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Clients moved furniture in two weeks ago. She can’t stay in house for more than a couple of hours, they are staying in a hotel. Have checked for gases, and had enviromental guy go thru, with no results. House has all hardwood and tile floors, H.W. Heat, latex paint. We have fans going and windows open, has anyone used ozonators? Any other suggestions?
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She needs to see a doctor (in the following order depending on her specific symptoms - Internal Medicine, Allergy or Pulmonary, possible even Psychiatry). One possibility is that the house is not the problem at all if you have done a reasonable job of having the house checked over. There probably isn't much in the house that hasn't been used in the hotel as well.
*Dave, This problem was covered in a back issue fo FHB. I will look through and see if I can locate it.I bid a house for some folks last year and they wanted all hardwood and ceramics to combat her allergies. Was that the thought here?I'll get back to you with that issue.
*Dave, Many building materials can out gas chemicals toxic to some people. It could even be the furniture. Is the furniture new? It could be the mechanical equipment back drafting into the home. What type of boiler? What type of fuel? What type of insulation? We had a second owner move into a air tight home I built that was about 6 years old. They redecorated before they moved in. They complained about experiencing nausea and burning eyes in one of their kid's bed rooms. The woman of the home found some old and in-accurate information about cellulose insulation over the internet and concluded the the cellulose was causing their problems. We took a scientific approach and took samples of the new paint, new carpet, and new wall paper. We put the samples in closed jars for a couple hours, then asked the homeowner to open a jar at a time and sniff. She experienced all the symptoms when she sniffed the jar with the carpet scrap in it. She replaced the carpet and our good name and the good name of cellulose insulation was restored. By the way, we had a whole house ventilation system and fresh air intake ducts attached to the furnace.
*Dave,Found this in the search engine (Finehomebuilding magazine index) key words HEALTHY HOUSE. Issues 64 and 73 may help.Chemical sensitivity in 73.hubcap
*Dave,Your client could be having a reaction to something at the location and not within the house, could be natural, could be pollution. You might have your client spend a few hours outside and upwind of the house to see if she then has a reaction and you might want to do this at the same time of day and the day of the week as when she had problems within the house.I'd be very cautious about personaly getting her to test for reactions to material samples, you don't want to possibly induce a medical emergency.
*Dave -Business is business, and if I go by the indications on your post. You have far over stepped the boundry of good will and intentions. If you can't remedy the situation like a punch list and in 24hrs, stop and assess your ability to resolve this matter.I hope by now you have contacted your insurance carrier, and they have assumed all control of this issue, and their resources have begun to act on your behalf. If they (Ins.) do not provide legal representation, retain and initiate one now.b If not, you will shortly be incriminating yourself and assuming liability/guilt based on your actions to correct a situation that you did not create. Circle your wagons and spend the the time to rethink the process of building and prepare and review your "As builts" along with a thorough review to have all the MSDS sheets and reciepts of materials for review and verification. You will need to be prepared for the process to drag on and funds to be halted. (extent unknown)In no means am I being a alarmest, but you must be prepared. This is one you will probally never forget and will learn a invaluable lesson on.This could happne to anyone so any situation may apply. But would probaly be one of the following scenarios: your client has no intention of taking possession of the house, your client has a allergy to one or more of the products used to construct the building, your client has an allergy to something in the area. etc.... Insist on her seeing her doctor and the results being sent to your insurance/legal representation.I hope you have been paid or it will be a long time before you see funds on this one.If you are concerned on preserving your reputation/customer satisfaction consider taking the house back asap and walk, no run away from them.Act on the facts,b not on the innuendo, we all have good intentions and are often our own worst enemies.b Be sure to document all converstions, times, dates and nature of complaints and if possible do so in front of witnesses for possible clarification. Hey this is probally all on the up and up, but this is one in a 1,000,000 and your number came up...........for me, been there, done that...........Dave whats with the "PCB" in your email address, are you making me suspicious ?????
*.............I'm betting buyers remorse or the terminal payment book fear syndrome...both make them sick, but you should not catch anything(ha ha) Keith C.
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Dave,
Was any product incorporating MDF Board used during construction? I've seen a lot of MDF crown moulding
with vinyl overlay used lately. Also casings,base- board, wainscot, pilaster work and cabinet boxes and
vanities. This material bears urea formaldehyde like
the outlawed foam insulation from 20 years ago.
It gases off and residents get hyper-sensitive, need
to be out of the house for awhile to detox. The goods
need to be removed from the home to clean it up.
*Just my personal experience... carpets are the worst and when I had new carpets installed, the room with the berber had the most unpleasant out-gassing and it was difficult to stay in the room for very long without feeling almost nauseous. The good news is that none of us were actually alergic to it and over a period of about two weeks it diminshed to the point where life was back to normal.
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Indian burial site?
*Maybe Jimmy's in the concrete ?b Dave - Anxious for a response, Please post
*Is the house of the "concrete slab with bubbles!" post?
*Dave;I had never had an allergic reaction in my entire life until one day when my dad had the carpets in his home professionally cleaned. I went to visit him, and soon had what I thought were flu symptoms. Although I felt cruddy, we went for a walk, and lo, the "symptoms" went away. As soon as we returned to the house, symptoms were back! I got out of there quickly, and he had the cleaners come back the next day to rinse the carpets properly. The carpets do seem to be a good candidate for making trouble...Jon.
*The "glue" (or whatever attatches the carpet to the sublfloor) could be the problem. If it's installed in a building where the windows don't open, it could take a least a month or more before the noxious scent disappears. Some smart attorney should get his/her act together and get ready to sue bigtime. One (an employee) should not have to be sick for a week or two just because the carpet stinks and the windows don't open.
*What about back gassing from plywood/ OSB?
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Thanks for the good advice,although I haven't acted on it yet. (and PCB is Premier Custom Builders)House is on thier lot in thier name, so it my be tough to get the final payment
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Have your clients had an allergy test done, full spectrum by an allergy specialist. This may point you in the right direction. All of the previous posts are possibilities. Late manufacture particle board is much less likely to outgas than earlier. Did you paint the HW baseboard? The heat causes some paints to outgas or breakdown. I think the carpet particularly if glued down is a good bet.
One I recently ran into in my professional capacity was one where the plumber never connected the drain to the street. You could tell if that was the case though PU. I testify in May.
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Clients moved furniture in two weeks ago. She can't stay in house for more than a couple of hours, they are staying in a hotel. Have checked for gases, and had enviromental guy go thru, with no results. House has all hardwood and tile floors, H.W. Heat, latex paint. We have fans going and windows open, has anyone used ozonators? Any other suggestions?
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you might try having the heating ducts cleaned ive heard of drywall dust and such being a good place for mildoo
good luck Boyd