Getting rid of paint smell
Today’s question comes from Aaren. Aaren asks:
Hi hope you can help! My daughter’s room will not stop smelling. In fact, I challenged Olympic Paint and Lowe’s – going back and forth until we settled. KILZ and another coat of paint reproduced the original smell! Olympic even paid a professional to do all that work for us. The second coat of Premium One water based latex interior paint still smells. We have 2 air purifiers and had our windows opens for a week while painting and for 12 days afterward. …. As of today however we are dealing with a smell from Friday. It’s awful and I’m afraid to let my daughter sleep in there (although she has for two nights). WHAT can I do to make it go away. The room seems like it’s cursed. No other room in our house ever smelled like this… Please help with ideas of what to do. How long is this supposed to last. The smell is like a sweet, clay smell. It doesn’t really smell like paint at all. We even crawled into the attic to check for smell and it wasn’t present. We tried sprays, onions, vinegar, steam cleaning. Everything. Your advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks. Aaren
To be honest I personally have never experienced prolonged smelling after painting a room. Usually something like that might happen if there is excessive moisture which makes the paint dry slower and may contribute to the paint smelling. To try to get rid of the smell I would put a container with some coffee in it. If it doesn’t remove the smell at least will enhance the air a bit.
Dan
Finally in a better place. Painted over the original paint with the best Killz I could find. Then painted over that with leftover paint from our living room, which hadn’t had any problems. There was still a faint hint of the bad smell for a few days, but we’ve been odor free for a couple of weeks now. Since we bought zero voc Valspar for five rooms at the same time, I’m 99% sure it was the color added at Lowes for that one room that was the issue.
RM
Hello Everyone, j
I just spent hours reading this after googling, “Behr paint smells bad.” I’m really worried. We hired professional painters to paint our master bedroom (including ceiling), four closets, and kitchen/living room/hallway ceiling. They painted on Saturday. They used their own paint (Cloverdale paint) on the kitchen/living room/hallway ceiling. We requested that they use Zinsser BIN shellac based primer in the bedroom on the walls and in all the closets. We just moved into this house and I always need to BIN the closets and/or bedroom walls due to my allergies to fragrances (all closets smell like laundry detergent). I have done this several times in the past and we just did our laundry room a few weeks ago. I’ve never had any problems and the BIN is the only thing that has ever worked to get rid of perfume/fragrance. The paint company suggested we use Behr Marquee on the master bedroom walls because they wanted to start at 9 am and the Cloverdale paint store didn’t open until 9 am and I wasn’t going to be home until 10:30 am anyway, so I didn’t want to delay the job. Plus, I had no idea this paint issue was a problem, so I didn’t think twice about buying paint from Home Depot, especially a higher end brand (I usually buy the cheap CIL stuff or Rona stuff). They didn’t paint the ceiling in the kitchen/living room until later that afternoon, which is why the Cloverdale paint was used at that time (the store was open, it’s cheaper, etc). Fast forward to today (only a few days) and there is zero paint smell in the kitchen/living room and a horrible strong chemical smell in all of the closets and the master bedroom. It makes my tongue tingle and my husband was coughing after spending all day in there. We have opened the windows and used large fans for several days, plus we have air filters and dehumidifiers running. Still, the smell is there. I find it scary that one kind of paint has no smell and the other kind has a really strong smell. Also, we did our laundry room with BIN and a paint from Rona a few weeks ago, and the smell of paint was gone in 48 hours. Perhaps it is still early with this paint and the smell will go away, but I’m very worried as it has not dissipated at all and seems to be getting stronger in the closets. We at first thought it was dissipating, but that was only because we had the windows open and air filters running. We even had an air filter running in one closet for the past two days and there has been no change. The paint that is for sure the culprit is the Behr Premium Plus Ultra ceiling paint, with no colour added. The other culprit might be the Behr Marquee in Blue Gossamer. It’s hard to tell if that is a problem since both paints are in the master bedroom. The closets only have Behr Premium Plus Ultra Ceiling paint (except in the master with the Marquee). I phoned Behr on Monday to ask them how long it will take for the smell to go away since the other ceiling paint smell went away as soon as it was dry, and their response, after taking the number from the top of the can, was for me to prime it with Kilz and then repaint or else wait one full week as the smell would hopefully go away. I found this to be a very odd response from the company and it has me worried. Has anyone else had any experience with this paint? Will the odor go away within a week? Will the headaches and tongue tingling go away?
