Thanks everyone who replied.
Looks like the common suggestion is a complete no-no for the duct tape.

I had tried putting up a big tarp on the balcony floor in the past, but
that hasn't helped much. I guess the best plan would be to ask the apt
mgmt for a diff apt . I guess this could be a valid reason to ask them
not to charge me loads of $ for the mid-term move.

Thanks again everyone, thank god I didn't get over enthusiastic with the
duct tape this weekend .

Cheers,
Ranjit

Ranjit said the following on 2/4/2007 12:48 PM:
Hi,

I stay in an apartment on the 3rd floor. Unfortunately, my downstairs
neighbors are heavy smokers and I am sensitive to it. I talked to the
Apt mgmt and legally they can't do anything.

The problem is that my balcony floor is made up of wooden planks with
about 2-3mm gaps in them. The only ventilation the bedroom can get is
through the window opening into the balcony. so when the folks
downstairs are enjoying a puff, the smoke comes into the bedroom if my
window is open.

I was thinking I would try to out some duct tape on all the gaps and see
if that could solve the problem. There are still the 1-2 inch gaps in
the railing but my guess is the smoke mainly comes through the gaps on
the floor rather than the railing (railing is about 5 ft from the window).

Any better suggestions for me apart from the duct tape, something that I
can get from local home depot/lowes and I can remove it when I leave the
apartment?

Thanks in Adv.