Baking Out Toxic Flooring Adhesive

QUESTION:

Dear Debra,

Thanks to you and AFM for your response to our question regarding the offgassing of a lift chair. We have ordered the chair and will be spraying it with AFM SafeCoat Lock Out.

Our next question regards new subflooring that was just put down. We used AdvanTech subflooring per some information we found here and on the Green Guide. However, the contractor used DAP SubFloor & Deck adhesive and OSI Subfloor Adhesive (we didn't realize adhesive would be needed at all, otherwise we would have provided a low-VOC product for the contractor to use).

The toxic smell throughout the house is extremely strong. We are familiar with the "bake out" procedure you have outlined here. Our question, though, is when to do the bake out. We are going to have parquet wood squares installed and other work done, but should we bake out the house before the flooring is put down over the subfloor--or after all the work is completed?

Of course, we are approving every product the contractor uses after this to make sure only zero or low-VOC products are used. This is quite a job, since most contractors just really are not familiar with "no or low-toxicity" building products.

Thank you for the wealth of information you provide, Debra!

~Min

POSTED BY MIN :: VIRGINIA USA :: 10/27/2006 11:30 AM