Also, is this smell similar to the smell that others are discussing on this thread? Many mention a sour smell, but that is not the smell we have. It is a very distinct chemical smell. It kind of smells like fresh paint but also like something else that I can’t identify. I can sure taste it though. A person who came over today to drop off an air filter that we are trial running for a week (a company called Surgically Clean Air) immediately asked, “What is that smell?” when we opened the closet. He also said that his throat felt scratchy after being in the house for five minutes. We put the air filter in the master bedroom and he said that it is used in dental offices, funeral homes, and hospitals with cadavers to deal with the formaldehyde and other VOCs and that I should see a reduction in fumes within one hour. He just phoned me to check, and the room, after 2 hours and thus 4 air exchanges through six filters, smells even more strongly of paint. He said that he thinks the VOC count is thus overwhelming the unit.
I’m just wondering when I should start worrying since this paint smells different than other paints and is not dissipating, but it has only been a few days since we painted. I’m inclined to shellac based BIN over it with two coats since BIN has always worked with perfume, but after reading other comments I’m not sure if this will work. We can’t do anything to the drywall since we rent. The entire paint job cost us $1100 plus the cost of paint (about another $300). I don’t want to wait too long because I’m worried about the smell getting into our clothes and dressers which are all in the spare bedroom where one of the closets was painted. I don’t know if I’m being paranoid or if the smell will go away. And insight/advice is much appreciated!
Colin
I have recently had a long-term chemical exposure which triggered a response in my body. So each time that I get minor exposure to this common benzene-containing chemical, I get horrible nosebleeds, abdominal pain, joint pain, rectal bleeding, mood changes, just to name a few. I had to quit my job and leave the city in which my family resided because it was so prevalent in every home, business and school. My 7-year-old son even began experiencing nosebleeds at the school. This common chemical is a family of pesticides. I have tried fighting it but in the end I had to give up. I’ve had people tell me that they would rather die of cancer than see another cockroach in their home. My long-term exposure was work-related. My company sprayed heavily indoors and refused to stop. I lasted six years at the company. They began spraying after I had been there for a year. The more I was exposed, the more sensitive I became. My sensitivity turned to more than just pesticides. It became perfumes, cleaners and other household items. I have to be very careful in selecting products that can be used in my home now.
After I quit and left the city, I moved North where cockroaches don’t exist. I rented a family member’s house in which the master bedroom was recently painted using KILZ primer and Sherwin Williams latex paint. Immediately upon moving into this home I began experiencing nosebleeds and many of my other common symptoms of chemical exposure. The bedroom smelled heavily of fresh paint and I avoided that room. I slept on the couch. I opened all of the windows in the home. It took a few weeks but I was finally able to live in the house without any physical ailments. I remodeled the master bathroom and spent the majority of my days in the master bedroom area. I was sick daily. The nosebleeds didn’t seem to stop. It’s been four months since the bedroom was painted and I still avoid it because it makes me sick. My wife won’t go in there because she can’t stand the smell. The windows have been open in that room for four months and the smell exists with the windows open. I closed the windows for two days after the weather became colder. I leave the door to the master bedroom closed. The smell started permeating the house. Both of my two sons and I started getting nosebleeds. I had to open the windows again. The bedroom still smells of paint. It has been four months since the room was painted. We are to the point now that I am going to remove all of the sheetrock and repaint with Behr paint. I have read a lot of these comments and it appears that sheetrock removal is the only option. Covering the paint with sealant requires 4 or 5 coats and often doesn’t work. I remember painting with latex as a child. The smell went away after the paint dried and I never experienced problems. What has changed?
RM
Hello, How long do comments take to be moderated? I submitted a long comment yesterday but it is not up yet.
JT
Hello Everyone,
I need some advice. I just painted my bedroom and four closets with Behr paint (recommended by the contractors but not the usual paint they use) and the smell has not gone away and I’m feeling ill. We’ve had windows open and literally thousands of dollars worth of air filters running to no avail. I’ve painted several times in the past two years and have never had a problem (never used Behr before, either).
I can no longer sleep in my bedroom (I’m on the couch) and we’re going to move our bed out as soon as we can (it’s difficult due to the frame). The horrible irony is that we painted to seal in the perfume smell in the closets and bedroom because I am allergic to perfume. I have use BIN shellac based primer and then typical low VOC paint several times in the past with 100% success to seal all perfume odours. I can’t believe I may have just introduced a problem that is 1000% times worse.
