We recently purchased a five year old home and replaced the carpeting with pre-finished solid hardwood flooring (Mirage Yellow Birch). After 3 months my wife is still experiencing problems from the floor outgassing. We have tried covering the floor in one room with Dennyfoil to seal the floor and that definately improves the situation.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how long the outgassing will continue or anyway to speed it up.

Thanks,
Richard

The only way i know to help speed it up is to also have your windows open open as much as possible so the gases can escape. I get sick also from home renovation, and in the future you may want to be very carefull in what you decide on, because her illness can get much worse the longer she is around it and the more often she is exposed. I got so ill I had to quit my job because i could not even function outside of my home because I was exposed to such a high amt. at one time, and was sick all the time then. Also, seal that room off from the rest of the house if possible with the windows open in it and have your wife stay away from it as much as possible untill it outgases. Good luck to you and to your wife getting well. This is called environmental illness, but would you believe there are many people and doctors who do not even believe it exists? You can get alot of info. from the library on it though, but not as much on the internet.

Richard,

First you have to be sure that the flooring is the source of the problem. It is true that the finish on the flooring is likely to outgas. It is true that some individuals will react to that material. It is possible however (and this has been my experience)that there can be some other source of the problem your wife is experiencing. Check out www.h3environmental.com. (http://www.h3environmental.com.) The website represents a business that specializes in remediating the the homes of environmentally sensitive. The site has some recommendations. One suggestion is to test materials before the actual renovation of the home. Have the sensitive individual sleep with some samples of the materials next to the bed, to ascertain if there will be a problem. I suppose that you could seal the flooring with a specialized sealant made for the chemically sensitive, but you would also have to consult with the maker of the flooring to see how it would react. I picked up some of that sealer from our local environmental health store and use it to seal the particle board in our furniture and cabinetry.

Finally, another resource is "The Healthy House" by John Bower. Hope this helps.