Odors getting into suite above shop

[myredracer]

Recently finished my shop enough to finally use it and have been welding, grinding and a little painting (by brush). The tenant above, my SIL, has been complaining about odors getting into her suite.

Am wondering what fumes/gases/odors are more likely to get through the ceiling and then the subfloor of the suite? When I built the suite, I sealed the heck out of the plywood subfloor and when I built the shop I sealed the heck out of openings through the drywall, at least I thought I did. Somehow, molecules are making their way through two barriers. I must have missed some cracks and will have to take a close look.

If knew what things are more likely to smell worse maybe I can at least open a door and window, but I really don't to bring cold/damp air into the heated shop though.

The suite has ventilation as per code and could be under slight negative pressure. Have not balanced the fans yet.

Is there anything that be done or is going to happen to some extent regardless? In the summer, I can open the overhead door and I can paint outside.

 

[justanengineer]

Unless you have another stronger odor like fresh paint or air freshener masking it youre always going to have some noticeable odor in rooms adjoining an attached garage, Its simply the nature of the beast and the main reason why folks build them detached. Now you know why they call it the inlaw apartment!

 

[jonjon1]

Fresh air exchanger. Worked for my shop, I have 2 garages attached to my 1900 sq foot office, 1 garage is for parking (which can get fumes when the equipment is started (4000sq ft and only heated to 50), and the other is for working, single lift, 2 stall...

Anyway, I too, sealed the sh!t out of that office, it has storage loft above the office accessible from the garage area. And the office help still complained about diesel smell and smoke smells when they were welding in the garage...

SO I drove my self nutz trying to find the infiltration. Finally I bought three fresh air ventilators made sure the garages were under negative air when the doors were shut, and never heard about it again...

Pretty simple to setup, and the energy loss is minimal, much much better than an exhaust fan system...

these will stand alone without a furnace and you will not find a better unit at a better price, http://www.supplyhouse.com/Fantech-AEV1000-AEV-Series-Air-Exchanger-Ventilator-5-Side-Ports-120-CFM

IMO, there should be one of these in every house and building in the world, the air in our buildings is so polluted you would get sick just reading the IAQ reports I have written after analyzing some homes and commercial buildings, we did a HOSPITAL and its parking garages tested better than in the ER!!! The air outside your home is about 12 times cleaner than the air inside, our furniture, mattresses, cabinets, flooring, walls, ceilings are all leaching all the time, and then with very little fresh air in the a/c months and heat months, it builds and builds to unsafe levels, inside the first 3 days of closing them up!!!

BE AFRAID BE VERY AFRAID, lol... Seriously though, a couple hundred bucks and some flex duct and I have had customers call me to thank me after a month saying they could sleep better, had less head aches, babies and elderly were breathing better, the house stayed cleaner with less dust, etc I have heard it all, and MOST people dont even know what that unit is!!! They think "I open a window for a bit once and a while and we come in and out of the doors", which is a joke, unless you open 2 windows and put a fan in one on the opposite side of the house for a couple hours before noon and a couple hours before midnight, you are NOT changing you air enough...

Its some simple math to figure out how much you should change your air and doing it with an air exchanger is the most efficient way to get it done, plus quiet and you never have to do anything, just set it and forget it....

ANYWAY, good luck, if I were you I would install one in the garage and one in her apartment, and in the shop I put a sensor on my doors so when they open it gives the unit a break, and we leave our doors open a lot in the summer.

I tried using a negative air fan with a undersized draft door and a pressure gauge control, so it would not **** the air out of the offices, and that never worked, only when we did the air exchangers did I stop hearing the complaints...


PS: no matter how you seal the building, its only going to do so much, the only other way to stop her getting odors, is to glue her nostrils shut OR keep the garage warmer than her apartment and stop the convection... Because say your shop is 60 and her apartment is 72, you wont stop your energy from going towards that heat bringing with it your odors...

 

[Blue One]

I will never build a suite above a shop, or live in a hose over a sho for that exact reason.
They are bad news period.

It is almost impossible to isolate the top from the shop fumes.
You might have a chance if you seal up the suite and install an air system that will maintain positive pressure in the suite at all times.

 

[kaymccampbell]

Lived in one for 30 years. Never had a problem.
I have an exhaust fan for when I use chemicals or weld or run equipment.

 

[sberry]

You need pos pressure from outside in to the appt. I live above my office from 92 to 08. If I would have thought it would have been that long I would have remodeled and put air cleaning in.
Quite an old pic.

 

[myredracer]

[snip]

PS: no matter how you seal the building, its only going to do so much, the only other way to stop her getting odors, is to glue her nostrils shut [snip]...

Excellent idea!! Truth be known, many times I have thought about taping her mouth shut.

Thanks for the comments. Kinda thought there was no simple solution to what sounds like a common issue. An air-air heat exchanger might be an option. Maybe an automatic deodorizer or nilodor spray setup, lol?

The suite has an intake/re-circ fan and an exhaust fan. I've only guessed at the speed control settings and there very well could be a slight negative pressure. There's no simple or low cost way of measuring air flow that I know of and don't want to have to pay a balancing guy to do it.

I'm retired and normally do the noisy/smelly stuff during weekdays while she's at work. Like many I'm sure though, when you get all hyped up and going on a project, you don't want to stop.

 

[kbs2244]

Your problem is why many codes do not allow over working shop living quarters.
As had been suggested you need to provide the apartment with all the time air pressure higher than the shop.
You can either exhaust the shop or blow into the apartment form the outside.

 

[Jess]

I have somewhat the same issue when painting. Although there are solid walls and everything is insulated, the vapours can't escape from the building and rise into the finished area, which has windows and doors. As suggested a positive air pressure could help, like having an Heat Recovery Ventilator serve the suite. Other options might be shop exhaust but there goes your heat... I've just been opening the bay door for awhile after doing any paint.

 

[rsanter]

Your best chance is to spray foam the walls and floor and possible the ceiling depending on how it was built.
I am assuming that there are no windows from the residence looking into the shop and those will leak like crazy

Bob