house making us sick? *update*

[Mattemma]

Mold or dust. The walls can be full of mold,but you would not see a thing. Ducts could be blowing mold and/or dust.Get a good filter. My mom gets ill sitting in our living room. She has like an allergy attack. I am hoping it is dust.Mold is so much harder to deal with. You could have someone come in and test for mold spores in the air.

I would not wait on the landlord if they say all is well.If you are all sick then SOMETHING is going on in the house.Me, I might start looking for a new place while demanding the landlord do something. I don't think the health department will test but you could ask. I know our city requires permits from landlords,and if they don't do basic things to make the house habitable they are fined.Plus they can not rent out the home!

 

[cassie]

When I was a kid, we stayed for a while in an old motel. We had headaches and tiredness. These symptoms went away when we went outside. It was CO from a gas leak. Don't remember how we found it. Either get another CO detector or make sure the one you have is working properly.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Call the FD an see if they care to drop by with there testing equipment. Most will be happy to do this for a home.

 

[Charon]

fumes can still outgas from different materials old lead pipes etc if you dont have a tolerance for them then maybe u get sick

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Quote:
Those are my thoughts.
It could be something as simple as a faulty or dirty flu.

 

[MeatKing]

We were a little bit, lets say not bright.
put a c/o in thought we were good.
Fast forward a bit, smoke alarm started going off, when we turn furnace on, for extended periods. The smoke alarm near the furance(Oil)
Anyways, hubby was out've town, I kept saying it was making making me sick, the smell of it. Hubby was like, your crazy, if C/O detecter isn't going off, that's not the problem.. Got a thing from fireman, who were doing a free local eduacational day, at our dump..
The pamplet then told us, make sure c/o detercters were at floor level.. Really, I know we suck.. I didn't know this~!

It never went off right beside are smoke alarm, that was up high.. but was defiantly the problem.. Later took a nest out've chimney.. So Thank-full, we are ok. Thanks to our firefighters who, took time out've there day, to eduacte the public. Makes me sick to think, we thought we were protected, and we weren't!

I later called "voulnter fire department' to say thank-you. And told them, they probley saved a few lives, that day. And how! It was spring, so we only were useing furnace, a little bit in am/ evening. That's probley what saved us. I would turn it on for a bit warm up house, then turn off. Had it been left to run all night, with a baby in the house.. and not having it in right spot.. We were so lucky!

So is your detector in the right spot of your house?

 

[annanicole18]

Quote:
I second this!

 

[rancher hicks]

Just a few thoughts.

Some molds can be killed just by shining a light. So put a light in the crawl spaces if there are any and also spread some DE in all the crevices. A 50 pound bag shouldn't cost to much. Keep things dry.

Call the utility company and have them check out the furnace. They have better sensors than you will get at the store.

Never trust the landlord. Had one once sited for the furnace. He never fixed it and now the place is an empty lot. Never trust a landlord.

Make sure you have renters insurance. Yes you can not, not afford it. Don't be foolish or skimp here.

Do not make any repairs yourself. Ever! I learned the hard way and then the darn landlord raised the rent. Don't trust me on this? You'll be sorry and get no sympathy from me.

I had land lord sited for lead paint and they tried to blame me. (Screw that paint it yourself, is what I say)

Did I say , never trust the landlord?


I wish you safety,

Rancher

 

[braindead101]

I'm new here but may be able to offer some advice. My son heats with oil and there is never any odor. Check all lines and fittings coming from the oil reservoir, there may be a small leak. It may need some tightening along the way. Don't over tighten anything. Or better yet, call the company that supplies your oil. Sometimes they will check these things as a courtesy.

 

[watchdogps]

Thanks for all the info, everyone. After resetting the detector and still not getting any alarms, the heat went out today. Went down to restart and we are almost out of fuel oil. We just got 150 gallons two weeks ago!!! There is no way we used all that already if things were working properly. So, I guess I get to call the landlady and demand that the furnace and fuel lines be checked. Now I have to figure out where to come up with $600 to refill the tank, too. I am not happy.