Whew, P.U.! We just got back from a few days at Gramma's house to find that my rotten dirty rat cousin/landlord varnished a floor in the back room of the house the day before we arrived back home. May I just say OMG I CAN'T BREATHE!!!
He insists that it isn't bad to inhale (ya RIGHT!) but my respiratory system is positively freaking out man. You may not remember but I struggled with diminished lung capacity for many years living in the city and have only recovered since moving away from that smoggy mess. Tonight it's gotten bad, I'm gasping for air (but the air I get is vapor!) and I'm not loving it so much. All the windows of the house and the back door downstairs are open with fans on all over the place but it's awful. Just awful. I hate having the kids here in this too. Gah.

We'll stay with friends in town tomorrow but he says he wants to come next week to do another coat (!) and there is just no convincing him not to finish it until we move out mid Oct. I am in hell.

sheeze coco thats a bitch for sure .... my hubbys friend sealed one of our floors with this stuff that wasnt supposed to be noxious fumes and i couldnt sleep inside for nearly a week lol

i set up the tent in the backyward .. can you tent it for a few days till its better?

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Wouldn't that be great? But no, of course our lovely and ginormous back yard is always full of construction debris. Isn't that just fantastic. Plus we'd have to come back into the house to use the kitchen and bathroom anyhow. I'm going back out to the cottage, screw this nonsense. And I'm moving out Oct 1st too, forget giving them another half months rent, this is ridiculous. I still can't get to sleep, headache and cold from the windows open and fans on and noxious fumes. GRRRR!

coco,

This is awful! Please take your kids into the woods or someplace else with lots of trees as often as you can for the next couple of weeks. And drink lots of green juices. And don't sleep there, for heaven's sake! You need to decontaminate!

Grody grosserson, we slept with ALL the windows open and fans in to draw bad out and good in. It was freezing freaking cold but totally worth it. He is back next week to do another coat though (the bastard). I have places to stay for a couple of days while it is the most stinky. Can you believe that nonsense? Dirty rat.
We've been on the road so much lately, it would be lovely if coming home was the restful respite it's meant to be, you know?

coco Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Grody grosserson, we slept with ALL the windows
> open and fans in to draw bad out and good in. It
> was freezing freaking cold but totally worth it.
> He is back next week to do another coat though
> (the bastard). I have places to stay for a couple
> of days while it is the most stinky. Can you
> believe that nonsense? Dirty rat.
> We've been on the road so much lately, it would be
> lovely if coming home was the restful respite it's
> meant to be, you know?


We once rented from a landlady that was like this; Unfortunately, most folks don't understand the concept of healthy living/fresh air. It might be okay if they want to poison themselves, but when they do it to others, that goes too far.

At least you can stay away for a couple of days - I would ask for a credit on the rent for those days, if possible. As Tamu suggested, drink lots of green detox juices. Don't overlook the fruits;

Starting with the citrus family, an orange, grapefruit, and lime combination is a definite winner as a detox juice. These fruits are great for the immune system and loaded with vitamin C.

Strawberry is another winner, combined with apples, peach, etc. As a mechanic I do a lot of detox/cleansing juices to try and combat all the nasty chemicals I have to work around.

Bottom line, the less inhaling, the better.

Sigh. It's still smelly in here. I have resorted to spending as much time out of the house as possible. This means eating crap that we buy outside and I feel like a totally wreck right now (I won't TMI you but you can just imagine how my body is revolting at this treatment). I have resorted to grape juice of the fermented variety to detox my stress tonight, I KNOW already that I'll feel even worse for it tomorrow but at this point I am wound tight as a spring and am self-medicating with a glass of red. It's late, I can't sleep, my room stinks like varnish and I am angry which is the worst toxic thing I can do to myself of them all. Sigh. Sigh. Sigh. And I'm whining, I hate that most of all. Poor me. Wah wah wah.

Will juice every scrap of green in the house tomorrow followed by all the citrus we have and rounded off with a big plate of watermelon and as much sunshine as we can stand. I swear it, some days these kids are what keep me sane. The enthusiasm they have for life makes the getting up and go an easier thing to do. So, messy house tomorrow, no packing done whatsoever and not a care in the world either. We'll go for a hike and some unschooling. Yay!

Thanks to you all for the kind words of encouragement. Each one of you is a blessing. xo.

Ay yi yi, nerve wracking email posting tonight! Sent one to cousin/landlord's wife saying we're now aiming for an Oct 1st departure so don't expect rent for that month along with a brief but casual explanation that stinky construction is making the exodus neccessary.
Then, YIKES! A message to the cuz asking for adequate notice of stinky varnish application so's we can make arrangements to sleep elsewhere.

Might not seem like such a big deal but at this point it feels like baiting the lion in his den. Wish me luck!

good for you coco, where is the travels taking you now?

