Wood smoke turned dream home into a nightmare

After 5 years of searching for our “forever-home,” in which we wanted to raise our 3 children, we found our little paradise: right next to the woods, a lot of children around, no cars in front and in the back of the house, nice and lovely neighbors.

In the first winter we learned quickly, that we can’t sleep with our windows open. Too often we woke up in the middle of the night or in the early hours and the sleeping room smelled badly from wood smoke. There are around 5 wood burning stoves in our neighborhood which are used regularly. The first air cleaner was bought.

The next winter it was getting even worse. One neighbor decided to use briquettes and fire all the time. She even gets up in the night, to fire her stove. All 3 hours the PM-sensor reached the highest results. We talked to her, it took months and some other neighbors complaining until she reduced it, but it didn’t stop until now she’s not at home since a few weeks.

And right now, in May, the stoves are still used when it’s 15-20 degrees outside, and another neighbor started burning briquettes. It smells disgusting like gasoline and I can’t let the kids play outside.

We connected to the authorities but there is not much they can do but talk to these neighbors. In the end they can’t do anything because it’s allowed by law.

I cried a lot because I love our home and our neighborhood, but I can’t stand it anymore. It hurts so much to know that this is the home of our children, but I just want to open a window and let the kids play outside without checking the air constantly. We decided to search for another house, but it will be so difficult to find something where we can be sure to live without wood smoke.

Most of the neighbors seem to have gotten used to the constant stench and do not seem to be aware of how harmful it is to their health.