Barretine Universal Wood Preserver (Primer) strong petrol odour from gas stove and oven since application to subfloor joists

[jonasg]

Hi,

About a week ago i had my underfloor joists treated with Barretine Wood Preserver product as i had a damp problem thats now been sorted.

one of these

Nourish & Protect Universal Preserver | Barrettine Products

A ‘colourless’ high-quality, low odour Oil/Spirit wood preservative that is deep penetrating. This wax-free primer Wood Preservative is used for wood protection against wood destroying fungi (wet rot), wood discolouring fungi and wood boring insects.

www.barrettinepro.co.uk

Barrettine Wood Preserver | Barrettine Products

High quality low odour solvent based, deep penetrating preservative for protection against wood destroying fungi, wood discolouring fungi and wood boring insects.

www.barrettinepro.co.uk

both state it can be used indoors in un-lived in areas (loft and underfloor).

When it was first applied there was obviously a strong odor in the house (had some floor taken up to fix some other damp issues so a lot of the smell will come straight out of the hole). At first the smell was obviously quite strong in the house i left a few windows open and after a couple of days it doesn't smell really. When i go near the hole in floor you can still smell it a bit but still not as strong as when applied. Also smells a bit in living room as skirting was never sealed due to damp issue to let air vent in so obviously some vapor is coming through there too. (I can now seal the gap between the floor and the skirting when i get chance but haven't gotten round to it yet). I have opened the windows around the house for the first few days then when the odor was hardly there i closed some windows. I have now had to reopen them as i noticed when i use the oven or gas hobs or even the toaster i can smell a sort of melting plastics smell, when you go closer to the heat source is smells like petrol / diesel and is quite strong.

I tested this with a lighter outside the house smelling the flame there is no smell, enter the house and immediately a petrol / diesel smell from the flame.

I am concerned about cooking or having gas on now, I don't feel its safe to cook food if there is chemical vapor around my home, i also have a young child so am feeling like they shouldn't be in the house ? The house is also freezing as windows are open everywhere. Am i overthinking it or is this dangerous ?

Its been about a week and still smelling this when there is a heat source.

Does anybody have any experience with similar or know how long this will take to disperse ?

 

[Why Not Indeed]

IMO "low odour Oil/Spirit" is a contradiction.

The more you ventilate, the quicker it will be. If you had a damp problem then you probably want good airflow for a while until everything has dried out completely. Even if you didn't have a damp issue, suspended timber floors should have airflow.
The best explanation I can give you is that volatile chemicals smell more when they're warmer, but I don't think it really helps.

 

[jonasg]

Thanks for the response.

Yeah i know about the airflow, there were multiple causes of damp under the floor the main one being airflow, somebody piled up mountains of rubble everywhere and it was blocking a lot of air flow, currently there is A LOT more airflow and a fan is being put into the sub-floor too, to ventilate. It was super wet under there when the work began but its a HUGE amount drier now, still not where it needs to be but visibly better. So i am ventilating and i have windows open in the house again. Not to mention there is still a huge hole in the floor of my hallway (this should be closed up and re-tiled by next week).

I am fairly certain that a lot of it is rising via this hole, definitely some through the unsealed gaps in skirting board but half my kitchen is sub floor and there other is an extension with concrete floor. The oven and gas hob are in the extended section so the Chemicals are going right through the house. If i take a lighter into any room even upstairs i can smell the petrol / diesel smell but talking it outside the house there is no smell. Again, fairly certain that its so strong because of the huge gap in floor. You cant really smell anything in the house without a flame of heat source unless you go near the hole then u can still faintly smell the chemical smell, this is why i am sure its still emitting.

I'm more curious / concerned about how log this will take to get out of my house i know Volatile chemicals can take a while to go away but i how long are we talking? I'm just concerned about staying in the house and cooking i don't want to contaminate my food or my child's especially.

now that the ventilation is sorted in the sub floor If i seal the gaps in skirting with something like CT1 or OB1 and when the floor is re-tiled, should i expect it to die down fairly quickly or will it still seep through the tiles and the living room laminate?

What is a reasonable amount of time to expect for this product to stop releasing chemicals ?

Tried to contact Barretine but as expected they were pretty useless, just refered me to a data sheet that i already saw on the website. Seems impossible to speak to somebody who knows about the product.

 

[opps]

I suspect that the smell is simply the hot appliances heating the solvents being released in to the room.

I decoratorate for a living. If I apply a coat of oil based paint in a customer's kitchen, the following day, if they use a gas hob the smell becomes stronger.

I, personally, would not be overly concerned. If you are, keep windows open for as long as possible when cooking.

I can't comment on the product that you used, but, by way of an example, oil based eggshell takes about 6 weeks to cure completely. I get the impression that the curing process is exponential- 40% on day 1, 15% day 2, and so on.

 

[jonasg]

I suspect that the smell is simply the hot appliances heating the solvents being released in to the room.

Thanks for your response,
that is exactly what i think it is. Yeah Im going to keep them open as much as possible.

Interesting to know that time frame on oil based paints hopefully this should be around the same timescale then as it is oil / spirit based.

 

[Mike13]

The solvent is "natural gasoline" fraction, quite a variable mix, it does take a while to fully dry,especially as it has been put on unheated timbers under the floor.
The smell while strong usually is unimportant, unless someone in the house has bad asthma for example.

 

[jonasg]

Thanks!

Out of curiosity, where did you find the solvent is natural gasoline ?

I looked at the documents but saw on the label:

Contains: Hydrocarbons, C10-C13, n-alkanes, isoalkanes, cyclics, < 2%
aromatics; 3-iodo-2-propynyl-n-butyl carbamate 0.50% w/w;
Tebuconazole 0.22% w/w; Permethrin 0.06 % w/w

 

[Mike13]

By the smell, exposed to lots of it in a previous job a while ago. the 0.5% and 0.22% are some of the active ingredients. the C10-C13 means it is a higher boiling point than pure natural gasoline though. Alkanes means it is the saturated oils, not the more volatile and reactive alkenes.

 

[jonasg]

Thanks for the info there i didn't know that, nice to know its NOT the more volatile and reactive alkenes!