Toluene smell in my home!

[cathy]

Hi my names cathy i have joined this site in desperation regarding my situation, firstly a horrible smell started in my house about 5 weeks ago enviromental health could not determine what it was so the dims unit with the fire brigade came to my home and used a special device to determine what it is, they have concluded that the smell is toluene which is very dangerous to our health as its toxic, now we have to leave our home because of the dangers of this chemical....so what i want to know is how did it get in my home as we havent done anything around the house to cause this and we have lived here for 11 years and secondly how do we get rid of the smell so we can continue to live here healthily....please help im desperate as this has seperated my family, my eldest pregnant daughter has had to leave our home and cannot return on the advice of out doctor....many thanks cathy

Edited March 9, 2010 by Phi for All
Moved from Introduce Yourself

[Horza2002]

Firstly, I am no expert so I can only give you my opinion that is all!

 

Toluene is sometimes found in old paints...have you used old paints recently? The smell of toluene results from the fact there is toluene present in the atmosphere of your house. The only thing I can think of is to air you house properly to remove it.

[Coneys]

Just out of curiousity, do you have oil heat in your house? If so, Toluene is commonly used as an additive in home heating oil. This may be the cause of the odor. Now if your heating is working properly, you shouldn't smell anything, but if your chimney is blocked or restricted you could experience this problem. Another possibility is a leak in the tank or the fuel lines or a spill during your oil delivery. I would check these out. Of course, if you don't have oil heat, then that's not your cause. Just throwing out some ideas.

[Phi for All]

cathy, I take it the fire brigade was unable to determine the source of the toluene smell. Some questions:

1. Do you heat your house with heating oil?

2. Do you store any paint products in your home?

3. Do you have a basement or crawlspace, and if so, do either of those have a dirt floor?

4. Is there any room where the smell is greater?

5. Do any of your neighbors have a similar problem?

[Mickey]

Hi Cathy

I can understand your problem , since your daughter in pregnant.

She should definately stay out of the house.

As fas as you and other people are concerned..you are lucky. Toluene is not easily available.

So, just find the source,,keep sniffing nt keep tripping.

[hypervalent_iodine]

Hi Cathy

I can understand your problem , since your daughter in pregnant.

 

Probably not anymore.

[CaptainPanic]

!

Moderator Note

Just to clarify hypervalent_iodine's joke: the thread and initial question are almost 3 years old.

[Moontanman]

Sometimes it would be nice to find out if there was a resolution to this and other problems asked about on this forum...

[CaptainPanic]

Sometimes it would be nice to find out if there was a resolution to this and other problems asked about on this forum...

We already provide a date on all posts. I see no solutions, other than closing all aging threads (which, unless it is automated, is a nasty job for the admins and mods).

 

Some people just Google around, and then join our forum to make a remark. Some even do that just to spam. There are not too many solutions, other than to close all aging threads. But that goes a bit too far, I think.

 

Anyway, we can still brainstorm about all the things that can cause a toluene smell. It is just very unlikely that cathy will come back with the final verdict on the source.

[Phi for All]

I, for one, found it difficult to believe that neither the UK Environment Agency nor the special Detection Identification and Monitoring unit of a London fire brigade could do no more than tell Cathy what chemical was causing the smell. Bureaucracy does have its advantages, and this is one of the things they usually don't let go of easily.

 

Why couldn't they discover the source if they could detect toluene at all? Most of the chemical detectors I've seen can measure concentration so it should be stronger as you get closer to the source. It seems strange that the local authorities would simply tell people they have to leave their home without telling them what the source was. I suppose this might have been sort of a first response type reaction, "get out now while we figure out what caused it", but Cathy made it sound like they were still living there for a while (except for the pregnant daughter), and was interested in how she could remove the smell from the home. The EA should have been able to target the source, remove it and thus remove the smell.

 

I love puzzles, but NOT when you don't have enough pieces to solve it.

[Spyman]

We already provide a date on all posts. I see no solutions, other than closing all aging threads...

It think Moontanman ment that he would want to know if or how cathy's and others who come here have their problems solved.

(And not about how we should deal with resurrection of old threads.)

 

I agree with him, it would be nice to find out how it ended.

[Enthalpy]

The new owners of the house removed the pot of toluene they had placed, as well as the false book alleging toluene is very toxic?

[CaptainPanic]

I, for one, found it difficult to believe that neither the UK Environment Agency nor the special Detection Identification and Monitoring unit of a London fire brigade could do no more than tell Cathy what chemical was causing the smell. Bureaucracy does have its advantages, and this is one of the things they usually don't let go of easily.

Maybe they already knew that the toluene pipeline under the house had broken, and they just wanted cathy out of the house to fix it, and also to cover up the fact that the pipeline was under a residential area?

[Phi for All]

Maybe they already knew that the toluene pipeline under the house had broken, and they just wanted cathy out of the house to fix it, and also to cover up the fact that the pipeline was under a residential area?

 

Allright, let's go with that. But I reserve the right to reopen the case if and when new information is made available.

[CharonY]

Can we have giant mutated hamsters involved, too? Please?

[Phi for All]

Can we have giant mutated hamsters involved, too? Please?

 

Please see my study on the effects of toluene exposure on London rodents.

[Enthalpy]

...toluene can cause cancer

Do you have a source for this claim?

Toluene and xylene replace benzene to avoid causing cancer.