chemqueries wrote:

Does your friend intend to live in the building? If so,
then perhaps he can tell prospective tenants that he or a family member
has severe, life-threatening asthma or bronchitis and cannot be exposed
to smoke.

In fact, he's buying it for a disabled (!) family member who does have
asthma.
I couldn't agree with you more on everything you say and am amazed,
considering the incidence of asthma among socioeconomically deprived
children who live in projects, that HUD has not outright banned smoking
in-and-out of public housing. It's cruel and unusual, not to mention
discriminatory, treatment of the underprivileged. (There, I spoke my
mind.)

I think your friend should definitely consult a lawyer to see how he
can make his property smoke-free.

Yeah, it looks as if this will have to be the case--or at least the
local municipal magistrate's record, to see if he was every called upon
to adjudicate issues regarding second-hand smoke. What I don't
understand is the *legal* basis for all the "no-smoking" apartment
advertisements you see now-a-days in the classified sections of
newspapers.

Maybe more on topic as far as this newsgroup is concerned, I should ask
how much in general (and I do mean "in general") replacement of ONLY
the "stucco" ceiling of a three-room apartment would probably run. On
sites such as MrLandlord.com, there are suggestions about ridding smoke
from walls--such as, of course, scrubbing them, and ripping out carpet.
But this stucco crap on the ceiling would have to be entirely torn
down.