Friday 29 January 2010

Death by Dichloromethane....


The new office carpet was left to 'settle' overnight, which meant that today the only flooring related task remaining was to glue it to the floor around the edges.

We had bought an aerosol can of heavy duty carpet adhesive, the main constituent of which was dichloromethane. The instructions warned gravely of the need to avoid inhaling any of the spray or fumes and for good measure added a skull and crossbones graphic for those incapable of reading.

The window was duly opened, although due to the nature of the job, the door had to be kept closed, and we began, spraying the floor and the back of the carpet then laying each section flat.

However.

A each newly sprayed section of carpet was allowed to drop to the floor, a waft of fumes was funnelled up into our faces, so that by the time we got all the way round the room and back to where we started I was gasping and desperate to get out.

Needless to say, a casual Googling of death by inhalation of dichloromethane produced a startling array of post mortem findings and dire warnings of all manner of health problems should you be lucky enough to avoid death in the first instance.

And to think my main concern was that the inside surfaces of my lungs would be glued together.....

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bet you wish you had paid the money and had it laid for you now.


My other half has over the last few weeks laid four bedroom carpets, the office carpet and laid vinyl in two of our bathrooms. A really professional job he has done too.

Can't believe I had 21 years with a husband who couldn't change a plug and then I get a hubby who can do everything.

Sandra Morris said...

Well it's done now so I suppose I feel it was worth the saving of £50.

Anyway, I thought you two were supposed to be having an 'end of season' rest!

Anonymous said...

No chance

We decided to have new curtains and duvet covers in all the rooms. No problem. Then I decided we would change the colours of the rooms and get new carpets too. Of course the sheets didn't match then so I had to get all new sheets too. Then because all that was new we got new hairdryers, new kettles, new clock radios and because we are going digital at the end of the year we decided just to renew all the televisions at the same time. Graham wasn't happy with the vinyl in a couple of the ensuites so he got new vinyl and put that down and just for jolly we got a new carpet for the office.

So - this recession had better improve and we had better get people wanting to come here on holiday or we are up the thick brown stuff without a paddle.

This is definitely the last time we are doing the bedrooms before we retire though. (Five years and counting).