I fell in love today.......with a house. It's this amazing duplex with a sun room and an organic garden and beautiful everything in our price range and they want us to move in July 1st. The only problem is that they just refinished the floors and it was pretty darn fumey in there today when we walked through. I didn't think to ask whether it was water or oil based finish though. I have a three year old who plays mostly on the floor and a 2 month old who will be crawling on those floors in a couple months (if she's anything like her brother anyway...). So now I am sitting here trying to figure out the least bitchy approach to this floor dilemma. I know oil based varnishes can offgas VOCs for like YEARS, whereas the water-based tend to not have as may to begin with and cure quicker. Oil varnishes CAN be cured quicker by turning the house into a dry sauna basically, then airing out. Thankfully it is hit as hallelujah right now and I still have two weeks before we move in.
SO. When do you think it is safe? Are two weeks enough? Should I call the landlord and ask what varnish was used (or will I then be the crazy lady..?)? Should I ask them to close all the windows for a week to let the stuff bake, then ask them to open everything to air out? I don't want to scare them into thinking I am an uptight crazy tenant. I REALLY ant this house. But the floor scares me.
Help!
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