Paint Fumes

BHeadie

I just moved into an apartment. The bedroom was newly painted and the fumes are furocious.

I have been here a week and the fumes are still very strong, it gives me an aweful headache and I can feel it in my lungs, cold breath.

I tried wiping the walls with a damp cloth today and the bucket of water turned white.

Does anyone please have any advise?

ClimateGirl

The fumes are due to Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) off gassing from the paint. Unfortunately, the only thing you can do is get lots of ventilation into the room to try to get the VOCs to volatilise as fast as possible. The hot weather may be accelarating this process, making it more unpleasant for you. The smell/fumes should go away within a couple weeks. Though it can take up to 3 years for all the VOCs to be released even though you probably won't notice them.

If you're still irritated after ventilating the room for a couple more weeks, I would suggest stripping as much of the new paint as you can and repainting with a low/no-VOC eco paint (e.g. Earthborn paints, or ecoshop.ie). They are great to work with and come in a range of lovely colors. Ecoshop also sells an eco-friendly paint stripper, as the regular ones can be quite nasty to work with too!

Good luck! I feel your pain - VOC paints do a real number on my breathing too!

CG

Baldie

Put a large bowl of water in the rooms and fill it with chopped onions. I dont know why it works. But it does....

Sonnenblumen

Try leaving a few sliced citrus fruits out on a plate.