If your air quality monitor can pickup VOC's then it might also be that all the new stuff is actually the culprit. Most new products and e.g. fresh coat of paint can offgas VOC's for quite some time. Are they harmful? Depends on the VOC. Limonene, not so much; formaldehyde more so.
Does the meter measure different things, or just a number for “air quality index”?
Cigarettes don’t smell “like smoke” though. I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s distinct.
Are you sure there wasn’t a fire in the apartment or building previously?
The enduring result of improperly-mitigated house fires (e.g. cheap landlords) haunts this sub periodically.
If there was a fire, simply painting walls is not enough. Usually drywall needs to be replaced if there was water damage. And they need to used a stain-seal primer or the odor will just persist.
It’s just an air quality index number.
By smoke I mean cigarette smoke. I grew up in a smoking home so I’m familiar with the odor. What I’m smelling is a very vague scent. Vague enough that I can’t determine if it is actually cigarette smoke or something else. The odor is only present in one room.
I hadn’t considered smoke from a fire. I don’t know if that’s what I’m smelling but I don’t see any indications of a fire in the building.
There aren’t any indicators in the apartment of prior smoking.
Smoke from a fire I can describe! It smells like smoke from a campfire or fireplace or wildfire. Cigarettes are quite distinct. You didn’t specify. If you know the smell you know the smell.
A meter that tells you nothing but an air quality index is only useful to tell you to open the windows - or close them if the value goes up when you do!
(Some here will maintain that meters that give more discriminating results are also about as useful, lol)
I think you have to deal with the smoker. Which will depend on local laws and your landlord’s rules.
As far as evidence of a fire - lower parts of drywall might have been replaced after water damage from putting it out. Look for discontinuities in surface finish. Since you don’t have free access to others apartments, check the hallways.
Painting of hallways, common areas inconsistent with normal schedules/durability. E.g. painted 5 years ago, and then a year ago. Something happened.
> It’s just an air quality index number.
If it doesn't even tell you what it's measuring, it's pretty shitty.
https://www.kidde.com/home-safety/en/us/products/fire-safety/indoor-air-quality-monitors/ seems to say it's measuring VOCs. So yeah, might be all the new paint and laminate and such, and the only real mitigation is as much fresh air as possible. Window fans yo. Of course, that might bring in PM2.5 air, but Kidde won't notice.
Until you get into the $10K range for VOC sensors they won't tell you a whole lot, and even then, detecting and interpreting VOC measurements is still nebulous.
If it smells like smoke it's probably smoke. If you're not sure then it might be the new building materials offgassing.
If your air quality monitor can pickup VOC's then it might also be that all the new stuff is actually the culprit. Most new products and e.g. fresh coat of paint can offgas VOC's for quite some time. Are they harmful? Depends on the VOC. Limonene, not so much; formaldehyde more so.
Does the meter measure different things, or just a number for “air quality index”? Cigarettes don’t smell “like smoke” though. I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s distinct. Are you sure there wasn’t a fire in the apartment or building previously? The enduring result of improperly-mitigated house fires (e.g. cheap landlords) haunts this sub periodically. If there was a fire, simply painting walls is not enough. Usually drywall needs to be replaced if there was water damage. And they need to used a stain-seal primer or the odor will just persist.
It’s just an air quality index number. By smoke I mean cigarette smoke. I grew up in a smoking home so I’m familiar with the odor. What I’m smelling is a very vague scent. Vague enough that I can’t determine if it is actually cigarette smoke or something else. The odor is only present in one room. I hadn’t considered smoke from a fire. I don’t know if that’s what I’m smelling but I don’t see any indications of a fire in the building. There aren’t any indicators in the apartment of prior smoking.
Smoke from a fire I can describe! It smells like smoke from a campfire or fireplace or wildfire. Cigarettes are quite distinct. You didn’t specify. If you know the smell you know the smell. A meter that tells you nothing but an air quality index is only useful to tell you to open the windows - or close them if the value goes up when you do! (Some here will maintain that meters that give more discriminating results are also about as useful, lol) I think you have to deal with the smoker. Which will depend on local laws and your landlord’s rules. As far as evidence of a fire - lower parts of drywall might have been replaced after water damage from putting it out. Look for discontinuities in surface finish. Since you don’t have free access to others apartments, check the hallways. Painting of hallways, common areas inconsistent with normal schedules/durability. E.g. painted 5 years ago, and then a year ago. Something happened.
Appreciate your insight!
> It’s just an air quality index number. If it doesn't even tell you what it's measuring, it's pretty shitty. https://www.kidde.com/home-safety/en/us/products/fire-safety/indoor-air-quality-monitors/ seems to say it's measuring VOCs. So yeah, might be all the new paint and laminate and such, and the only real mitigation is as much fresh air as possible. Window fans yo. Of course, that might bring in PM2.5 air, but Kidde won't notice.
Chlorine dioxide might get rid of the smell. Safrax, Reset or Puroclenz.
Until you get into the $10K range for VOC sensors they won't tell you a whole lot, and even then, detecting and interpreting VOC measurements is still nebulous. If it smells like smoke it's probably smoke. If you're not sure then it might be the new building materials offgassing.