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We hired a painting contractor to prep, prime and
paint eight of twelve rooms in our home with water
based materials. We agreed to allow the primer to
be sprayed and paint to be rolled and brushed.The
contractor removed wall paper in two of the rooms
and patched several cracks and holes in the dry
wall. Approximately 18 months previous to the
start of the painting process the ceilings of our
home had been scraped of acoustical coating
containing asbestos and thoroughly prepped for
paint by the abatement contractor. The ceilings
remained upainted until the painting contractor
painted them. Three of the rooms had some mildew
growth low on the walls. We instucted the
contractor to clean the walls with a bleach-TSP
solution.
On the day the work commenced, we returned home
late that evening to a very strong odor in our
master bedroom which had been stripped of wall
paper, patched and primered. The work had
progressed to various stages throughout the house.
We had just primered and painted one of the rooms
ourselves prior to hiring the contractor and the
odor we smelled was much stronger and unlike the
odors of any prinmer and paint that I had
experienced before. I have worked for years in a
construction environment and this odor was
diferent from any primer I have experiened. I
questioned the job forman the following morning.
He assured me the odor was normal and would
dissipate.
The worked continued for five days including the
addition of a new wall between the living and
dining rooms construced of new dry wall, mud,
tape, primer and paint. When the contractor left,
obviously the house smelled of paint. The odor
dissipated in the normal amount of time. One or
two weeks later, a very pungent, sulphur like odor
began to linger in the dining room and one of our
bedrooms. Within three weeks time, all surfaces
which had been painted by the contractor smelled
of this pungent, sulphur like odor at varying
degrees. The odor seemed then and continues to be
concentrated in areas where primer was sprayed on
unsealed and unpainted drywall as compared to
areas that had been previously painted.
The odor during days of low humidity is espeially
pungent. The contractor showed no interest in the
problem nor its cause. We hired an environental
science company who ascertained that while there
was no evidence of volatile components, (there
were trace elements of semi-volatile componenets)
the odor tested in excess of acceptable odor
nuisance levels in many of the rooms primed and
painted by this contractor. The environmental
scientist did note the presence of propionic acid.
It is now 18 months later and the odor is still
just as prevalant.
questions: Any idea what the contractor could
have added to the paint to have caused this
lingering odor?
Has anyone come upon paint or primer that was
spoiled that left an odor
Replies
*
We hired a painting contractor to prep, prime and
paint eight of twelve rooms in our home with water
based materials. We agreed to allow the primer to
be sprayed and paint to be rolled and brushed.The
contractor removed wall paper in two of the rooms
and patched several cracks and holes in the dry
wall. Approximately 18 months previous to the
start of the painting process the ceilings of our
home had been scraped of acoustical coating
containing asbestos and thoroughly prepped for
paint by the abatement contractor. The ceilings
remained upainted until the painting contractor
painted them. Three of the rooms had some mildew
growth low on the walls. We instucted the
contractor to clean the walls with a bleach-TSP
solution.
On the day the work commenced, we returned home
late that evening to a very strong odor in our
master bedroom which had been stripped of wall
paper, patched and primered. The work had
progressed to various stages throughout the house.
We had just primered and painted one of the rooms
ourselves prior to hiring the contractor and the
odor we smelled was much stronger and unlike the
odors of any prinmer and paint that I had
experienced before. I have worked for years in a
construction environment and this odor was
diferent from any primer I have experiened. I
questioned the job forman the following morning.
He assured me the odor was normal and would
dissipate.
The worked continued for five days including the
addition of a new wall between the living and
dining rooms construced of new dry wall, mud,
tape, primer and paint. When the contractor left,
obviously the house smelled of paint. The odor
dissipated in the normal amount of time. One or
two weeks later, a very pungent, sulphur like odor
began to linger in the dining room and one of our
bedrooms. Within three weeks time, all surfaces
which had been painted by the contractor smelled
of this pungent, sulphur like odor at varying
degrees. The odor seemed then and continues to be
concentrated in areas where primer was sprayed on
unsealed and unpainted drywall as compared to
areas that had been previously painted.
The odor during days of low humidity is espeially
pungent. The contractor showed no interest in the
problem nor its cause. We hired an environental
science company who ascertained that while there
was no evidence of volatile components, (there
were trace elements of semi-volatile componenets)
the odor tested in excess of acceptable odor
nuisance levels in many of the rooms primed and
painted by this contractor. The environmental
scientist did note the presence of propionic acid.
It is now 18 months later and the odor is still
just as prevalant.
questions: Any idea what the contractor could
have added to the paint to have caused this
lingering odor?
Has anyone come upon paint or primer that was
spoiled that left an odor