It is spring in Seattle. Trees are budding and fragrances permeate the air of our neighborhood - except at our home. A penetrating sour or chemical smell of smoke envelops our house and enters our house whenever a door or window is opened.

For the five years that my husband and I have lived in this dense single family city neighborhood, and eight months out of the year, we have been exposed to the smoke from our next door neighbor’s uncertified wood stove. During the coldest winter months, the wood burning is constant from six in the morning to ten in the evening. At the worst of times, the smoke creates a visible gray haze for 100 feet with the smell being noticeable halfway down the adjacent block.

We bought the property in the summer of 2002, and we were not aware that our neighbor heated his home with a wood stove. While we soon discovered that the smoke seriously affected our enjoyment of the house and garden, we only learned about the associated health risk as we looked for solutions to this invasion of our air space.

The prevailing winds are northbound and we live to the north of our neighbor and 20 feet from his chimney. In addition, our house is taller than the top of the neighbor’s chimney, causing the smoke to hit the South wall of our home and envelop the house. Due to a serious of circumstances we are disproportionately affected by this smoke, to the point where it presents a very serious health risk to us. General air pollution levels and yearly burn ban mean very little to us. We are exposed to very high pollution levels on a daily basis. We basically have the choice of living with our indoor pollutants or open the house to our neighbor’s outdoor pollutants.

I am in the process of preparing a report of our 4 years of efforts to bring this situation to an end, and what we have learned in the process about the way the Washington State air quality laws are implemented.