Question from tatyana05

We had just moved out of a rental apartment that had a big mold problem. I thought we had finally fixed our living situation (we have two small children) but just found out that our next door neighbor in the new rental apartment, a nice old lady, paints on porcelain china as a hobby and has a kiln that she burns once a week for about 3 hours.

She let me look at the kiln and it looked pretty small but had no ventilation system with it. It is located in the far room of her apartment. She claims that there is no smell when she burns it and she has been doing it for 20 years but I am still worried that we went from one toxic problem to another.

I read online that when you burn glazes in kilns it creates toxic fumes that can stay on the walls, floors, etc. We are not in that same apartment of course but I am still worried because of the kids that the fumes could spread to our apartment. The lady often keeps her apartment door open.

I was thinking of doing a lead test on the walls and floors of our apartment because one of the chemicals that can vaporize in the kiln is lead! Not sure what is a good test kit for that…

If anyone has any thoughts on how to test if it is safe to stay in our apartment, or had any experience with that please write! My husband is very much against moving again, but he was also against moving out of the moldy apartment… He says I will find a problem no matter where we move… Luckily we only signed a 6-months lease. Toxic fumes from kilns is one thing I didn’t know to look out for when looking for a rental!

Thanks in advance for any ideas!

Debra’s Answer

There’s a whole discussion about this at http://www.potters.org/subject04714.htm/. The consensus is that kilns MUST be vented. Note that most of the potters on this discussion have their kilns in garages, basements, or out buildings, and not in living quarters.

The two questions here are:

Air can transfer from her unit to yours through the building ventilation system, through cracks in the walls, through open doors or windows.

I would insist that she vent her kiln, for her own safety as well as yours and then make sure the vented air isn’t getting into your unit.

I just want to comment that this post really reminded me of the necessity of looking at the entire lifecycle of a product and the toxic exposures involved. My minimum requirement for an acceptable product is that the end-use product that I encounter as a consumer be not toxic to my own body, perhaps because protecting my own health from direct toxic exposure was my first concern many years ago. Pottery is a wonderful material, nontoxic if unleaded glazes are used, and historical–making pottery is an ancient. But clearly there are some toxics released into the air, at least when modern techniques are used. And those toxic fumes get into the air where we can breathe them, even if not directly. Of course, they would dissipate in the vast ocean of air, but we know all too well that air pollutants can build up in the air even at the amounts we presently create in manufacturing. Sounds like the manufacturing needs to be cleaned up, even if the end product is safe.

It does seem to me that if, for example, a lead-free glaze is used, the kiln would not release lead fumes.

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Question from Debra Lynn Dadd

A reader wrote…

I just had vinyl windows installed in my whole home – only to realize that they might outgas. Will your technique of “heating up the home 24 hrs to max” work to eliminate the outgassing? if I do it 5 times? Or could I put something over the vinyl, some sealant?

Its possible I can scrape the money together for aluminum windows to replace the two vinyl in the bedroom. What do you suggest? I need answer asap as contractor is awaiting.

Debra’s Answer

I don’t have any experience outgassing vinyl windows, so I don’t know if heat will work or not.

I suppose you could seal the inside with foil tape, though it wouldn’t be very attractive. I don’t know what kind of clear sealant you could apply that would stick to the vinyl.

Readers, any experience with this?

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Question from Debra Lynn Dadd

A reader asked…

We have some furniture – both painted and unpainted, that is about 25 to 30 years old, including a couple of chairs, some painted stools, and a very small painted trunk, plus a small table. I am unsure of the type of wood.

However, I noticed some holes (which had black ovals surrounding them)on a couple of items, and some other pin holes in the various pieces. Scattered and definitely not meant to be a “design” feature.

A pest control field inspector checked them, said that they had been invaded by pests at some time, but it was not a powder post beetle (type of wormwood) and was nothing to worry about.

My friend asked an antique dealer who has familiarity with this type of problem and advised using a needle to inject cupanol (spelling?) into the holes, a compound used on boats to stop mold.

Then use a wood filler for the holes. Obviously the boat compound would be quite toxic and strong for anyone with MCS or who wanted to use non-toxics.

Debra’s Answer

I don’t have any experience with this. Readers?

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A reader sent me an excellent article on how triclosan affects the thyroid gland, that came out this week: Thyroid-Disrupting Triclosan Jumps Into the Frying Pan.

“In the past decade triclosan has been added to zillions of consumer products, including the clothes you wear and the cutting boards you use to prepare food. It is commonly in liquid hand soap/body washes, deodorant, facial cleansers, acne treatments, facial moisturizers, toothpaste, shaving cream, and some bar soaps. Such products often noticeably promote “Antibacterial Properties” in bold print on their packaging, and triclosan is typically listed in the small ingredient print when required by law.”

The article explains exactly how the thyroid gland is affected by toxic chemicals.

Environmental Working Group’s Guide to Triclosan tells you more about it, where it’s found, and how to avoid it.