I spoke at length with a BIN rep and she said that it would work to seal in the paint fumes, but after reading the blog, I’m really worried. I’m hoping that William? E3? Can’t recall the name…will post with his results. He last posted that he was trying BIN. I also spoke with an environmental engineer who does remediation work and he said that AFM safecoat would work as that has worked sealing in the odors from tire factories.
Don’t know if I’m being paranoid and if the smell will go away in 30 days after it cures. No other paint job took longer than 48 hours, though, and I’ve never felt this way. All I can taste is paint in my mouth. I’m so afraid that the smell will get into my furnishings, etc. We can’t tear out drywall because we rent. I also can’t imagine sleeping in our living room for 30 days as our landlord comes by and he’s going to think we are crazy with our bed right in the living room (where the front door is).
So, my questions:
1) for those who used BIN, did you use the original shellac based version? Not synthetic but natural shellac? From what I have learned, the synthetic version is not as good as the natural. Is there anyone who had success with BIN? I won’t use Kilz due to the strong smell. Yes, BIN also smells bad but it’s not the same kind of bad.
2) for those who used AFM safecoat–did you use the primer or safecoat? or something else?
3) Is it better to wait 30 days until the paint cures or just experiment with one closet and see what happens? The BIN rep said that I do not need to wait.
4) Do you guys think that the smell will go away in a few weeks? Am I jumping the gun? It is unusual for me to have a smell last so long–all other paint smells were gone in two days, and we also just did our ceiling in the kitchen and living room with a different paint, and that smell was gone in 2 hours after drying. Our laundry room that had brutal detergent and fabric softener/Bounce smells was sealed with BIN (two coats about an hour or so apart) and one coat of paint and there is zero smell in there, and all paint smells were gone in 2 days. BIN is one of the most inert smelling products out there after it dries. It should not smell like anything but it needs a lot of ventilation while it is drying as it is brutal while wet–it needs large scale fans, not typical house fans and it’s best if two windows are open for cross ventilation. When I have used it in the past, I have put it on really thick. I don’t mean to sound like a BIN salesperson–it has just been the only thing to work for sealing in perfume and I suppose I’m really hoping that it will work in this case. Interestingly, the environmental engineer I spoke with said that he thinks that BIN allows smell to seep through. I wonder if it works for me because I use so much of it– I used an entire gallon on my small laundry room–it is about 8×4 feet.
5) for the people for who had success with primer–was the smell just a paint/chemical smell? Or was it the sour/ammonia/vinegar smell?
6) for the people who had to tear out their drywall–what kind of smell were you dealing with? Paint/chemical or sour/ammonia? It seems to me after reading this blog that there are two kinds of problem paint smells.
I’ve also looked at alkali resisting primer but I would be scared about introducing that into my house. I also emailed the Enviroguard folks to ask about the VaporLock product that can be applied right over paint without having to repaint (it goes on clear).
Also, I phoned Behr to simply ask how long it will take for the smell to go away. They took the number from the top of the can, put me on hold for a while, came back and told me that to make the smell go away, I would need to prime with Kilz and then repaint, and they would pay for the cost of the paint. I thought that was a very odd answer to my question, so I then googled “Behr paint smells” and got this blog. I then phoned back and no one at Behr could tell me when the paint smell would go away–just that the solution was to prime it with Kilz or wait for an undisclosed amount of time. I used two different kinds: ultra premium plus ceiling paint and stain blocking primer in one and Behr Marqee. The ceiling paint is in all the closets and on the ceiling in the master bedroom. There are two different smells–the bedroom has a fresh paint smell that is incredibly strong after so many days, and the closets smell (to me) like a harsh chemical, but they smell like incense to my spouse and like a “laundry closet” to an air filter rep who came to our house (his air filter did not help the paint smell and it’s a unit that is used in cadaver rooms with a ton of formaldehyde).
I actually wonder if these paint companies add fragrances or masking agents to cover the smell of chemicals in the paint? In other words, they add a fragrance that mimics the smell of fresh paint, which is why it persists for so long and/or indefinitely–much like perfume.
