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I had some work done on my house in January. In particular: A painter painted the walls, then another person glazed the window frames and finally another one clean the marble floor ..

Now I absolutely can't stay in the house because I get an irritating odor to my throat and an headache after 15 minutes.

I think someone used a nocive polish or someother product.

So I repainted the wall with an ultra ecologic paint. But the problem still exists.

Does anyone know how to "clean" the air?

Please don't tell me "open the window" .. they are open night and day :(!

PS: fortunately, this is a second home I don't use at the moment...

EDIT: i found this : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volatile_organic_compound I think products used were out-law level of VOC.

Now, how to remove VOC?

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    Get out of the house and get an air test done ASAP. Could be mold. Could be noxious chinese drywall. Formaldehyde. Could be almost anything.
    – DA01
    Commented Jun 2, 2011 at 16:33
  • If the problem is new, it is surely the paint or something that was done. The possibilities you mention are all things that would have been obvious before the work was done.
    – user558
    Commented Jun 2, 2011 at 21:05

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I'd suggest first determining what is causing this. Is it the window glazing? Is it the paint?

If the glazing, then have the glazing redone. If the paint, then you will need to strip it down, not try to cover it over.

One thing that would help is to have a test done professionally. This can be expensive, but it would help, not that I know who would be able to do such a test. Another option is to remove a piece of the painted drywall. Put it into a sealed airtight container overnight. Then when you do not feel any problems, stick your head into the box, and breath deeply for a minute or so. If you have a problem, then you know where to look. If no problems, then I'd do the same with some of the window glazing.

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  • If you DO redo something such as the glazing or stripping off paint then repainting, then make sure you do a test to ensure that the new stuff will not cause an issue.
    – user558
    Commented Jun 3, 2011 at 15:46

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