Can These Fumes Harm My Child?

August 25, 2013 by Debra Lynn Dadd

Question from Kelly

We had an oil based low voc polyurethane applied to our hardwood floors on the entire first floor of our house. Unfortunately I wasn't aware of the toxicity until after it was done and still smelled for weeks and I started researching. 

We have a young child and was running air purifiers but after 6 weeks and a lot of research on that and the carpets we had installed in the other room at the same time we decided to remove all the hardwoods and put tile down. 

As floors were pulled up we realized all the quarter molding around the floor perimeter was tacky - assuming the contractor replaced wood before curing occurred. 

I am concerned that my child being around that for 6 weeks (a few hours a day) could have harmed my child. Do you think this still tacky polyurethane under the wood could have out gassed enough to cause long term damage or would the fumes have evaporated quickly and/or the wood molding on top of it blocked fumes? 

We ran air purifiers all the time and left windows cracked. I am just very nervous. 

Debra's Answer

This is a difficult question to answer.

First I just want to note that there is no such thing as an "oil based low voc polyurethane". Oil-based polyurethane is not low VOC. I just checked and couldn't find one. So it sounds like standard oil-based polyurethane, which contains toxic solvents and takes a long time to cure.

I'm looking at a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for an oil-based polyurethane finish product and the volatile toxic chemicals are mineral spirits, aromatic 150, and napthalene.

Right in the MSDS are warning messages for these three ingredients, the same warning for all three:

So without a doubt, these are toxic chemicals to avoid if one can.