Two very different building stocks
The towers facing the park were mostly built in the postwar decades and are many stories tall, with elevators, long interior corridors and stacked balconies. Some are rental buildings and many are condominiums with a mix of owner-occupants and rented units. They have mechanical systems that the older walk-ups do not, such as corridor ventilation and, in some buildings, central heating and cooling distributed to each unit through fan coils or similar equipment.
On the blocks behind the towers, the stock looks more like Capitol Hill: brick walk-ups from the early twentieth century, small apartment buildings and large older houses, some divided into units. These have radiators, leaky walls and shared stairs.
In a tower, smoke tends to move vertically, through shafts, plumbing stacks and balconies, and the stack effect is stronger simply because the building is taller. In a walk-up, smoke spreads more locally, through walls and the stair. The fix depends on which kind of building you are in.
Cheesman Park at a glance, for smoke odor
- Common housing
- Mid-century high-rises along the park; older walk-ups and houses on side streets
- Ownership mix
- Rental buildings plus condo towers with a share of rented units
- Typical drift path
- Vertical in towers: shafts, stacks and balconies; horizontal in walk-ups
- Seasonal pattern
- Balcony and window smoke in warm months; stack-effect drift in cold months
- ZIP codes nearby
- Mostly 80218, with 80206 to the east
- Permits and building questions
- City and County of Denver; ask Community Planning and Development
Tower-specific checks before a turnover or complaint
These are in addition to the standard steps for any smoker's unit.
- Find out whether the unit's heating and cooling is individual or shared, and who maintains filters and coils.
- Ask the building engineer whether the bathroom and kitchen exhausts connect to a shared shaft.
- Check the association's rules on balconies, which are often limited common elements.
- Reserve the service elevator and confirm work hours before scheduling odor work or flooring removal.
- Ask whether any whole-unit treatment requires notice to the association or neighbors on the same stack.
- Look at the gap under the unit door and the corridor's air movement; pressurized corridors can push or pull air through that gap.
Questions for a tower manager or condo association
- Is the building smoke-free, and does that include balconies?
- Have other units on this stack reported smoke, and has the stack been checked?
- Who is responsible for sealing penetrations between units?
- Are fan coil filters changed by the building or by residents?
General information for Capitol Hill, not a quote or professional advice. In an emergency, call 911.