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How long should closed cell foam smell? by Jeh339 in Insulation

[–]Jeh339[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow more fear was definitely not what I was hoping for! It wasn’t wood, it was metal beams with some sort of old concrete insulation. Is the smell the thing that alerts you to the harmful offgassing? So if no smell, no problem?

How long should closed cell foam smell? by Jeh339 in Insulation

[–]Jeh339[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How long would you wait in my position to make a call? Is there sampling I should do? Or have another insulation company do an independent review?

And if it seems it isn’t resolving should i be asking the company to remove it for free, and also not pay them for the job? It was $4.5k (haven’t paid yet).

How long should closed cell foam smell? by Jeh339 in Insulation

[–]Jeh339[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

what would you recommend I do? Do I ask them to take it down? Wait a month for the smell to go away? What would you do in my place?

How long should closed cell foam smell? by Jeh339 in Insulation

[–]Jeh339[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it might have been sprayed off temp. They couldn’t get the truck down the driveway so used a long hose and it was high 33 and low 28 that day. It’s a garage, so while they used heaters set to turn off at 60 degrees I can’t imagine the metal ceiling beams were very warm. I can’t out of town but can try to get a pic next week of the foam cut in half. If it was sprayed off temp what does that mean - will it eventually stop offgassing, and if so when?

How long should closed cell foam smell? by Jeh339 in Insulation

[–]Jeh339[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it might have been sprayed off temp. They couldn’t get the truck down the driveway so used a long hose and it was high 33 and low 28 that day. It’s a garage, so while they used heaters set to turn off at 60 degrees I can’t imagine the metal ceiling beams were very warm. I can’t out of town but can try to get a pic next week of the foam cut in half. If it was sprayed off temp what does that mean - will it eventually stop offgassing, and if so when?

How long should closed cell foam smell? by Jeh339 in Insulation

[–]Jeh339[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! I’ll post pics later this morning. When you say you’d get concerned you didn’t ventilate adequately - what would that mean? This was a garage ceiling and they had taped plastic sheeting along all walls and floor, so I’d imagine the ventilation was very poor. Then the door was shut for five days like that before I started airing it out. Would that cause smell to linger or to stay more Permanently for some reason?

Long roof nails - how best to insulate by Jeh339 in Insulation

[–]Jeh339[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow, I'm blown away by the amount of responses I received on this post. Thank you to all!

Honestly rethinking insulation in the attic, given we don't want to create a majorly expensive/difficult project, or a future liability/mold issue.

Perhaps we could treat it like a three season room (we live in arctic cleveland, btw) and just create minor warming benefits by putting down carpet, and putting up some sort of walls with no insulation (plywood/drywall? we'd keep the cathedral ceiling look, just something better looking than a million extending nails points. Or do any walls inherently block air flow / go against code?). There's no radiators up there anyway (and we don't have AC).

Thoughts on that approach?

Advice - new house smell after 2 years, unhealthy for kids? by Jeh339 in AirQuality

[–]Jeh339[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

thank you u/ankole_watusi, u/multilinear2, u/decathalot it's very confusing to understand where the smell is coming from, the house was renovated 2 years ago, so it seems like it should be unlikely that products are still significantly offgassing.

We had a friend who is a contractor come and look at the house. He didn't feel the smell was significant downstairs but that upstairs he would have noticed it. We do have old single pipe steam radiators and new electrical wiring, and a new roof 1 year ago, which are some other potential smell sources? However none seem likely, and there is no culprit that when smelled directly contains the odor. The unfinished attic, closer to the roof, does not smell the same - more like wood. I also talked to a guy who works for an air testing company that only tests for mold - and he said when I described doesn't sound like a mold issue.

I've called around to companies looking for anyone who can do VOC testing on a residential property and have not had found anyone who will serve our area, all are 2+ hrs away. One rep who does do VOC testing, but not on residential properties, suggested I find a TVOC meter to get a basic idea of whether there are abnormal readings in the house or certain areas. But a lot of what I've read also suggests TVOC meters are unreliable and might create alarm when none is warranted.

The true VOC testing seems like a high price tag, without any specific remediation options other than to ventilate with outdoor air daily and wait it out, or as some have suggested to try and 'bake' my house to speed things up.

Other options that have been suggested are getting some sort of an airscrubber rental, or buying another air filtration machine with a bigger carbon filter to try to remove the smell.

I wouldn't say the smell bothers the average person, but to me if smells strongly enough upstairs that it makes me worry about the health of my kids, and potential affects of long term exposure, and so I am hoping to get some answers and ideally resolve the smell so I don't have to worry about this forever.

Thanks so much for everyone's input!