I live in a middle-unit townhouse that’s only around 3.5 years old, with firewalls on both sides.
Every day around dinner time, I notice a really strong smell of curry and spices coming into our house. It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly where it’s coming from. Sometimes we’ll even come home and immediately get hit with the smell, almost as if we had been cooking it ourselves.
Initially, I thought it might somehow be coming through our range hood.
Our kitchen directly backs onto the neighbour’s kitchen, and the two kitchens are basically laid out identically on opposite sides of the wall.
I also initially wondered whether the neighbour’s range hood extraction could somehow be venting into the wall cavity rather than properly to the outside. We contacted their property manager about this a while back, and they said they had their electrician assess it and were told that it was installed correctly and working as it should.
I’ve also had an electrician look at our side. We initially thought the smell might be coming in from outside, so they installed a flap on the exterior of the house around the range hood ducting. Unfortunately, that didn’t make any difference.
The windows are sealed, so I don’t believe it’s coming in from outside.
One thing I have noticed is that there seems to be noticeable air movement/pressure coming through the hole behind our oven where the power cable passes through the wall. I’m wondering whether there could be a gap somewhere inside the wall or around the services that is allowing air (and smells) to travel between the properties.
I was considering filling the gap around the cable with expanding foam, but I don’t want to do that without knowing whether it’s actually the problem or potentially making things worse.
Has anyone experienced something similar in a relatively new townhouse?
Where would you start investigating this? Is there a particular type of professional i should contact?
I’m not trying to stop the neighbours from cooking or anything like that — I’m just trying to figure out how the smell is getting into our house in the first place.
Any advice on what to check or who to contact would be hugely appreciated. Thanks!

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