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

OMG quel disaster! Mr Man did not take my request very well at all. I think he may have been drunk when he answered too because some of it is frankly incoherant but the gist of it came through strong and true. He suggested some books for me to read about the imposition of insanity upon another gender. Geez, and I thought I just wanted to keep the baby, little man and I from having to sleep in a fumey house. Wow. Who knew I was so horrible.

Oh I know!
Its a total invasion of the body and senses when this kind of thing happens.
The floor probably looked fine before.
I remember one job I worked at had concerte floors that were full of dust.Insted of vacuming or sweeping it up,they put down gallons of oil base polyurethane on it.Smelled in there for weeks,and never fully hardened up either.Stuff used to stick to it a year later.
Anyway,does this absolutely need to be done?
Seems one coat is enough....for the floor and your lungs.

I sympathize!

Vinny

Thanks for your understanding, I've been feeling like maybe I'm a crazy lady for even making as issue of it.
It does need to be done and in my email I asked for a bit of notice so we can arrange to sleep elsewhere for a couple of days. I think I'm being pretty reasonable but apparently he doesn't agree. Thing is we're moving in about 2 weeks so he could just wait on it and do some of the tons of other non-toxic repairs while we're still here but for some reason he's in a giant hurry to finish up this one part of the house and it just can't wait. What the heck.
This coat was just floor sealer too (he says it's like nail polish remover which, frankly, I wouldn't want us breathing a room full of either!) there is another coat of this and Then the varnish, Oh. Joy.

If you optimize the air flow you should be able to keep the fumes confined to the varnished back room. Put a fan in a window of the back room, blowing out. Use no other fans. Open a window (or two) at the far opposite end of the house. Keep all other windows closed. Or just open windows a little in the rooms you want fresh air in most, keeping all others closed. Make a chart of air flow to best engineer your situation.

Seal off the back room by closing doors and taping (masking tape) plastic over door ways without doors (in addition to the fan system tho).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2009 08:30PM by brome.

thank you, i did open all the windows and put up fans in most of them drawing air out for two days, it was cold those nights though, brr! the only way to air out the room it's in is to leave the back door to the house open all night with a fan pointing out, it works but is scary for me as there have been some break ins and vandalism in the area this summer. I am on my own here with two little ones, I like to lock up at night! it's warmer now so all windows are open.

Use just one fan in a window near the varnish project, blowing out. Now all air in the house will be flowing toward that fan (although a strong outside wind blowing in the opposite direction could overpower your fans efforts). Even with all other windows in the house closed air will still seep thru the walls, thru the rooms, and toward that one fan. Any space up current of the varnish will eventually have clear fresh air. Open the windows a few inches in just a few rooms you want greater inflow of fresh air in and close them when the air is clear. Use no other fans.

He is varnishing again tonight, it's so bad in here I've got the baby on a spare single mattress in my son's room, I'll sleep in there with her too. It's the only room in the house that doesn't REEK of fumes. My eyes are stinging and I can taste it in my mouth, it's horrible.
He is working in his part of the house, I wish I could just go in and open things up with a fan in there but I can't. It's connected to my room through a big hole in the wall and every other room via vents. I'm frustrated. He's got the door and window closed down there in his space to keep out mosquitos while he's here so the fumes are all staying inside. I think he's doing that because he's pissed that I asked him not to varnish with the kids and I in the house. I don't understand that sort of power tripping vendetta based behavior, it's funky.
Thank goodness we'll be gone in a couple of weeks. I literally can Not wait to move!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/2009 03:06AM by coco.

In this situation, put a fans in the windows of your end of the house blowing in. This will create a positive pressure forcing air towards the offending varnish, keeping your air clear. After things clear up try cutting back to just one fan blowing in. Hope this helps. Good luck.

brome has the right idea.
Get that air moving out of the house in a steady stream and you shouldnt notice the smell.

Vin

Ok, where should I be putting the fans? Here is the layout of the house...

most of the main floor is ours with a temporary door that has lots of gaps and cracks between his space and ours, his rooms are in the back of the house with a window in the room he's working on that is now partly open and a very large set of doors one room over and at the back of the house. In our part there are two large doors at side and front that open onto an enclosed porch that has two doors also, both screened. Upstairs are the bedrooms and bathroom, the room with the hole in the floor that leads down to the varnish room in in the middle of the house. There is a door at the front that can be opened and a window at the rear, all three bedrooms have 2 windows each and the closet that the hole vents into has a window as well. I've put a big piece of fabric over the giant hole there but that's the best I can do to block it off. Every heat duct in the house is connected, they are all closed right now but still leaking lots of fumes.

If you've got any suggestions as to where a fan might do the best job I really appreciate hearing them. Thanks a bunch!

OK, I forgot the central heating system blowing the fumes all over the place; with its powerful blower fan overwhelming most any fan you could place. You need to turn the furnace off.

