| |
My Toxic House Problem - by Andy Croft
With my extensive renovation, modernisation and 'home improvements' I appear to have given my house a classic case of 'sick building syndrome'. The jury is still out on exactly which chemical(s) have caused my symptoms. There is a possibility I exposed myself to PCBs in the old plasterwork when I prepared the original wall surfaces for replastering without adequate breathing protection. (PCBs, like organophosphates, are 'hormone-disrupters', often implicated in cases of M.E.)
I was diagnosed with M.E. several months after moving into my newly renovated home in 2005, and was unaware of any chemical connection at that time. My discovery only came about when my symptoms got much better whilst staying with family and, on returning to my house, got worse again.
I removed MDF and new synthetic carpets but still seemed to have a major problem since my body was reacting to the place quite quickly. The first noticeable signs were swollen glands in my neck, irritated eyes and headaches - a whole raft of other symptoms followed if I stuck around too long. The prime suspect was the plaster work - every wall and ceiling had been resurfaced with Gyproc Thistle Multi-finish plaster. Product data sheets (meant to include health and safety info) are still unavailable for this product on their website - www.british-gypsum.bpb.co.uk- there is a data sheet PDF link from this page which still reads 'due May 2007', please let me know if you see any change to this! The 'multi finish' formulation is a market leading 'industry standard' indoor plaster and has been commercially available for over a decade! Gypsum is a naturally occurring product mined/extracted from various sites the world over. However Gyproc's Multi Finish product also contains VOCs and semi-VOCs, added as adhesives, hardeners and aids to quick setting and drying. Their other plastering products will have varying degrees of such additives. I didn't live in the house pre-renovation, so there's still a vague possibility that old organophosphate pesticide treatment of wooden floorboards caused my problems but on damp days and/or days with low atmospheric pressure (I promise it all makes a difference!) the house stank of the plaster product and I felt quantifiably worse. That smell persisted for over a year and a half, even after painting with conventional emulsion paint.
All the ceilings and walls plus any floorboards have now been painted with a special water borne latex emulsion which holds back any off-gassing fumes from the plasterwork and potentially any toxic nasties in the floorboards. Most household emulsions will remain 'breathable' and continue to allow plasterwork to off-gas but the latex component in this paint puts an impermeable skin over the walls. I found that more expensive 'eco-friendly' or 'organic' paints were not effective for me, presumably because they did not 'seal in' the off-gassing plaster. The paint I finally used does NOT claim to have zero VOCs when being applied but it does become inert in terms of any odours or off-gassing once dry which took a couple of days of thorough ventilation. I moved in full-time a week later and have lived here ever since. Needless to say I got help with the painting and did not do it myself. I tried to do some to begin with, making myself quite ill again, even though I was using a carbon filter mask.
I'm not a sales rep and I don't wish to advertise paint brands here so i haven't but if you want to know what I used then by all means get in touch. Some of you may find an instant aversion to what I've done, particularly as I know many MCS folks will have a problem with latex. I have to say that, if I had the chance to do this all over again I would have used more natural materials to begin with but sadly I was left little choice once I'd bought the house, started renovating and made myself ill. Other factors have made it economically impossible to move house or consider other options for the time being.
I'm still not fantastically well and don't claim 100 per cent success with 'detoxing' my home but it is at least liveable in at present and doesn't seem to cause me the very reactive symptoms I had previously (irritated synus and swollen pulsating glands in the neck). I hope my experience might benefit someone out there. If I could rewind to the time I bought my house I would now consider looking at more radical eco-homes and eco-communities which are dedicated to building sustainably and with natural materials. Maybe next time...
|
|
|
|
|