JT
Michelle
ECOS paint review
I first painted my new drywall with ECOS primer. Dried no smell. Then ECOS eggshell. Wet in the can there was very little odor. Going on there was very little odor. It dried to no odor. But the color they sent me was wrong. Also I thought the sheen was fairly matte for eggshell so I requested they replace it with their untinted white semigloss. That came a couple of days ago but I waited until today to paint because I wanted to do it with the windows and doors open and I needed warmer weather for that. Got everything prepped and then opened the can. The chemical smell was very strong. I should have immediately put the lid back on and called the company. But I had everything ready to go so I painted the walls and ceiling. I have had fans on it all day and the smell is still very strong. I am kicking myself for not following my own advice to never use strong smelling zero VOC paint again and putting it up. I hope I don’t have the problem Brenda did with a second batch of bad paint.
Brenda
Just wondering what the majority here thinks the actual cause of the bad lingering paint smell comes from? I am heavily leaning towards the microscopic mold spores from moldy paint being sold due to the change in the paint formula to lower the VOC’s. The smell seems to get onto everything and no matter what is tried it won’t dissipate. It’s so frustrating.
So many people on this blog and they seem to disappear not telling how they solved the problem or if they solved it. Just a few of us left here.
Jean
Brenda I’m so sorry to hear. It definitely is the low/no voc paints. We painted 3 rooms with normal voc paint (glidden, same one that miss V said she had no problems with in the past) and had absolutely no smell problems. We painted 2 rooms with low voc environmentaly friendly paint (grand distinction) and had an odor problem. Next time we paint a room we are going to stick with the normal voc glidden paint!
Brenda
Jean
We can’t get any paint here in MA that is the regular VOC paint, only the new low VOC paints are available. I was told it was the same in the rest of the country. Where did you find the “old fashioned” paint?
Michelle
Phew! I feel like I dodged a bullet. I was on pins and needles last night, kicking myself for using the paint with a strong odor from ECOS. But this morning no smell! I can’t hardly believe my luck but I’ve gone into the room 4 times to check and no smell. However I am going to try and use a respirator when I put on the second coat. Interestingly enough the can says can recoat in 2 hrs but their on-line application notes say to wait over night and prefer at least 24 hours.
Brenda,
So sorry to hear about the floor. But at least you don’t have to redo the walls. But what to do about the floor? I don’t think it is mold because I used the toxic chlorine dioxide bomb for mine and that would have killed anything with mold in it. Somebody earlier has posted a research paper on it. I have to believe it is a combination of chemicals that never cures. But why into the floors? Kane said it got into his furniture. I had tile floors so once the walls and ceiling were gone it was gone. Someone else had it in the insulation so we replaced that also. However it did not get into our wood vanity.
If plastic on the floor kills the smell perhaps live on top of the plastic? Or put down sheet linoleum on top of it and live on top of that?
Brenda
Michelle
That’s great you had success, that must feel so good, what relief. I am mystified by our issue. When we primed we put down the plastic on the floor to protect it, once it dried took up the plastic. The smell came back. So we put down more plastic and the smell stayed. I wonder if the smell that got into the wood floor obsorbed back into the new freshly primed Sheetrock. Ugh, it’s too exhausting.
I did talk my husband out of sleeping in the room for a little longer, after he went ahead and put back his clothes and furniture. So today I had to take out all his clothes back out and wash them. I’m so tired of all this!
Now what??? ?
Kane
Michelle, glad things worked out for you despite the scare that the semi gloss may have issues as well. I suggest to all people that stumble across this long thread to try any and all paint on a small area and/or a scrap piece of drywall to see how it reacts.
Yes odor got into my wood furniture so I suspect it would do the same to any wood floors. Ceramic tiles on floors or bathroom/kitchen walls probably would not.
Brenda, the smell is continuous offgassing from chemical reaction of paint and whatever is on the walls. As long as it offgasses, it gets into and stays on anything that absorbs odor such as clothing, mattresses , wood floors, bedding.
Brenda
Kane
What totally confuses me is how does it continue to off gas when the walls and woodwork with all the paint on them were torn out?
JT
Hello Everyone,
I’m posting this in several segments because my posts keep getting blocked. Maybe the post was too long? Anyway, I need some advice. I just painted my bedroom and four closets with Behr paint (recommended by the contractors but not the usual paint they use) and the smell has not gone away and I’m feeling ill. We’ve had windows open and literally thousands of dollars worth of air filters running to no avail. I’ve painted several times in the past two years and have never had a problem (never used Behr before, either).
