garth_meringue t1_j5b8d7f wrote on January 21, 2023 at 7:06 PM

Ventilation improvements might help. I think hallways are positively pressurized in many buildings for this reason, keeps your air in your place. Maybe the neighbors could do more to ventilate their air outside. Ventilating your place would help too, and cut down on lingering smells. If you can identify where the air is really coming into your place, get a good air filter next to it.

pixel_of_moral_decay t1_j5bpzk0 wrote on January 21, 2023 at 9:08 PM

This might generate complaints from neighbors. Positive pressure in your unit would help your air quality but impair your neighbors. People have literally gone to court over a neighbor running a window fan (hence why most larger buildings have specific rules against this, you can run an AC but it can't be pulling air in, only cooling air).

It can also be a hazard in a fire for other residents.

garth_meringue t1_j5brmn7 wrote on January 21, 2023 at 9:19 PM

I meant the hallway should be positively pressurized, not the unit. Usually that's the case, but maybe there's an issue that can be checked with management. It would also help if both units would exhaust more air (negative pressure).

pixel_of_moral_decay t1_j5bxv20 wrote on January 21, 2023 at 10:03 PM

That's just cost cutting. Ideally the unit is positively pressured so in the event of a fire smoke isn't being pushed into units. Especially at night when people are sleeping that steals evacuation time before smoke can overwhelm occupants.

Positive pressure in hallways was a way to ventilate with less investment in mechanical systems. Simple as that. Which in the covid era has proven especially harmful since it's not as simple as a filter/airblower upgrade to beef up air filtration like we've seen in Asia. In the event of a fire alarm being triggered they go into overdrive exhausting to keep air quality in the hallways clear for people to evacuate. In the US we just do that in stairwells if the building is big enough. Again: cost cutting.

But virtually all buildings prohibit anything that changes how ventilation works beyond opening a window. Window fans, even those plastic thermal barriers people do in the winter to stop drafts are generally not allowed if you look at leases or HOA rules. People think it's aesthetics, but it's because it would cause more air to stagnate in adjacent units.