How to clear the air from an OFF GASSING NEW CARPET????

[Nidhi]

I feel embarrassed to keep having messes we need help cleaning up...but we seem to be on a roll here...
And we are so appreciative of all the input and helpful suggestions we have gotten from so many people in the community
thru Waccobb!!!!!

We are still in the process of moving into our new house...there was the dog?/ animal smell issue...which has by now been
completely resolved...

We tore out the carpet...did the baking soda treatment....cleaned the underfloor with a chlorine solution and let it air out for
days....all from your wonderful suggestions!!....

Till it smelled clean and felt fresh..

Then we put in a 100% nylon carpet...which we were told would be the best choice if we didn't feel we could spend the
money for wool...

But now we have new carpet off gassing ....and I can't be in the house....

So .....we are looking urgently for some kind of air purifier ...or???....to deal with it...
Been on line for days and is pretty overwhelmed and uncertain about what to get...
Of course every company says theirs is the best...and the consumer ratings are somewhat misleading as I see it...

Does anybody have experience with this????? And could advice us what might actually help in this situation...
Charcoal filter....ionizer...ozone...
There seems to be many different approaches...
They are all costly..so we would like to make the right choice..

We appreciate your response...and this site SO much! (Like a good friend...Waccobb is there!!)

All the best
Nidhi

[Bryan]

In general, the ionizer will actually do the job. It generates negative ions which bond to the various gases in the air. They are NOT ozone generators, which are dangerous.
For these gases, a carbon filter will do a good job too. It is simple and hopefully inexpensive.
here's a simple unit for $30 - that has ionizer and carbon filter.

Bell & Howell Ionic Whisper, Air Purifier and Ionizer H

A Hepa filter is more expensive and great for dust and other allergens but not as good at offgased plastics aroma. like most things , made in china.

[gavio]

While an air purifier can help a bit, if you are sensitive to chemicals in the air, you're still going to have a problem on your hands. Carpet is one of the worst offenders in the indoor air quality adventure. I've been doing sustainable design for a lot of years, and am also chemically sensitive myself, and I've learned a couple things. The situation is complex, but I'll give you a couple nuggets here that hopefully will help.

Offgassing is something synthetic fibers will do throughout their entire life. Ouch. However, it is by far at it's worst when the carpet is new, and for the first few weeks, the rate of offgassing diminishes quickly. As the carpet ages, the rate of decline slows, eventually settling to a very low level after a few months or a couple years, depending on the carpet. The same also goes for the padding, and for that matter any other new materials you have in there. SO basically, the problem right now your body is overloaded with fresh chemicals being released into your air at a rapid rate, much faster than your body's ability to process them. Now, how do you deal with that?

First, the need to replace the air as much as possible is paramount - in summer it's easier because you can leave all the windows open all the time. In winter, it may take a bit more creativity. There is no substitute for fresh air. Even air that has been "cleaned" with a device is not the same to your body as air in its natural state.

An air purifier can help, but it takes a seriously mondo machine to deal with the amount of toxins coming off that carpet into a closed space. Keep that in mind if you choose to buy an air purifier to help. A smaller air purifier or ionizer can help, but will require some other actions. I have had smaller issues in the last couple places I've lived, and have had good results with an Airsource machine sold locally by Melissa Weaver...... I think there may be some issue with their current availability, but hopefully Melissa will jump on here and say something about that.

What else?

Most effective thing you can do to make the space liveable quickly is to slow the rate at which offgassing is occurring. This doesn't eliminate it, as the natural lifecycle of synthetics requires them to release the chemicals eventually, it's their drying process. But you can slow that down in a couple ways. It means the offgassing will go on for a longer period of time, but it also means it can slow to a point where your body can deal with it as it happens. Easiest and cheapest, is to cover as much of the carpet with rugs, dropcloths, whatever and then after the air clears, begin removing the coverings one by one, gradually exposing more of the carpet as you can handle it. You can buy a carpet treatment process made by a company named AFM Safecoat. Here is a link to the product page, so you can see the products I'm talking about:

https://www.afmsafecoat.com/products.php?page=5#48

The procedure is to shampoo the carpet (don't laugh, it helps more than you might think), then use the carpet seal product (which seals the backing and padding), and then use the lock out product (which works on the actual carpet fibers). I've used it myself once, and recommended it to clients and have gotten good results. Be prepared, though, for the air to still smell bad because it's got a lot of chemicals in it already from the carpet being in there so far. I don't know who currently has the best price on these products, but google is your friend.

That said, depending on your level of sensitivity, any one of these may help enough, but if you're very sensitive, it's going to take more than one approach to get your house livable quickly. My recommendation, would be to (in order):

1) Get and keep fresh air coming into the space as much and steadily as possible.
2) Treat the carpet to slow the offgassing as close to the source as possible..... and/or
3) Cover it (after it is THOROUGHLY dry) and expose it slowly
4) Get a good ionizer or air purifier to help you out more.
5) Remember that it's most of all a waiting game, eventually it will slow to a manageable level one way or another.

Good luck with it, it sure can be a gnarly problem.

Gavio

[catz369]

In december of last year we got a kitty tree and the off gassing is driving me nuts. Any suggestions without getting rid of the tree altogether. Thanks