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Dave-H Posted: Jul 20, 2017 01:06 AM	Best way to identify source of odor, which may be SF Insulation Hello - I am in the midst of a stressful situation caused by an ongoing odor problem in my remodeled garage. I am hoping to learn anything that might help me to determine the source of the odor. Quick description: - generic 2 car garage had windows, closed cell foam (BaySeal), drywall/paint, and a polyspartic polyurethane floor seal. - the insulation was applied in fall of 2016, and to my novice eye/nose everything looked fine. No odor whatsoever after about 12 hours of venting. - about 2 months later, the polyspartic floor was installed. the minimum temp for installation was 50 degrees, but the installer insisted he could install when the outside temp was in the 20's. I let the place vent for most of the last 8 months. This garage is very tightly sealed now, and there isn't a ventilation system installed yet. So, there have been periods of a few weeks when we were out of town but I'd say 80% of the time the windows have been open. There is a detectable odor in the room. It's faint or nonexistent with the windows open, but if it's closed for just a few hours it's there. The smell is a sort of chemical smell, similar to a solvent smell or perhaps cleaning supplies. It's definitely not a fishy smell. I have conducted some crude, consumer level testing and confirmed that the room has very elevated VOCs, detectable formaldehyde that is above safe limits. We have some new Ikea which could have contributed to the formaldehyde but it's been months since that stuff was setup and it's airing out like the rest of the stuff. It's not easy to start eliminating things - the floor and the insulation can't just be moved away to see if it helps the smell. This has become incredibly stressful as this is a workspace and I need to run my business there. I am looking for any tips, ideas, or suggestions that might help me to sort out the issue, identify the cause and mitigate. thank you!
jimcoler I have over 10 years of experience specifying and installing open and closed cell spray foam. I've sold my business but I'm still selling for the new owners and consulting on large and custom specific jobs. I've expanded my knowledge into t Posted: Jul 20, 2017 01:56 AM	Hi Dave, I highly suspect that it's the IKEA items as I just walked into my lawyers office and they had just gotten a shelving unit and put it in the entrance way of their office about 1-2 months ago and it stuck to high heaven! I thought that it was something being done down stair but they said that spade was unoccupied! They took it out and it went away! It seemed like it was a solvent smell similar to what you describe! But before we jump to any conclusions, have you tried sealing off the contents of the room in plastic and seeing whether it's in with be contents or out with the building system? Did this smell occur before you got the IKEA items? What is the weather and relative humidity when you smell it? Does it change with different weather patterns? These are all good questions which we need to get answered before we can start assess the root cause! Thanks! Jim 585-733-5686
Dave-H Posted: Jul 20, 2017 02:53 AM	Thank you for your reply!! The odor was around for months before the Ikea came into the picture. After assembling all the Ikea stuff, that familiar Ikea smell lingered for a couple of days, but that was it. So, I am not that suspicious of the Ikea furniture, which has been here for about 10 weeks now. I haven't sealed off the contents of the room, no, because the smell was evident even when the room was pretty much empty. I passively vented it (5 windows in a 20x20 room) for months trying to eliminate the smell when the room was empty. This is the reason that I suspect either the floor or the foam. I am no expert in these matters, but I'm smart enough to know that this isn't necessarily a simple thing and the diagnosis can get complex and expensive. So I'm trying to be methodical and take it step by step. Problem is, I'm just not sure what the next step is! I can't really speak to the humidity but we live in Colorado and it's generally dry year round. I am pretty sure, however, that the odor correlates to warmth. A hot day brings it out, and even in winter I could close the place up and crank the heat and in the morning a very strong chemical odor would be there.
mason Posted: Jul 21, 2017 01:20 PM	Dave, It is not really possible to analyze the situation via email and internet forums. Give me a call at 571-239-5221 to discuss further and try to develop a plan of action to address the issues. Mason

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Dave-H

Posted: Jul 20, 2017 01:06 AM

Best way to identify source of odor, which may be SF Insulation

Hello -

I am in the midst of a stressful situation caused by an ongoing odor problem in my remodeled garage. I am hoping to learn anything that might help me to determine the source of the odor. Quick description:

- generic 2 car garage had windows, closed cell foam (BaySeal), drywall/paint, and a polyspartic polyurethane floor seal.

- the insulation was applied in fall of 2016, and to my novice eye/nose everything looked fine. No odor whatsoever after about 12 hours of venting.

- about 2 months later, the polyspartic floor was installed. the minimum temp for installation was 50 degrees, but the installer insisted he could install when the outside temp was in the 20's.

I let the place vent for most of the last 8 months. This garage is very tightly sealed now, and there isn't a ventilation system installed yet. So, there have been periods of a few weeks when we were out of town but I'd say 80% of the time the windows have been open.

There is a detectable odor in the room. It's faint or nonexistent with the windows open, but if it's closed for just a few hours it's there. The smell is a sort of chemical smell, similar to a solvent smell or perhaps cleaning supplies. It's definitely not a fishy smell.

I have conducted some crude, consumer level testing and confirmed that the room has very elevated VOCs, detectable formaldehyde that is above safe limits. We have some new Ikea which could have contributed to the formaldehyde but it's been months since that stuff was setup and it's airing out like the rest of the stuff.

It's not easy to start eliminating things - the floor and the insulation can't just be moved away to see if it helps the smell. This has become incredibly stressful as this is a workspace and I need to run my business there.

I am looking for any tips, ideas, or suggestions that might help me to sort out the issue, identify the cause and mitigate. thank you!

jimcoler

I have over 10 years of experience specifying and installing open and closed cell spray foam. I've sold my business but I'm still selling for the new owners and consulting on large and custom specific jobs.

I've expanded my knowledge into t

Posted: Jul 20, 2017 01:56 AM

Hi Dave,
I highly suspect that it's the IKEA items as I just walked into my lawyers office and they had just gotten a shelving unit and put it in the entrance way of their office about 1-2 months ago and it stuck to high heaven! I thought that it was something being done down stair but they said that spade was unoccupied! They took it out and it went away! It seemed like it was a solvent smell similar to what you describe!

But before we jump to any conclusions, have you tried sealing off the contents of the room in plastic and seeing whether it's in with be contents or out with the building system? Did this smell occur before you got the IKEA items? What is the weather and relative humidity when you smell it? Does it change with different weather patterns? These are all good questions which we need to get answered before we can start assess the root cause!

Thanks!
Jim
585-733-5686

Dave-H

Posted: Jul 20, 2017 02:53 AM

Thank you for your reply!!

The odor was around for months before the Ikea came into the picture. After assembling all the Ikea stuff, that familiar Ikea smell lingered for a couple of days, but that was it. So, I am not that suspicious of the Ikea furniture, which has been here for about 10 weeks now.

I haven't sealed off the contents of the room, no, because the smell was evident even when the room was pretty much empty. I passively vented it (5 windows in a 20x20 room) for months trying to eliminate the smell when the room was empty.

This is the reason that I suspect either the floor or the foam. I am no expert in these matters, but I'm smart enough to know that this isn't necessarily a simple thing and the diagnosis can get complex and expensive. So I'm trying to be methodical and take it step by step.

Problem is, I'm just not sure what the next step is!

I can't really speak to the humidity but we live in Colorado and it's generally dry year round. I am pretty sure, however, that the odor correlates to warmth. A hot day brings it out, and even in winter I could close the place up and crank the heat and in the morning a very strong chemical odor would be there.

mason

Posted: Jul 21, 2017 01:20 PM

Dave,

It is not really possible to analyze the situation via email and internet forums. Give me a call at 571-239-5221 to discuss further and try to develop a plan of action to address the issues.

Mason

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