ᐅ Strong odor when turning down the underfloor heating system
Created on: 12 Jan 2023 22:24
J
JulesF1604J
JulesF160412 Jan 2023 22:24Hello,
we have the following problem. In our newly built house (moved in 6/22), a sweet/sour slightly pungent odor, similar to “stale sweat,” has appeared over the past few weeks. I would not describe it as chemical or musty. We have now observed that it comes from the bedroom and only affects this room. We locate it along the floor near the exterior wall. We turned the heating fully on to see what would happen. The odor disappeared. When we turned the heating back down, the smell returned. Sometimes it feels like a real “cloud” of odor rises upwards toward the windowsill. It seems likely that the smell is coming from the heating system. Has anyone had a similar problem or any ideas? We would appreciate any advice! We have not yet installed baseboards. Ventilating makes it temporarily better. There are no laundry baskets or similar items in the room.
Floor: underfloor heating, screed, PE foil, cork parquet.
Thank you in advance!!
we have the following problem. In our newly built house (moved in 6/22), a sweet/sour slightly pungent odor, similar to “stale sweat,” has appeared over the past few weeks. I would not describe it as chemical or musty. We have now observed that it comes from the bedroom and only affects this room. We locate it along the floor near the exterior wall. We turned the heating fully on to see what would happen. The odor disappeared. When we turned the heating back down, the smell returned. Sometimes it feels like a real “cloud” of odor rises upwards toward the windowsill. It seems likely that the smell is coming from the heating system. Has anyone had a similar problem or any ideas? We would appreciate any advice! We have not yet installed baseboards. Ventilating makes it temporarily better. There are no laundry baskets or similar items in the room.
Floor: underfloor heating, screed, PE foil, cork parquet.
Thank you in advance!!
In the other rooms, I imagine the problem is less noticeable because those rooms are heated more. The bedroom is often the "issue" in situations like this. The odor escapes there because it can come out at that point; the vapor barrier probably has a small gap at the wall, and the baseboard is missing.
I would try to check if the vapor barrier is wet from below. What are the temperature and humidity levels?
I would try to check if the vapor barrier is wet from below. What are the temperature and humidity levels?
J
JulesF160413 Jan 2023 09:16andimann schrieb:
Hello,
was the screed completely dried with heating? PE foil sounds like a vapor barrier on screed that is not fully dry....
Best regards,
Andreas Good morning,
according to the tiler, yes, the PE foil was just used as a precaution since it is a new build :-/
So, the PE foil under the floating click cork flooring is probably there to allow it to “slide” during installation. The move-in was in June 2022, so there really shouldn’t be any more off-gassing (it shouldn’t occur anyway).
If the problem doesn’t resolve on its own, I would bite the bullet and hire a specialist to identify the off-gassing (chemical analysis / gas chromatography?). Anything else feels too risky, especially in the bedroom (but actually anywhere). There have even been cases where housewives died because they mixed two otherwise harmless cleaning products incorrectly (combined and not ventilated).
If the problem doesn’t resolve on its own, I would bite the bullet and hire a specialist to identify the off-gassing (chemical analysis / gas chromatography?). Anything else feels too risky, especially in the bedroom (but actually anywhere). There have even been cases where housewives died because they mixed two otherwise harmless cleaning products incorrectly (combined and not ventilated).
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