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How to contain dust falling from apartment ceiling

5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago

Hello Everybody, I am not sure if this is the best place to post this, but I really dont know what to do at this point.About 4 months ago my family and I started getting some weird allergies whenever we are in our apartment.At first we didnt know what it was, until we figured out that upon our upstairs neighbors jumping and stomping on their floors our allergies would get worse. Aside from the coughing, sneezing, and irritated eyes, we would also get a dryway taste in our mouths.We have been living here for the last 11 years and have never had this issue until recently. We notified the landlord and at first they were hesitant to even look at it. We are planning to move at some point soon, just getting some things together.Since the landlord was giving me a difficult time at first and I had reached out to the city several times because of possible toxic dust we might be breathing in and that there are kids that live inside the apartment as well. I decided to try and remedy it myself by taking painters plastic and duct taping it to the ceiling. It lessen our symptoms for a little while before the duct tape (Gorilla) started to peeling off the ceiling, mostly due to the uneven surfaces on the ceiling. Thats what makes it difficult to spot the cracks and fixed them, because of the textured ceilings.At some point after going back and forth with the landlord and the city notifying them to look into the matter, they sent a repair person to fix some of the cracks, before we noticed that there were more in the other rooms in the apartment. And even the ones the repair person sealed are opening up again. We relayed our concerns back to the landlord and explained that its a health hazard. After going back and forth for a while they sent a person to test the air quality, in which this person stated that the air quality in our apartment is good and no good amount of dust can be found. We are still not convinved with the environmentalists findings and we know from prior experiences and the landlord and office are incompetent.The landlord at this point has said they tried to handle the issue by notifying the people upstairs to make less noise, sending a repair person and then an environmentalist. At this point they are saying theres nothing else they can do.Ive contacted the city several times and they dont pick up the phone or return messages and there are no open offices I can go to speak with someone.I have tried to plaster the cracks themselves, but it seems every week there is a new one. The old ones that get plastered open up again and the dust seem to be getting worse by the week. I bought a stronger type of plaster at the hardware store last week that says in big bold letters that the product has the potential of causing cancer. So I decided not to use that. I also understand that this might be a structural issue.We cant just up and leave right now and we are looking to move soon, but need to wait alittle while longer while we get some things together. At this point, I just want to minimize our exposure to the dust. I have thought about sealing the ceilings with a light plastic like saran wrap and taping it with duct tape in the meantime.I just dont know what to do anymore. Can Someone please give me any ideas. Thank You.

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