Advice: living above a nail bar and nail bar smells

[AboveNailBar]

The shop unit below my girlfriend's flat has just opened as a Nail Bar. The flat (and 2 other above the unit) now smells heavily of acetone or whatever chemicals they use.

The smell is nauseating and she is getting a sore throat. It is not coming in through the windows, but permeating up through the floor. Several people have been off work sick.

I have been down to ask them what the smell is and was told "there was nothing they could do about it". In the shop it was almost unbearable - and they had clients in.

The recommendations I can find on the net say the air in a Nail salon should be replaced 6-10 times an hour, acetone comes under Control Of Substances Hazardous to Health. Initially there was no ventilation being used at all. They have since fitted a small extractor fan (4in x 4in exhaust in the back wall of the unit) but this has not resolved the issue.

Quite simply, the smell coming up through the floor is unacceptable. It is an old building ~100 years old. Do such establishments require planning permission or adhere to any building regulations?

I would be grateful for any advice you can give on resolving this matter before it causes any more undue stress and illness.

Regards,

Jon

 

[Envy]

Hi Jon!

An annoying situation you have my friend!

The amount of vapour produced by an average salon is well below Californian safety regualtions - even without ventilation. The products in our industry smell, but are safe and won't cause any harm or sickness (despite what people are lead to beleive) - There is a lot of scientific evidence to support this. The biggest problem to technicians is the dust that is inhaled.

The salon should have adequate ventilation, which by the sound of things they don't. The building owner is the one who should step in here I feel... as he now has unhappy tenants..

Footnote: there are some salons that use a product called MMA - This is a FAR stronger smelling product and in many US states is prohibited.

 

[AboveNailBar]

Hi Jon!

The products in our industry smell, but are safe and won't cause any harm or sickness (despite what people are lead to beleive)

I feel you have missed the point of my post. The smell of the products used, safe or otherwise, should under no circumstances be directly entering our property. This is not an occasional waft through the window.

 

[Envy]

Agreed - you should not have to live in someone elses smell!

That's where their ventilation should be MUCH stronger in the case.
I would suggest approaching and filing a complaint with the landlord. Or the local council and find out what the local by laws are in regards to strong odours. There will be a way that you can force them to upgrade the extraction and remove the amount of odour seepage to a level that won't come up into the rest of the building.

It's most unfair of them to let it become a concern for their neighbours

 

[Kim Lawless]

Jon, you need to contact The Environmental Health Dept of your local council. They will visit and deterim whether or not it's acceptable or not.

Must be a nightmare..............hope you get it sorted. x

 

[AboveNailBar]

Thanks Envy/Kimmi

Local Environmental Health have been called, but their response has been dissapointing to say the least. It is now well over two weeks since our first report and they have not yet visited the flats, or it seems even willing to answer the phone or return our calls.

My patience with both the nail bar and EH is wearing more than a little thin and I am therefore looking for other avenues to explore in order to get this resolved.

I look forward to hearing from anyone who can point me in the direction of a UK body that may be able to help. Is there a regulatory body for the nail industry?

I am not about to sit back and breath in someone else's noxious waste for any longer.

 

[ValencianNails]

Is there a regulatory body for the nail industry?

not yet mate, not in the UK anyway. there are associations etc but no 'one body' who regulates the industry and ensures safe practice (as far as I'm aware anyway).
hopefully there will be soon though as there are a fair few salons popping up who don't practice good ethics, but that's a whole different thread lol.
hope you get it sorted out as soon as possible... have you mentioned to your local council that you will speak to your local newspaper if the situation isn't sorted out? could be worth a try.

 

[MadAboutNails]

Hi Jon

It certainly must be awful to have such strong smells affecting your lives like this. Maybe the nailbar had a spillage? Or perhaps it's something to do with the building being so old and they way it's built?...maybe internal gaps allowing fumes through? There must be someone to help advise you and I would have thought it would have been either the owner of the building, environmental health or council. Goodluck though and hope you'll keep us posted.

 

[AboveNailBar]

not yet mate, not in the UK anyway. there are associations etc but no 'one body' who regulates the industry and ensures safe practice (as far as I'm aware anyway).
hopefully there will be soon though as there are a fair few salons popping up who don't practice good ethics, but that's a whole different thread lol.
hope you get it sorted out as soon as possible... have you mentioned to your local council that you will speak to your local newspaper if the situation isn't sorted out? could be worth a try.

Thanks, I will do a bit more research on here and see if I can find out if ventilation is not their only problem.

