Here is a question for you custom painters. I have been painting models in my train room for a while. Now keep in mind, I dont paint on a frequent basis like alot of guys do that paint for a living. I do this strictly for hobby reasons. Well anyways. I have been in my house for 7 years now and about 5 of those years have been doing paint work. I am getting married in a month and looking forward to moving my fiancee in with me after we are married. Back about October time, I was painting a project in the house (I know now, not a good idea) and almost instantly as soon as she walked in the door she had a hard time breathing. Since this incident I have bought 2 different kinds of air purifiers and have reduced the smell in the house, but not enough for her comfort. I have also moved my airbrush and thinners out to the garage. If she stays at my house more than 2 days, she complains about being winded and complains of shortness of breath. Do any of you know how to get rid of the paint fumes in the house? Am I best to repaint the entire 1,085 sq ft inside the house to "seal" any contaminants or what are your suggestion? Ryan
Are you sure it is just the paint? That sounds like a really nasty hypersensitivity! Could there possibly be another allergen in the house, from past or present? Pet? Mildew? Anything?
Well Ken, I am not entirely sure. I asked about pet dander and she ruled that out as she has 4 cats. I doubt mildew, as generally mildew smells musty and the house does not. She has informed me that she is certain it is the paint. And I have been negligent in the fact I have painted in the house with little and/or no ventilation. My first thought was the dust from my dog that I used to have and/or the pellet stove in the house. I have not used the pellet stove since in almost a year and have moved the painting outside into the garage. There still is a strong smell of paint from the hobby room. With that being said, I am sure that the paint is a major culpurate in this issue.
If you've been spraying, you've probably got that crud all over the house and in the heating and air return ducts if you have them. I don't know if you are going to get relief other than opening up the windows as much as possible to air the place out, and then doing an extensive top to bottom cleaning of all the surfaces in the house - to the level of dust-mopping the walls and ceilings and wiping down all surfaces, getting carpets professionally cleaned if you have them, and getting a duct cleaning. Those little particulates get everywhere, especially if you haven't been properly ventilating. Then, go pick up a fume hood or make one and use it. Ryan, you do nice work. I saw some of it at the PMLC. I want you to have many more years of bringing nice work to shows and meets. Don't poison yourself, man.
The windows have been as open as possible for the last 2 months to air the place out. Cleaning and wiping surfaces down is another story. What does one use to clean something like paint? Surely water and/or soap & water wont due, I am sure. Would one use vinegar & water or something more potent like amonia & water?
We did most of our cleaning when I worked for a construction cleaning company using a mild solution of water with this de-greaser/cleaner stuff called Sunburst that we got here in Portland. We just called it the Pink Stuff. You didn't need much. Really, a lot of what you are doing is removing particulate "dust" that has accumulated on surfaces around your house, so you probably don't need much more than water and some old towels for the surfaces. If it's in your carpets, etc., that's a trickier one.
The unfortunate thing is I am afraid it is more than likely in the carpets too. Luckily, I only have carpets in the 3 bedrooms. The rest of the house is hardwood floors.
You're in luck then on that. Hardwood floors are about the easiest to clean really well. With your carpets, I would recommend a steam cleaning. Best of luck. It's tricky, I know.
Mike- There is no furnace or ducting in the house. The only 2 sources of heat are the baseboards, and the pellet stove. I have thought about putting in a furnace and/or heat pump but that would cost me some $$$$. Ryan
I wonder if there is some source of expertise available for consultation? (Such as through the U of W?) This is going to require serious thought, to be done once and done properly. No matter what, I am afraid there will be a fair sum of money and effort necessary to achieve remediation.
Ken- I can find all sorts of firms that will give you a consultation when it comes to mold/mildew or fire but cant find anything about toxins. Ryan
That's one reason I suggested such as the U of W. Somewhere in their health/sciences? (I'm sure somebody studies these situations.) Just hoping there'd be someone who could offer a suggeston on what to do, or who to ask.
Adam, Where does one find this Sunburst at? Home Depot? Lowes? Or a commercial cleaning supplier? Ryan
We got it at the factory in SE Portland or at Vacuum Cleaner Supply on SE Belmont in Portland. There's nothing magical about it. I'd ask at a real hardware or janitorial supply house what they'd use.
This may hearken back to the days of wide belts and Earth Shoes, but try burning some candles. Use plain ones or lightly scented. I'm not sure if the candle is doing anything "real," like actually burning some of the volatile stuff, or encapsulating the molecules or whatever, but there is a positive psychological effect. If nothing else, it can provide a masking scent, and if your fiance's reaction is more psychological than physiological, that can help a lot. We have an attic fan that draws air up through the whole house. By running this pretty much all the time, we have constant air flow through any windows we leave open. Ultimately, getting rid of odors is about the number of "air changes" you can get every day. Again considering the technique of "masking" scents, think about doing some Italian cooking, or slow-cooking crockpot stews. You can fill a whole house with a pleasant aroma in a short time.
I owned a house in Northern Illinois for seven years, at least five of those years I painted. I had a spare bedroom that was the hobby room and never had a problem with paint smell. True, most of my spraying was acrylic, but never a problem and my wife at the time was allergic to everything. I did use a spray booth with a triple filter, close the work shop door and cleaned up at the end of the day. However, even with the spray booth with filter, I had to still wipe down surfaces near it and that included the heat/cold vents and returns. I would really look into steam cleaning the carpet and air vents.
What happens when she goes into the train room or is it the garage where the things painted have been taken? Or if you have recently painted something in the train room. If it is the paint then this should bother her even there. That's all the ideas I have.
Well the main problem is, when I would paint I would have the door open so I could listen to music and whatnot. So therefor it is more than likely in the entire house. It doesn't bother her too much in the living room, but as you go down the hallway to the bedrooms it doesn't bother her at first. However, if we are lying in bed watching a movie or mainly in the morning when we wake up she can feel a tightness in her chest. This makes me think that it is paint. I have recently moved the airbrush and everything (with the exception of the stored paints) to the garage. I have NOT yet painted anything in the garage. The reason I suspect that the paint is the issue is that when I was painting last October, almost immediately when she walked in the door it started bothering her. The lucky thing is, I have hardwood floors in the house, except the 3 bedrooms and bathroom. Also, there is NO duct work in the house. Because there is no duct work in the house also brings up another problem and that is getting adequate ventilation to remove the particles or odor from the room. Even opening the windows has helped but not entirely. My main concern is, whats is the carpet? And how do I get it out? Or do I just bite the bullet and rip the carpet out and replace it. This will be no fun, and also costly, which I dont need right now as I have a wedding in 2 weeks.
I paint with acrylics these days but I still clean auto parts, etc... the fumes can latch onto drywall, insulation, clothes and just about anything else. EVENTUALLY it will air out, but can take quite a long time. All I can advise is to make sure there is ventilation to that room as well as getting some activated charcoal and crushing some in a few buckets or boxes, etc... it will absorb a lot of odors. Vinegar can do wonders when trying to remove solvents from walls. Doesn't smell great, but after the vinegar smells subside, it can take a lot of solvent smells with it.
