# Polyurethane safety and pregnancy (X-posted in I'm Pregnant)



## BeanMama (Dec 3, 2004)

I just found out that 3 apartments in my very small building (including the adjacent apartment) will be having their floors polyurethaned next week. I am in my 9th month of pregnancy with a 27 month old toddler. Is polyurethane toxic? What are the risks to us if we are here and what can we do to minimize them?

The contractor took one look at my belly today and suggested we try to stay away for a few days during this process. WTF?! I live here and work from home, and wasn't planning any "getaways" in my 9th month!! But every few weeks my not-so-super super mops the stairwell with a chemical that I can usually taste in the air for hours afterwards, so I know already that the ventilation isn't great in my building.

There are windows in the central stairwell although they are rarely open, so I am planning to ask the contractor to open all of them, plus obviously the windows in each of the apartments being renovated. And I suppose we can keep our air conditioners installed for another week, although we were actually planning to take them out this week because late-summer temperatures have finally ended here. Or would open windows be wiser than air conditioners in this situation?

Suggestions & your experiences appreciated! TIA!


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## reducereuserecycle (Jan 16, 2007)

oh my! i do think you should get away from that building!!! I think that you should demand that you pay no rent during that time and maybe move into a hotel or in with friends or family- especailly since the contractor told you to get away.
that is horrible during this last part of your pregnancy, but I know it would be unhealthy for anyone to breath especailly your child and the baby that is in you.
i hope you can work out a solution.


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## SleeplessMommy (Jul 16, 2005)

Are they doing water based or oil based polyurethane? Water based has much less solvent smell.


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## BeanMama (Dec 3, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *SleeplessMommy* 
Are they doing water based or oil based polyurethane? Water based has much less solvent smell.

Good question, I was just coming back on-line with an update on this actually. I found this article on-line that really freaked me out about the solvent-based polyurethane but got me thinking that perhaps water-based is the answer to our problem: http://ezinearticles.com/?Polyuretha...vent&id=646216

I just talked with the contractor and she was planning to use oil-based but I asked her if she could use water-based instead and she said that she will talk to my landlord about the substitution. She says that water-based is less durable, but didn't sound otherwise opposed to using it. My landlord, on the other hand, well, who knows...

It would be supremenly inconvenient to move out of our apartment for a week, with a toddler, plus me due in a few weeks, and nowhere for us really to go. And around here tenants only have rights if its related to asbestos or lead toxicity; polyurethane is at the discretion of the landlord.


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## BeanMama (Dec 3, 2004)

Wow, I first posted this query on October 9th! Anyway, I just wanted to thank folks for your input here and give a quick update:

The contractor spoke with my landlord who agreed to use the water-based (less toxic, more expensive, less durable) polyurethane on the apartments they are renovating.

They were much delayed in the renovations and finally did the polyurethane this past Friday (so instead of being at the end of my pregnancy our babe was already 2 wks old!) but thankfully we hardly even noticed they were doing it. If I hadn't actually been in the stairwell and seen an open door where they were mopping it onto the floors, I might never have known because the smell didn't come into our apartment at all. In our case it turns out that open windows in the stairwell and closed apartment doors were enough.

I am so relieved. It does piss me off that no one called or knocked to warn us that it was happening that day, but anyway we survived.

Thanks again for all the input, I am so glad that I knew to push for them to use the water-based product instead.


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