Background
Houses like this one are common on the side streets of Capitol Hill and Uptown: built as a single family home around the turn of the twentieth century and divided into apartments decades later. In this example, the conversion left a central front stair shared by all four units, a back service stair used mainly by the upper units, and a chimney that once served fireplaces on each floor and now serves nothing.
The ground-floor resident's older lease allows smoking. Two residents on the upper floor, under newer leases, have no-smoking clauses and young children. Their complaints arrive in late fall.
The situation
Illustrative example. Not a real job or customer.
Upstairs residents report a cigarette smell in the front stair, on their landing and inside one unit near a boarded-over fireplace. The smell is worst on cold evenings.
- The owner asks all residents to note times and locations of the smell for two weeks and confirms the pattern points to the ground-floor unit.
- A conversation with the ground-floor resident, who is within their lease rights, leads to an agreement to smoke on the back porch away from windows while the owner works on the building.
- The owner has a chimney professional inspect the old flue. It is open from the ground floor to the roof and connects to the boarded fireplace upstairs; it vents no appliances.
- With that confirmed, the flue is capped at the top and sealed at each abandoned fireplace opening.
- Door sweeps and weatherstripping are added to all four unit doors, and gaps around the stair-side radiator pipes are sealed by the heating contractor.
- The owner notifies all residents that the building will become smoke-free, effective for each unit at its next renewal, with a designated spot in the back yard.
- The upstairs unit near the fireplace has its walls and the fireplace surround cleaned to remove residue that built up over the fall.
Complaints drop sharply within a few weeks. When the ground-floor lease renews, the resident signs the addendum and continues using the yard spot.
How the steps were spread out
- Weeks 1 to 2
- Resident logs and first conversation
- Weeks 3 to 4
- Chimney inspection and flue capping
- Weeks 4 to 6
- Door and pipe sealing; notice of the coming policy
- Week 6
- Cleaning in the affected upstairs unit
- Months later
- Policy takes effect for the ground-floor unit at renewal
Lessons that carry over to other divided houses
- Respect existing lease rights while working toward a policy change.
- Confirm a flue serves nothing before anyone seals it.
- Seal the building paths even while talking with residents.
- Give a smoker somewhere reasonable to go.
- Clean residue in receiving units once the drift is reduced, not before.
General information for Capitol Hill, not a quote or professional advice. In an emergency, call 911.