I would have been straight to the paper if it wasn't for the fact that the flat is also For Sale in the property section of the very same newspaper!

 

[ValencianNails]

The shop unit below my girlfriend's flat has just opened as a Nail Bar.

if the shop has just opened as a nailbar, were you informed of the opening and usage of the area?

 

[AboveNailBar]

if the shop has just opened as a nailbar, were you informed of the opening and usage of the area?

No. Should we have been?

 

[ValencianNails]

depends whether it was a complete change of usage of the area... ie from a corner shop to a nailbar etc, not sure if it's only applicable to neighbouring businesses though, competition wise etc.
do your council have a website you can check out for info?

 

[Sassy Hassy]

Check what category of business use the shop was before, ie A1 Retail A2 or A3. If it wasn't a nail bar before then they would have had to apply for a "Sui Generis" to change of use to a nail bar as beauty salons / nail bars do not fall within the normal categories. The Council then has a duty to write to the properties in the adjacent buildings, so that you can lodge an objection. If they have not applied for this change of use then they are on dodgy territory ... although Council's as per usual are able to interpret the rules to suit them.

I always beleive that if you get no joy from the Indians then go to the Chief. Write a letter to the head of Environmental Health (find out their name), and if that fails then write to the head of the Council. I would also contact your local Councilor, they are great at getting stuff like this actioned.

Good luck.

 

[wondernail]

Sorry to hear about your problems. I sympathise....I used to live above a fishmongers when I was a student at university and had to put up with the smell of fish wafting up through the floorboards!!

It is sad that the nail bar feel that they shouldn't be doing more to sort the problem out. If the flat above me said the same thing to me I would be mortified and I would be sorting out the problem asap.

At the end of the day it is not a nice smell...but it is not dangerous and does not cause sore throats or health problems but you have the right to live without sniffng nasty smells all the time.

However if they have satisfied environmental health and have satisfied all planning requirements I do not think there really is much you can do apart from and I am sorry to say this is move.

 

[AboveNailBar]

Sorry to hear about your problems. I sympathise....I used to live above a fishmongers when I was a student at university and had to put up with the smell of fish wafting up through the floorboards!!

It is sad that the nail bar feel that they shouldn't be doing more to sort the problem out. If the flat above me said the same thing to me I would be mortified and I would be sorting out the problem asap.

At the end of the day it is not a nice smell...but it is not dangerous and does not cause sore throats or health problems but you have the right to live without sniffng nasty smells all the time.

However if they have satisfied environmental health and have satisfied all planning requirements I do not think there really is much you can do apart from and I am sorry to say this is move.

I beg to differ. Why should moving be the answer?

 

[AboveNailBar]

A girlfriend of a friend has just been in for us and said it smells worse than any other nail salon she has ever been in and that she felt physically sick.

 

[wondernail]

Well of course it is not the answer..in an ideal world the salon owner would be decent enough to sort the problem out to the satisfaction of both of you.
But they obviously are not, and what I was trying to explain is that IF they have satisfied all their legal requirements is planning, and their environmental health requirements then you may find the law is on their side.

I have a nail bar and believe me I would bend over backwards to make sure the flat above was happy and that no product smell intruded into their life. It is a shame they do not have the same ethics.

So my point was if they are not breaking any rules, you have two choices, move or put up with it, which does sound as if I am not sympathetic but I am!!

Has anything been done to improve the building structure so that smells cannot waft upwards? I only say this as if you got rid of thenail bar downstairs and say an indian takeaway moved in, i think you may have the same problems with smell, so maybe new floorboards or something can be done to improve the building.

 

[wondernail]

Ah well if it is that strong, find out what products they use.....if the products contain MMA then yes it may smell very strong. Unfortunetly MMA is not illegal as it is in the US, but no technician here worth their salt would go near the stuff.

 

[Deb379]

Hi there


Why not ring up your local health and safety officer at your local council if it's causing you problems. You can't live with those sort of smells all the time.

Regards
Deb379

 

[Bud]

Ah well if it is that strong, find out what products they use.....if the products contain MMA then yes it may smell very strong. Unfortunetly MMA is not illegal as it is in the US, but no technician here worth their salt would go near the stuff.

just a thought... this will most likely not be as straight forward as asking the salon whether their products contain MMA - as if they do, I wouldn't think they would admit to it (even though it's not illegal).

However, there are some other indicators of NSS (non-standard salons), which may or may not be using MMA.

it would make sense if it was MMA, cos it would definitely STINK a lot more than other nail products, which would explain why your friend's girlfriend said it smells more than other salons?!?!