My husband and I just finished building our dream home, and he installed a PVC coated wire shelving in all the closets and the food pantry. The shelving has a distinct bad odor to it, but it seems worst in the food pantry. Every time we open the door to get something out, we are overwhelmed by the odor and feel sick. We’ve tried baking soda and leaving the door open to vent, but nothing is really working. If we don’t get some advice soon, we may be dead from starvation! Please help.
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I guess you'll need to eat out at the Outback until the offgassing is done.
Can you describe the smell?
Drywallers threw a cat behind the drywall when they were hanging. When the meows and scratching stopped, the stink came, right?
Once again, Keith.....yer the only one that makes sense here!
Maybe check the spicy food on the shelves?? Jeff She's exotic ,but not foreign, like an old Cadillac......she's a knockout!
You might want to read the two Green Pages in the current issue of FHB. The author is the editor of Evironmental Building News and he talks about the off gassing of PVC products, using the odor of a new shower curtain as an example. Well worth the cost of the magazine.
I read that article last weekend--very interesting. That's the first time I ever heard anything about the dangers of PVC.
In the meantime, the damage is done. There's no cat back there (too easy of a solution). The smell is a spicy smell that makes your nose burn and your stomach churn. We've moved all the food out into the regular wall cabinets. I'm pregnant, and the smell is not a good thing for a vomiting woman.
Thanks. Keep your suggestions coming!
My thought would be to remove the shelving and see if the smell goes away. Set the stuff out in the garage for a while or something. That would at least isolate for sure what was causing the smell. (sounds like you're not using the pantry anyway)
Have you had anyone out from the place you bought the shelving from to look at/smell it? They may not know there's a problem with the stuff. Or maybe this has happened before and they'll replace it.
Hope your pregnancy goes well. Had a cousin shoot out a baby last fall after 18 minutes of labor. I have another great baby/labor story if you're up for it.
Keep in mind that baby pics are required for anyone hanging around here.................(-:
My hockey mom can beat up your soccer mom.
You are probably more sensitive to it because of the pregnancy.
If you can get iot out easily, like Boss suggested and the smell moves with it to the garage, that proves the source. Then move it outside into the sunlight for two or three weeks. The sunlight and heat with air moving over it will accelerate any offgassing and cure it sooner. If not, you don't want it anyway.Excellence is its own reward!
I wonder if something like lemon pledge furniture polish would seal it off enough to stop the odor. Not such a good idea if the lights go out and you need a lemon though.
Steve - in Northern California
The smell is a spicy smell that makes your nose burn and your stomach churn.
Hmm sounds like a Mexican restaurant I ate at once, what have you been feeding your husband?
Sorry just couldn't resist.
Extra sensitive nose and pallate....witnessed that through the wife's three pregnancies.
During one such period, we bought a shower curtain.
Stinky stuff that bothered me more then it did her.
Spread it out in the hot sun all day and hosed it off periodically.
It made a huge difference with the odor barely noticeable.
I think placing them out in the hot sun will help speed up the outgassing more so then in the garage.
Alan
I just bought a condo and have the same problem in a closet. I may have to replace the shelving with old fashion wood. Did you find a solution?
“[Deleted]”
See if a lit candle in the area of the shelving makes a difference. It ought to consume hydro carbon off gassing.
Good luck.
Since it's been 19 years since the question was posted I'd guess the problem has been resolved.