I can no longer sleep in my bedroom (I’m on the couch) and we’re going to move our bed out as soon as we can (it’s difficult due to the frame). The horrible irony is that we painted to seal in the perfume smell in the closets and bedroom because I am allergic to perfume. I have use BIN shellac based primer and then typical low VOC paint several times in the past with 100% success to seal all perfume odours. I can’t believe I may have just introduced a problem that is 1000% times worse.
I spoke at length with a BIN rep and she said that it would work to seal in the paint fumes, but after reading the blog, I’m really worried. I’m hoping that William? E3? Can’t recall the name…will post with his results. He last posted that he was trying BIN. I also spoke with an environmental engineer who does remediation work and he said that AFM safecoat would work as that has worked sealing in the odors from tire factories.
JT
Don’t know if I’m being paranoid and if the smell will go away in 30 days after it cures. No other paint job took longer than 48 hours, though, and I’ve never felt this way. All I can taste is paint in my mouth. I’m so afraid that the smell will get into my furnishings, etc. We can’t tear out drywall because we rent. I also can’t imagine sleeping in our living room for 30 days as our landlord comes by and he’s going to think we are crazy with our bed right in the living room (where the front door is).
So, my questions:
1) for those who used BIN, did you use the original shellac based version? Not synthetic but natural shellac? From what I have learned, the synthetic version is not as good as the natural. Is there anyone who had success with BIN? I won’t use Kilz due to the strong smell. Yes, BIN also smells bad but it’s not the same kind of bad.
2) for those who used AFM safecoat–did you use the primer or safecoat? or something else?
3) Is it better to wait 30 days until the paint cures or just experiment with one closet and see what happens? The BIN rep said that I do not need to wait.
JT
4) Do you guys think that the smell will go away in a few weeks? Am I jumping the gun? It is unusual for me to have a smell last so long–all other paint smells were gone in two days, and we also just did our ceiling in the kitchen and living room with a different paint, and that smell was gone in 2 hours after drying. Our laundry room that had brutal detergent and fabric softener/Bounce smells was sealed with BIN (two coats about an hour or so apart) and one coat of paint and there is zero smell in there, and all paint smells were gone in 2 days. BIN is one of the most inert smelling products out there after it dries. It should not smell like anything but it needs a lot of ventilation while it is drying as it is brutal while wet–it needs large scale fans, not typical house fans and it’s best if two windows are open for cross ventilation. When I have used it in the past, I have put it on really thick. I don’t mean to sound like a BIN salesperson–it has just been the only thing to work for sealing in perfume and I suppose I’m really hoping that it will work in this case. Interestingly, the environmental engineer I spoke with said that he thinks that BIN allows smell to seep through. I wonder if it works for me because I use so much of it– I used an entire gallon on my small laundry room–it is about 8×4 feet.
5) for the people for who had success with primer–was the smell just a paint/chemical smell? Or was it the sour/ammonia/vinegar smell?
6) for the people who had to tear out their drywall–what kind of smell were you dealing with? Paint/chemical or sour/ammonia? It seems to me after reading this blog that there are two kinds of problem paint smells.
JT
I’ve also looked at alkali resisting primer but I would be scared about introducing that into my house. I also emailed the Enviroguard folks to ask about the VaporLock product that can be applied right over paint without having to repaint (it goes on clear).
Also, I phoned Behr to simply ask how long it will take for the smell to go away. They took the number from the top of the can, put me on hold for a while, came back and told me that to make the smell go away, I would need to prime with Kilz and then repaint, and they would pay for the cost of the paint. I thought that was a very odd answer to my question, so I then googled “Behr paint smells” and got this blog. I then phoned back and no one at Behr could tell me when the paint smell would go away–just that the solution was to prime it with Kilz or wait for an undisclosed amount of time. I used two different kinds: ultra premium plus ceiling paint and stain blocking primer in one and Behr Marqee. The ceiling paint is in all the closets and on the ceiling in the master bedroom. There are two different smells–the bedroom has a fresh paint smell that is incredibly strong after so many days, and the closets smell (to me) like a harsh chemical, but they smell like incense to my spouse, like a urine puck to my sister in one closet and like pickles or something organic in another closet, and like a “laundry closet” to an air filter rep who came to our house (his air filter did not help the paint smell and it’s a unit that is used in cadaver rooms with a ton of formaldehyde).
I actually wonder if these paint companies add fragrances or masking agents to cover the smell of chemicals in the paint? In other words, they add a fragrance that mimics the smell of fresh paint, which is why it persists for so long and/or indefinitely–much like perfume.
