I’ve been working periodically on a new house that I seem to be allergic to… at least part of it. Today, I started on the first floor in an area that has not been vacuumed since before it was rocked. Typical stud framing with some LVLs, plywood sheathing, sheetrock taped and primed, some FG insulation and some blown-in (exposed in areas where paneling will go), nothing unusual at all. After an hour or so in the un-vacuumed area it was like I had a very bad cold. I’m not talking about much airborne dust, and no one else was working around me. After that I went upstairs where the hardwood is already laid, and no problem at all, it cleared right up. At this point I suspect the blown-in insulation, since that’s the item I have rarely been around. I am not ordinarily sensitive to dust at all, and have worked most of my life in shops or on jobsites. Does this ring a bell with anyone?
Needless to say, I’m going to avoid this situation until they get a laborer to scour the place. No need to get sick at work.
Replies
fire retardent...in the insul..BTDT.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
Edited 8/20/2004 12:13 am ET by SPHERE
I was gonna say what Sphere said--fire retardent/insect "retarder" (?) in the insul.
The fire/bug retardant generally used in cellulose is just a borate, IIRC. Fairly innocuous.
But I had a slightly similar experience a couple of weeks ago--
Was out in the garage gluing together some pieces for my kitchen ceiling project. Hadn't done any sanding/cutting/whatever that evening, just gluing some oak pieces using Titebond II. It was humid, though, and worked up a fair sweat. (I sweat a lot generally.)
Later, after I went to bed my feet began to itch. By morning my upper arms, neck, chest, thighs, ankles were all covered with a really itchy red rash. Everywhere where my clothes had held the sweat against my body. Took three days for the rash to go away, and it was the worst itch I've ever had -- worse than poison ivy.
It had rained most of the day, so no one could have burned something (eg, poison ivy) that might have put something in the air. (Suburban area anyway -- burning prohibited, and not that many weeds to burn.) Also, due to the rain, not likely to have been much pollen floating around (and I don't get a rash from pollen anyway). I suppose it could have been due to a garden chemical in the garage, but the garage door was open while I was working, and it wasn't a real hot day (just humid), so no reason to expect a high concentration of anything in the garage.
Still a mystery.
new laundry soap? fabric softener? That stuff gets to me so bad, I can't go down the aisle in the store. Ivory soap is all I use, and very little laundy soap, never as much as they say on the bottle.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
Nah, couldn't be that. I never use soap. (;-))
Dan, at one time my wife started using one of those new oxi clean products in the lawndry and that stuff made me itch bad. IT took awhile to figure out what was causing it. I had to have her rewash the cloths several times to get rid if it.We are the people our parents warned us about. J. Buffett
The odd part was that I didn't get any rash on my butt or other areas that were completely covered. I was in shorts and T-shirt, and it was clearly the areas where the sweat collected on exposed skin and then ran down and was held against the skin by clothing. So it must have been something in the air.
sounds like how I discovered I was allergic to ebony and Mother of Pearl..was inlaying a bass fingerboard, and sanding the MOP level with the ebony..where ever the dust landed on me I erupted in the rash like you described...mebbe the tannins in the red oak?
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
Definitely sounds like something in the air that reacted with your damp skin. I found out that my lungs don't take kindly to polyurtethane glue--makes me wheeze. Yet I didn't notice an odor when using it. It wasn't until I went to bed I started wheezing. Crazy. That's what I thought of when you said you were using Titebond II, but that wouldn't give you what sounds like "contact dermatitis".
Just a thought that Ragweed season just started (8/15 is the unofficial date). It sometime affects people who have never had allergies, then one summer . . .
I recently had a really bad reaction (wheezing, tight chest, followed by hives that lasted over a week) when laying a floor. This had never happened to me before and we were at a loss. I had slept in this room with bare concrete for over a year before we laid down subfloor and floor and so we know it was something in the floor assembly - Delta-FL/OSB/tar paper/engineered floor. Since I am again sleeping in the room I don't think it was the top layer. Our guess is that the glue in the OSB had something that really affected me. I've certainly worked around OSB before, but this came from Home Depot, and we've always bought from the real lumber store. So maybe HD gets their stuff from lower quality suppliers who don't care about VOC emissions?
It seems like the insulation is an unlikely suspect for you, since the room is sheetrocked - unless there is a lot in the unvacuumed debris. I agree that having somebody else clean the room before you go back in is a good idea.
Maybe the OSB had a strange species of wood in it--one with lots of oils you might be allergic to. Hard to tell. I once went through the series of little injections under the skin of both arms (64 in total I think). Told the doc I knew I was allergic to grass. When he looked at the results of the tests, he said grass was about the only one I wasn't allergic to--he said it was probably the mold and dust I kick up when I mow that gives me the reaction. The worst one for me was birch tree pollen!
"I've certainly worked around OSB before, but this came from Home Depot, and we've always bought from the real lumber store"
Aimless,
You could be on to something. last time I was in HD, I noticed that the birch ply was stamped made in China - is it possible that with their less-stringent worker safety and environmental controls, they're using questionable adhesives?-Jazzdogg-
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.
