Remove chemical smell room
Hello,
You may remember me from last year. I had an allergic reaction after an insulator added blown fiberglass to my attic and air sealed the space between the sibfloor and the kneewall.
Apparently I was having allergic reaction to my 15 year old serta matress. What I though was an increasing cat allergy was actully just an allergic reaction to a voc from my foam matress.
So after disposing the matress, my allergic reaction has demininished greatly. But I still have minor reactions. If I do not vent out the guest bedroom window, after 2 weeks I have a bad reaction(about 1/5 as bad as when the bed was present.)
So my my current issue is residue chemical odor. I have had good results with a space heater but there are 2 problems.
1. Space heaters have a safety shot off of 88 degrees
Thanks
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Replies
Reading through your other two posts … you've had quite a journey. I'm sorry that it's continuing to give you issues.
It seems like you've had success in the past with 1) removing carpet, 2) removing vinyl asbestos tile and backing paper, 3) removing a mattress. Is there anything else in the room you can remove, to determine if it might be off-gassing? Lstiburek: "Dilution is not the solution to indoor pollution. Any powerful contaminant will overpower your ability to dilute it. Source control, source control and source control." (https://www.buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-070-first-deal-with-the-manure)
You mentioned an IAQ test before; do you still have an IAQ monitor? Can you share any data it's given you recently?
In terms of your question, I'm not an expert, but it seems that — if you've removed any VOC candidates — ventilation would be a better approach than heating the room and not replacing the air. (Hence the eye-burning you experienced.) Have you explored other ventilation strategies for that room?
Readings from my monitor. The formaldhyde level calibrated at 0.02 outside so think the machine is off by a bit.
I have a air monitor and the levels arent triggering for formaldehyde or any other large particals. The formaldehyde used to be at around 0.7-1.2 before I removed the abestos and tar paper. Now it sits at .015 or so. I'll hook it back up and give you the readings incase im missing something.
As far as venting goes, I have air it out for 2 months. I have slept in it for like 4 days and experience just minor eye irritation and a scratchy throat, which is a vast improvement from several months ago. However if I leave the window/room closed for a week it starts to build up slowly.
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When my parents visited in may I slept in the room and developed severe eye burning, conjuctivitis (slight swelling and mucus), and chest burning. My parents slept for 3 days no issues. Had my dad help me drag the bed downstairs so I could sleep and the lower half of the house started to make my eyes burn, not nearly as bad, but a constant stinging sensation. Had dad help me drag bed back upstairs. Found out there was free bulk utem disposal in a few weeks. Couldnt get bed out of room myself so I vacuum sealed it so I could roll it up and carry it out the house. Wore a mask whil3 doing it. Everything was fine then I decided to stick my face over the vacuum exhaust and suddenly developed a vurning sensation, like a sunburn, on my eyes(meile vacuum with meile hepa filter) Next 3 days my eyes burned like someone had poured shampoo i to them. That same next day I ran into the room and grabbed a pair of gym shorts, tossed into back pack, then i to car. Was fine during 30 minute ride to work. 8 hours kater when I opened the door it was like walking into a cloud of acid. I could not open my eyes or breath the air. Had to vent the car for 5 minutes before I could safely enter and drive. Took 2 weeks for it to go away. Tried washing backback with vinegar 2 times and left it out in sun for a week, ended up throwing it away. Gym shorts seems fine now.
I checked the room like 5 days later and didnt notice anything too horible vut I left the window open, had 5 boxes of baking soda in the room, and $20 worth of charcoal before I vacuumed it out.
This being said, ive had allergies concentrated in my bedroom for years, they havestarted to get worse over the last 5 though. In my kast apartment I slept in my living room for 3 weeks because I started to develope bad stinging sensation in my eyes and they were fully crusted shut. Thought it was from cats or maybe too much laundry detergent.
When I moved into the house I was fine until summer when I closed the windows and air sealed the bedroom. Allergies exploded to a level I never experienced before. When I finally fled downstairs I gorilla taped the doors closed and my allergies magically vanished. Best sleep ever.