am I allowed to have BBQ in my balcony?

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1
Hi,

this question might be surprising to you.

Am I allowed to do BBQ in my balcony? or maybe I have to go and use specified bbq and grilling locations?!

I'm asking this because i found it very rare to have a bbq in so many houses, and since it makes alot of smoke! i'm wondered if that can really bother the neighbors and it might be illegal, i don't know but im fan of grilling!

2
Check your building regulations or ask your concierge. It depends on your building specific rules

3
Not only the building regs... but the neighbors too! Would you want smoke from below coming in your open windows?

Who knows... maybe they will join you

4
Search the forum - this topic has been done.

Check with your building manager, often an electric one is ok, a gas one sometimes and very often a charcoal one isn't. And even if it is, charcoal can be very unpleasant for your neighbours.

5
When we moved in our real estate agent advised that it was ok to bbq, but that they requested we use gas and not coal. Also, if one person in the block complained, we would all lose the privilege (as technically it was not permitted). It means that we're all cautious about not smoking out the neighbours

Talk to your concierge or agent

6
Use LOX to light your barbecue. That way you won't make much smoke.

(That's not smoke at the end; it's water condensing out of the air).

7
it is often written in the house rules, forming part of your rental contract, that BBQs on balconies are verboten.

Why not put the Barbecue in the kitchen, and turn on the extractor fan? It's best to use gas or electricity!

If you must use charcoal, go to a wide river when the river is low in the summer, and choose an open space on the river bed. This is usually acceptable to everyone.

8
If your balcony is big enough to be a reasonable distance from the building, go for it, or a canopy helps redirect the smoke.

9
Because if you barbecue in your kitchen (even with a fan on) you will kill yourself via carbon monoxide poisoning. Go grill outside down by the lake or river when it's nice out and use the oven the rest of the time.

10
True. We had this rule in our old place. I would have been happy, however, if our neighbours around us grilled every evening, instead of the constant chain smoking on their balconies that made having our windows open extremely unpleasant.

11
In Basel we used to be in the top floor apartment with a 30 square metre terrace - there I used a charcoal Weber kettle grill without a problem.

Now that we moved to Downtown Switzerland we are in a middle floor apartment. We have a gas European Chef City Grill which doesn't take up too much space and doesn't produce any smoke to bother the neighbours. It has a lid so even if you grill something fatty there isn't a lot of smoke.

We also have a charcoal Bodum Picnic Grill which we take to the local park. Now and again I get a hankering for the "Holy Grail" - i.e. a Cote de Boeuf or T-bone cooked on charcoal, in which case I will check whether the neighbours are out and fire up the picnic grill on the balcony.

If you do it properly, you will have smoke for maximum 15-20 minutes while the charcoal gets going. Once the grill is ready to cook on - i.e. all charcoal covered in white ash and you can't hold your hand for more than 2 secs at the level where the cooking grate sits - you will have little in the way of smoke to contend with.

Cheers,

Nick

12
I have an electric Weber grill which I bought and used 2-3 times. My husband insists upon charcoal, so it is in our storage room. Glad to sell it for 75 chf. We live near Wollerau and work in Zürich, so either a pick up or meeting would be necessary.

http://www.schubiger-onlineshop.ch/i...Fche3god-00AAg

13
Now you have spoil the fun! Umm, exactly how will he get poisoned from a gas grill? Only if there is no ventilation?

14
Supposedly our building rules state that you can only have electric grills. Clearly no one cares that much, as most of the grills I've spotted are gas, and even the caretakers have a gas grill. I think the key is to not generate too much smoke and annoy your neighbors.

15
If one of your neighbors starts to bbq, dangle a sausage on a piece of string down to their balcony. next step a bottle of wine. If they have a sense of humor you'll be down there in no time. If they don't, wind it back up and avoid them at all cost.

Worked for me.

16
If you have a Big Black Quail problem I would call up a pest removal service, or even better, take it out with a shotgun.

17
Unless, like me, you have a smoker on the balcony and like to smoke whole animals for 4-5 hours or more!

Tom

18
just be careful that your BBQ use does not cause balcony glass to expand and contract so many times that it cracks.

been there, done that......

edit: will you be slaughtering your BBQ food or buying from a store?

19
Why would it be better to BBQ indoors then outdoors if outdoors would be problematic on it's own? Nothing I want more is the stink from whatever my neighbors choose to cook, seeping through the doors and hallway.

Not to mention to grease and splatter from the meat or oils on the walls and furniture around it. Gas and electric, outside on the balcony most of the time are allowed, but the reason they are against charcoal is because of the un controllable smoke that arrives from dripping fat or oils on the hot coals.

An extractor fan for home use in NO WAY is as powerful as one used in restaurants. And to have a charcoal BBQ in a restaurant the fire and health department will not allow a professional kitchen to open with out a regular professional extraction unit, and must prove powerful enough to not kill everyone nearby it when in use. I know this because I worked the lead grill position in 4 different Chophouses in the USA, and 1 here in Switzerland.

Why give someone advice where they can accidentally kill themselves is naïve at best, moronic at the least. Please think about what you are posting and who might be reading it, because not everyone has BBQing experience, even very intelligent people.

20
You gave told them two preferred choices. Never excluding charcoal.

How do you get poisoned from a gas grill? Fumes from burning the gas per chance? Have you ever heard of anyone running their car, in their garage, with the garage door closed for a certain effect? Really...think please.