Question from Melissa D.
I am “newly” chemically sensitive and have a highly allergic child (he’s 18 months old and tolerating only four foods – which is better than no foods three months ago…). He constantly had a bloody nose or yellow snot when is his crib (it’s been misdiagnosed as a sinus infection, etc, for months), and it smelled AWFUL to me. So I “painted” it with AFM hard seal a week ago, and it smells terrible. I have tried baking it in the sun, and right now it is baking in a closed room upstairs (we are staying at my in-laws’ until we replace the toxic flooring in my house, but that’s another story…) with an oil-filled radiator. The smell isn’t going away! Will it ever? I used what I thought was a thin coat. Should I sand it away and try something else?
I am so unsure of what to do. My husband is a full-time grad student and I only work part-time, so we can’t afford a new crib right now – especially since we just had to replace all of our flooring this week (we bought some EcoTimber on sale).
He is in his pack and play for now, but the netting on that smells terrible, so I lined the whole thing in thick cotton towels for now…
Any suggestions would be most appreciated. Thank you all very much.
~Melissa
Debra’s Answer
Everyone, if you have a problem with any product like this, where it seems to make the situation worse, please contact the manufacturer to get it resolved. They know best about what to do with their products.
With AFM Hard Seal, I just want to make a caution. It’s really important to check with AFM first to find out if it is appropriate to put their finish over another finish. Sometimes the finishes react with each other, which is what it sounds like happened here.
I’m not sure if sanding is the right thing, as I don’t know what will be exposed if you sand off the finish entirely. If it is bare solid wood, that’s fine.