JT (END OF MULTIPLE POSTS)
Lisa
I have received an e-mail from a gentleman who’s been trying to post here with no success. I am posting the following on his behalf:
Hello Everyone,
I need some advice. I just painted my bedroom and four closets with Behr paint (recommended by the contractors but not the usual paint they use) and the smell has not gone away and I’m feeling ill. We’ve had windows open and literally thousands of dollars worth of air filters running to no avail. I’ve painted several times in the past two years and have never had a problem (never used Behr before, either).
I can no longer sleep in my bedroom (I’m on the couch) and we’re going to move our bed out as soon as we can (it’s difficult due to the frame). The horrible irony is that we painted to seal in the perfume smell in the closets and bedroom because I am allergic to perfume. I have use BIN shellac based primer and then typical low VOC paint several times in the past with 100% success to seal all perfume odours. I can’t believe I may have just introduced a problem that is 1000% times worse.
I spoke at length with a BIN rep and she said that it would work to seal in the paint fumes, but after reading the blog, I’m really worried. I’m hoping that William? E3? Can’t recall the name…will post with his results. He last posted that he was trying BIN. I also spoke with an environmental engineer who does remediation work and he said that AFM safecoat would work as that has worked sealing in the odors from tire factories.
Don’t know if I’m being paranoid and if the smell will go away in 30 days after it cures. No other paint job took longer than 48 hours, though, and I’ve never felt this way. All I can taste is paint in my mouth. I’m so afraid that the smell will get into my furnishings, etc. We can’t tear out drywall because we rent. I also can’t imagine sleeping in our living room for 30 days as our landlord comes by and he’s going to think we are crazy with our bed right in the living room (where the front door is).
So, my questions:
1) for those who used BIN, did you use the original shellac based version? Not synthetic but natural shellac? From what I have learned, the synthetic version is not as good as the natural. Is there anyone who had success with BIN? I won’t use Kilz due to the strong smell. Yes, BIN also smells bad but it’s not the same kind of bad.
2) for those who used AFM safecoat–did you use the primer or safecoat? or something else?
3) Is it better to wait 30 days until the paint cures or just experiment with one closet and see what happens? The BIN rep said that I do not need to wait.
4) Do you guys think that the smell will go away in a few weeks? Am I jumping the gun? It is unusual for me to have a smell last so long–all other paint smells were gone in two days, and we also just did our ceiling in the kitchen and living room with a different paint, and that smell was gone in 2 hours after drying. Our laundry room that had brutal detergent and fabric softener/Bounce smells was sealed with BIN (two coats about an hour or so apart) and one coat of paint and there is zero smell in there, and all paint smells were gone in 2 days. BIN is one of the most inert smelling products out there after it dries. It should not smell like anything but it needs a lot of ventilation while it is drying as it is brutal while wet–it needs large scale fans, not typical house fans and it’s best if two windows are open for cross ventilation. When I have used it in the past, I have put it on really thick. I don’t mean to sound like a BIN salesperson–it has just been the only thing to work for sealing in perfume and I suppose I’m really hoping that it will work in this case. Interestingly, the environmental engineer I spoke with said that he thinks that BIN allows smell to seep through. I wonder if it works for me because I use so much of it– I used an entire gallon on my small laundry room–it is about 8×4 feet.
5) for the people for who had success with primer–was the smell just a paint/chemical smell? Or was it the sour/ammonia/vinegar smell?
6) for the people who had to tear out their drywall–what kind of smell were you dealing with? Paint/chemical or sour/ammonia? It seems to me after reading this blog that there are two kinds of problem paint smells.
I’ve also looked at alkali resisting primer but I would be scared about introducing that into my house. I also emailed the Enviroguard folks to ask about the VaporLock product that can be applied right over paint without having to repaint (it goes on clear).
Also, I phoned Behr to simply ask how long it will take for the smell to go away. They took the number from the top of the can, put me on hold for a while, came back and told me that to make the smell go away, I would need to prime with Kilz and then repaint, and they would pay for the cost of the paint. I thought that was a very odd answer to my question, so I then googled “Behr paint smells” and got this blog. I then phoned back and no one at Behr could tell me when the paint smell would go away–just that the solution was to prime it with Kilz or wait for an undisclosed amount of time. I used two different kinds: ultra premium plus ceiling paint and stain blocking primer in one and Behr Marqee. The ceiling paint is in all the closets and on the ceiling in the master bedroom. There are two different smells–the bedroom has a fresh paint smell that is incredibly strong after so many days, and the closets smell (to me) like a harsh chemical, but they smell like incense to my spouse and like a “laundry closet” to an air filter rep who came to our house (his air filter did not help the paint smell and it’s a unit that is used in cadaver rooms with a ton of formaldehyde).