I've worked with many kinds of exotics for 20+ years. I tried a new one a couple years ago: chechen, out of Mexico. It was gorgeous, sold well, so i ordered a couple hundred BF of it. The next time i was cutting it, wherever the dust hit i itched like crazy; it closed up my pipes, too. I use a mask whenever cutting or sanding, but even the dust hanging in the air in the shop affected me.
Most hardwood dusts don't bother me, but i've lately found MDF dust irritates my exposed skin. I use cortisone creme sparingly and an antihistamine when needed, which isn't often if i'm careful about wearing a particle mask.
Once you get sensitized, it's easier to become sensitive to more allergens. I've moved to a hardwood-floored house froma carpeted one, and have fewer respiratory problems.
Western Red Cedar sawdust causes a reaction in a fair number of people, me included.
Hi
Found out I was allergic to Woolite cold water soap by watching the rash crawl up my arms. The body has an ability to take some chemicals but not expel them. The curve of tolerance looks like a boomerang resting on one arm. The curve of sensitivity goes up drastically at a certain point where even small amounts can cause nasty reactions. Used to work in the chemical business where I was told by the old timers I don't need a mask! Solvents such as acetone etc. took their toll. Get the Material Safety Data Sheet from the manufacturer and see what ingredients are hazardous.
Good luck
Ohhhh man, I've got allergies....what a hassle.
I've got the usual ones, cats, pollen, dustmites, mildew etc.
But then I've got the work related ones...
OSB sawdust is a killer, blown in insul, Xylene, and MDF dust come to mind. The new one that just started last summer is bee stings....what a hassle. I was near the top of a 32' ladder and got five stings inside my tank top. No problem. A week later I got one sting on my shin at my brother's house and my leg blew up like it was broken in half. Got stung twice this year on the forearm and had a similar reaction.
I try to pretend I'm allergic to digging footings and lumping shingles, but the guys don't seem to be buying it.
Hope you carry an epi-pen with you at all times! May save your life one day.
Want to know something that's rediculous?
I didn't really know that that was what I needed until I was describing the event to my SIL. So next time I see the doc I ask him for one. He tells me he can't prescribe one unless I need it right then and there. If I already had a prescription for one, I could refill it with just a phone call but because I didn't go to the ER when I got that last sting....no epi-pen.
So now I'll just have to wait 'til I get stung bad enough again!
Your doctor sounds all too typical. Yeah, right, come and see him when you're all swoll up like a corpse that's been in the water a month and you can't breathe! Good thinking doc. Glad my life is in your hands. I guess you could go to your local crank (crystal meth) supplier (isn't epinephrine one of the raw materials for making meth--or is it ephedrine? (and is there a difference?)) okay, I think it's past my bedtime.
Thanks for all the replies, folks. I'm going to do a little research on the blown-in and fire retardant and see what I can find. I've never been allergic to anything else, as far as I know. Last time I worked on the house in question the problem was mild and took a few weeks to develop. Yesterday it was within a few hours. Probably be even worse if I let it happen again.
Diesel, you might be able to get an epi-pen if you get checked out by an allergist. I know a few people with bee sting allergies and they have them, and would be in serious trouble without one if stung.
Yer probably right Dave. Thanks and good luck with that job.
Hi
Just went through this my wife who is allergic to wasp stings. Please keep in mind that I am writing from Canada where the laws may differ. She had an epi-pen and gave herself a shot. Got her to emergency just in case. Last time she had 7 stings this time only one. The Doctor in emergency was not busy and called the pharmacy re Adrenaline. In our pharmacology books under Federal Law Adrenaline does not require a prescription. Our Province of B.C. does so the Doc gives my wife a prescription for Adrenaline @ $3.00 a pop $15.00 for 5 vials plus 7$ for ten needles (the same type as used by diabetics) with short needle 1/4 inch long. A little cheaper than $100.00 per pen. The drawback is you have to be able to give yourself a shot, so bought an orange to practice. SO protested that her skin did not look at all like that!.
Cheers Mac
Thanks for the 411 MAC. Next time I see my doctor (fall check-up) I'll lean on him a little harder. I'm thinking that if I'm working alone someday and get stung on the face or something then I'm in for a wild ride. I'm all done with wild rides.
Hi
From the discussion at the hospital last week, depending on the nature of your allergy, if you get stung higher up i.e. in the neck it can cause your throat to swell up cutting off the air supply. You don't have the luxury of a leisurely trip to the hospital. If you are fumbling for a syringe the epi-pen is the way to go. Unfortunately you can't pre-load the syringe. What about a second opinion from another Doc?
Cheers
Mac
I gotta chuckle at how you ended that dark and gloomy post with "cheers". Funny stuff.
Like I said Mac, my doc's not all that bad at all. I sort of mentioned the incident in passing during a physical last winter. I probably should have put a little more emphasis on the severity of the allergy.... I was probably hoping it was a one time thing. Until I got stung this year and realized I'm stuck with another allergy. I'll make it a point to get over and see him and I'm fairly confident that if I press a little he'll take care of me.
Thanks for your concern though.
Brian
Yeah, an allergist can probably do a skin sensitivity test and base a prescription on that.
Actually, they now have blood tests far more accurate than the skin tests.
http://www.questdiagnostics.com/hcp/topics/immunocap/immunocap.html
This is a bit of discussion about this new technology.