Conversions

Cooking smells from next door

Anonymous user 15 March 2024 - 2.33 PM

This is a weird one. I live in a semi. Our neighbour's kitchen is obviously downstairs, not next to our wall but on the opposite side of the house yet I can smell their cooking in our upstairs bedroom (used as an office) which is nowhere near their kitchen. I really don't want to small their dinner in my home, especially as at the moment it smells like they are burning onions or something, hence my question. Does anyone have any idea how this can be happening and what we can do about it. We have carpet and very thick underlay on the floor and when it was laid a few weeks ago I asked them to see if there were any obvious holes in the adjoining wall and they couldn't see anything. I cannot understand how the smell is going from their kitchen on the opposite side of the house, across their living room, upstairs and into this room. They are all open plan downstairs, but there must be about 17 foot between their kitchen and our downstairs wall yet we cannot smell it at all downstairs. Our living rooms are next to one another, not halls adjoining. My husband thinks it is because something happened when the previous owner of their house built an extension at the back of the house, enlarging their living room and he says the smell is only since then - he uses the bedroom as an office, so is in there quite a bit, whereas until recently, I was not, however we have now swapped rooms and the smell is horrible and it makes it hard for me to work in my new office when she is busy cooking there. They are a lovely couple and I only want to raise the subject when I have some idea of what the problem is, and what can be done about it.