour getting smells from our extractor fan?

Hi all Hoping for some advice. Our next door neighbour, terraced house was saying he's getting all the smells from our extractor fan when we cook in his upstairs bedroom. Even though our extractor fan is at the opposite end of the kitchen to our joining house walls. He let me smell in his...

www.diynot.com

I think you might as well continue here though, as “building” is more appropriate than “appliances”.

The problem was our neighbour has been complaining about our cookig smells getting into his property.
We live in a terraced property. Partly seperated via a tunnel leading into back garden which is shared.

We have now discovered that there is no party wall at all other than in the loft between ours and his property. Above our kitchen ceiling is about a half a foot gap which leads all the way through above the tunnel and al the way through above his kitchen ceiling/below his bedroom (where he is getting our cooking smells). It's just joists and floor boards. No wall. So that's why our cooking smells get into his bedroom. The smells just rise to ceiling and through his floor boards into his bedroom.

Interesting. I guess it makes sense that you can’t build a brick wall on the top of the arch above the pend (if it is arched - can you post a photo?).

What is the construction of the wall between your bedroom and his? Is that wall above the middle of the pend (tunnel) or does one of your bedrooms extend over all of it?

We are trying to get the cooker hood externally vented and redo the entire ceiling. Aftet that we can not do anymore if he is still getting our cooking smellls.

Out of interest could a party wall or some kind of insulation be installed between our properties to stop the smells? If so would this be a very costly and a major reconstruction job?

Would filling the gap with wool also help? Or something more than wool?

I would guess that any sort of partition would be better than nothing.

Even just filling the holes in your original kitchen ceiling where the lights were (if I remember the original thread correctly) could make a lot of difference.

 

[nameisme]

We have now removed the false ceiling and can now see the real damaged ceiling.

My neighbour has offered to fill the gaps in in the corner area where the ceiling meets the wall where he thinks the cooking odors are escaping into his bedroom.

he has offered to fill those areas today (Wednesday) with insulation, plaster boards and expanding foam to hold plaster board in place.

however I am worried about the electrical cables running through and directly touching the expanding foam and the insulation as I have read the below.

"While expanding foam can be useful for insulation and sealing, it's generally not recommended to use it directly around electrical cables or wires, as it can trap heat and potentially lead to overheating and damage."

And

"Electrical cables generate heat during operation, and insulation can hinder their ability to dissipate this heat, potentially leading to overheating."

Also what material is best to use to fill this gap between ceiling and wall? Expanding foam or just a regular filler? Ie last photo

Any advice appreciated thanks.

 

[endecotp]

Some of that wiring is probably redundant, from old down-lighters. Remove that and see what’s left. You don’t really want wires embedded in expanding foam. The basic idea of patching the holes with plasterboard seems reasonable to me. I’d probably use a “sticks like” adhesive rather than sticky foam. Plus a couple of screws.

The gap in the last picture could probably be foamed if it doesn’t have wires in it.

I don’t understand the horizontal route to his house yet, i.e. the lack of party wall. Can we see that in the pictures?

 

[nameisme]

Thanks

 

[nameisme]

Thanks

Here is a photo of where my house meets his house above a shared tunnel that leads from front to back garden. The white is ours and brown his. Where the white meets the brown paint is a wall ontop of the cemtre of the tunnel that goes all the way to the roof.

In the 3nd picture you can see this wall at the very back of the gap between the upstairs floorboards and ceiling.
The bedroom above extends over the tunnel to where the white meets the brown. However the kitchen and living room. End where tunnel starts.

So how is our cooking smells getting into his upstairs bedroom.

I am getting the cooker hood external vented and also a brand new plaster board ceiling fitted rather than the false ceiling that was allowing odors to pass straihht throuhh it please see photo. Also going to fill those gaps with insulation you can see but not the gaps where there is electric wiring as don't want it covered by insulation.

Then do you think this should solve the issue? Then that's all I can do.

 

[endecotp]

Right, it’s not at all clear how the smells get through the party wall, yet. Maybe there is some other issue still to be found.

Repairing the kitchen ceiling is a good plan.

Putting insulation in that gap between the top of the tunnel and the floor of your upstairs room would be good for heat and noise, and can’t do any harm for smells. Take advantage of the kitchen ceiling being down to do something there. But there may be some requirement for some ventilation in that space - hopefully others will comment?