Fumes from Dampproofing Tar
Ryan Lewis - Zone 4A| Posted inGeneral Questionson
this past Sunday we had a small section of our exterior foundation wall dug out, french drain installed, and Ashphaltic Dampproofing applied to the wall (while dry). we then insulated with overkill XPS R-20 wrapped in a poly vapor barrier. The trench was backfilled shortly thereafter.
Monday/Tuesday the entire house smells of the dampproofing tar.
I’m told the tar will eventually dry out at the smell will dissipate, but, i’m wondering if there is anything i can do to lessen the smell besides leave all the windows/doors/garage door open?
GBA Detail Library
A collection of one thousand construction details organized by climate and house part
Search and download construction details
Replies
My guess is the insulating/sealing work was done before the asphaltic compound was fully dry, so you're smelling some of the solvents that are working their way through the wall in the opposite direction. I don't think there is much you can do about that aside from ventilating the space for a while, but I can think of a few things that might help:
1- Ventilate the spaces closest to the newly sealed wall. This will exhaust the air with the highest concentration of solvents, since the highest concentration will be closest to the source. This will maximize the amount of "bad stuff" you blow out per unit air flow with your fans.
2- Set up your fans for cross flow, which means in one end and out the other. Try to combine this with #1, above, so that you are blowing across the length of the space nearest the wall. This will mean you're removing the maximum amount of air with the highest concentration of "bad stuff".
3- Try running an activated carbon air filter in your living space to "polish" the air farther away from the source of the "bad stuff". I don't know for sure how effective this will be, but it might help -- activated carbon is good for filtering out all kinds of foul smelling things from the air. I think Honeywell makes some activated carbon filters for some of their residential HEPA filter models, so that might be a starting point if you want to try this option.
Bill
What brand asphaltic damp proofing compound did u use, if i may ask? We r hoping to do same soon