Put cardboard or plywood over the giant hole.

In your end put at least 1 fan in a window upstairs plus 1 downstairs blowing air in.

Contact his brothers, sisters, mother, father (your aunt, uncle, and cousins) to prevail upon him to put a fan in the window of the varnish room blowing out; or in any window in his end of the house blowing out. With the furnace off this would be sufficient without any fans at your end.

If you can't turn the furnace off: To seal the vents better, remove the cover, cut out cardboard to fit snugly inside cover, then replace the cover with the cardboard inside.

Good luck.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/2009 09:29PM by brome.

ah, the furnace is off but it's a very old house so the vents are really enormous, like over a square foot each or bigger, so air just travels through them even when the vents are shut (the ones that Will shut that is). I've blocked off the one in the room we slept in.

Ok then, one fan in a window upstairs blowing air in and another downstairs also blowing air in with the other windows open just a bit to create pressure. He isn't here right now so I've got the back door open, I have to close it when we leave though (we're not sleeping here tonight) but the window in the varnished room is open a bit. I can't go in or I'll ruin the floor but what if I put a fan in the doorway blowing out? From that angle it might just blow air up the hole into my room but maybe not... I will look for some cardboard to cover the hole upstairs, it's half the size of a regular door though. Big.

Thanks again for your help, I'm getting a science lesson here at the same time, bonus!

Good Coco. However you don't want to have any windows in your end of the house open unless they have a fan in them. You want to force the air from your end to his end. Your open, fanless windows will let out much of the air you're trying to force to the other end of the house.

With the furnace off your fans will force air into the ducts towards his end of the house.

A fan in a door might not create much thru house ventilation as the opening is so big that as the fan blows air out it just comes back in the open space of the door.

Wishing you the best.

I would try to sleep outdoors if possible, a tent would be great..seems like you should have some room just to put up small tent, a mattress for you and kids lots of blankets, and stay out of that house whenever you can.

Tell him to back off until you are out of the house or you will turn him in for violations of some building codes, whatever you need to do. You will be out soon enough and HE CAN JUST WAIT! He is controlling and manipulating you thru his toxic maneuvers..so don't buy into it.

There are alternatives I'm sure he could have used instead of the toxic varnish, they have water based and natural products now a days and sometimes the very old ones used and the safest and best to use..as in when log cabins where being built.

It's all accumulative effect..which is the bad thing about the toxic stuff we are bombarded with daily. I know how you feel..and I know what it is when you can't just get up and leave a place like that..it's frustrating as all hell.

I'll send out a healing vib to the Universe for you and kids..take care.

Love,
Prism

Thank you so much Prism, your care and healing thoughts are gratefully received. It's gotten kind of unreasonable and dramatic, now I'm being accused of incuring additional utility cost for running the fans. Sigh. Obviously there is some festering resentment over past issues here that's coming to a head but I'm not up to dealing with it right this minute. Packing and planning this move is intense with both the kids here all day long, the baby is potty training herself Mostly successfully which is great but the Mostly part, well, you can imagine... I've had some bad news about a family member these past two days, the varnish is giving me headaches and breathing trouble, etc etc etc. It's all too much. I need some peace in my home to deal with my own things and he can surely wait for 2 more weeks to finish this smelly job. Any reasonable person would agree with that but... he's not exactly being reasonable right now. It's so weird, it's not like anyone is moving in here after us. The house has been empty for years and years too, he has been "renovating" for all that time so what's the hurry all of a sudden? It is a power trip.

Thanks for all the suggestions folks, I appreciate them all. The fan blowing in upstairs and one blowing out at the door of the stinky room seem to be working. I can still smell it but it's very faint now. Thanks again.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2009 07:51PM by coco.

~The real trick to life is not to be in the Know
but to be in the Mystery.~

This seems very much like the first verse of the Tao Te Ching:

The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.
The named is the mother of ten thousand things.
Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.
Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations.
These two spring from the same source but differ in name;
this appears as darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gate to all mystery.

[www.daily-tao.com]

Glad the fumes thinned out.

Thanks for the verse and the link, I like that giant ant!

We are sleeping very well now, getting some packing done. Thinking about writing another letter to try for peaceful communication between us as this has gotten very negative. And am hoping that he will wait until we're gone to come again for another coat.

Here is the random verse I got. Good advice for me as I write this letter, especially the last part.

Fifty-Eight

When the country is ruled with a light hand
The people are simple.
When the country is ruled with severity,
The people are cunning.

Happiness is rooted in misery.
Misery lurks beneath happiness.
Who knows what the future holds?
There is no honesty.
Honesty becomes dishonest.
Goodness becomes witchcraft.
Man's bewitchment lasts for a long time.

Therefore the sage is sharp but not cutting,
Pointed but not piercing,
Straightforward but not unrestrained,
Brilliant but not blinding.