New Carpet - Fumes + Babies

englander

Getting new carpets in the whole house.

It has been mentioned by a relative that we should be careful of fumes from new carpets especially around babies.

Any info on what fumes are given off and are they dangerous ?

Never heard of this before but now a bit concerned.

Thanks

rooferPete

Hi,

They might have had lingering smells from foam back carpets that were stuck down using contact adhesive.

Any carpets we bought over the years had a nice fresh smell, no problems with children except they destroyed the carpets

I would ask in the shop if there is likely to be any fumes left after the carpet is fitted at worst you may have to leave the windows open for a few hours.

.

Macy

May not be relevant for a domestic situtation, but we've had new carpets fitted in the office. There's a rotten smell off them still, weeks after they were fitted. I hope it's not harmful, but they defo used adhesive on them.

karltimber

From what I remember - it depends on the type of carpet you are getting.

The cheaper bed-room carpets are glued down and/or have a foam back - either of these will give off fumes for a while and personally wouldn't leave a kid in a room with them new.

But good carpet - with a woven back - will only have new carpet smell as they are tacked down and are safe from the minute they go down. kinda like the new car smell.

hope this helps.

Lex Luthor

Never heard of fumes from carpets, but just adhesive used to bond them but that's only normally in offices for the industrial stuff.

Best of luck with the baby

englander

Thanks for the above advice.

Did a few searches on internet aswell and apparently new carpets can cause allsorts of problems - the key is to air the carpets. Lots of air flow over a few days - windows open etc

Found one website that linked new carpets/decor with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome!

We are getting new carpets done well before baby makes its appearance so hopefully we will be OK.

Thanks again.

Lex Luthor

englander wrote:

Found one website that linked new carpets/decor with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome!

:rolleyes:

If that's the case all kids would be dying from Cot deaths as I'm sure most people re-decorate their houses before new babies come along as they won't get the time once they're born.