I actually wonder if these paint companies add fragrances or masking agents to cover the smell of chemicals in the paint? In other words, they add a fragrance that mimics the smell of fresh paint, which is why it persists for so long and/or indefinitely–much like perfume.
JT
Lisa
I’m going to try to post 3 more comments, each with a link. In the past when I’ve tried to post multiple links, the comment wouldn’t post. There may be a problem with me posting multiple comments too, so please stay tuned if you only see one or two links posting. There should be a total of 3.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission’s site has changed a little. To report a dangerous product (which would include paint that makes you sick or does property damage):
The Consumer Product safety commission:
http://www.saferproducts.gov/
Lisa
Also, find the appropriate dept in your state (Attorney General) to which to report a bad product, and do so!
https://www.usa.gov/state-consumer
Lisa
Finally, The Federal Trade commission (FTC) will be interested to hear that these products, which are being advertised as low or zero odor, are creating lingering odors (even sickening) in the home:
https://www.ftc.gov/faq/consumer-protection/submit-consumer-complaint-ftc
Also, I did report the problem to Consumer Reports, and they said they’d keep my contact info in case they decided to investigate. If they hear from more people, they may follow up. This would be a great way to publicize the issue. Keep it concise. Tell them what brand you bought, and what happened, and how the company responded, and your contact with others who’ve had similar experiences. (you could reference this site, for instance)
Also, be sure to see a doctor and report any health problems you feel are related to the paint fumes. Personal injury is taken much more seriously than property damage. And many of us had symptoms from being exposed to the smell.
Why should you take the time to make these reports when you are overwhelmed with simply trying to survive the stink in your home? When you are going crazy with it, and fighting with your spouse or others because of this violation of your living space? The problem will never be addressed if we don’t get the authorities involved, AND if and when the problem IS addressed, you many be a beneficiary of any resolution. Currently, the paint companies are still telling customers that they’ve never heard of this problem. Changing that has to be, at least, a first step in addressing it on a national level.
Thank you.
I’m still living with the loss of the master bedroom – because even though we replaced the drywall and got rid of the smell, we are afraid to paint and are physically exhausted with moving furniure back and forth. So the room has remained as a sort of storage room, helping to make a smaller bedroom less cluttered. We’re going to have to do something eventually, since the primer definitely is unacceptable in appearance (you can see the cutting in, and it’s awful mottled shades of gray) – which means we’re going to have to move ALL THAT STUFF for the forth time.
Michelle
Hi Lisa,
I am happy to report the ECOS eggshell went on with little odor and dried to no odor. It is slightly more matte than other eggshell paints I’ve used. The ECOS semigloss had a strong chemical odor but dried to no odor. It is slightly less glossy than regular semigloss. If you are doing a bedroom the eggshell is likely what you want.
It is VERY nerve racking to paint again after you have replaced the drywall. But now that the new drywall has been painted I am so happy to go into an odorless room. We even put the lights back, the switch plate cover, the vanity and hooked it up to the plumbing. We still have a ways to go. My husband is putting the new toilet in tonight and then I have to line up a tile person to retile around the shower. Then have to do trim but there is light at the end of the tunnel now that I’m through the paint obstacle.
Michelle
Lisa,
Sorry to have perhaps spoken too soon. I just today had to close the door to the bathroom for a few hours when I went out and the chemical smell built up. The semigloss paint had a strong chemical smell going on which I could still smell when the door was closed for just a few hours. However I think the eggshell did not as it had dried out thoroughly…. At least I hope so. The application notes show a 10 day hardening time. So won’t be able to judge until after that.
Lisa
Thanks Michelle. I certainly hope you’re in the clear. I had been looking at the ECOS, but honestly I don’t want to do anything at this point, except maybe buy some artists acrylics and do murals on the walls. Not so sure anyone would like that though!
We’ve painted every room in this house since purchase 11 years ago – the bathroom’s been painted 4 times til we were happy with the color (so hard to judge with the lighting in a room without windows) Other rooms have been painted twice. We’ve NEVER had a problem like this. It’s frightening to think I won’t be able to paint any room any more. In my case I heavily suspect some kind of bacterial contamination – it just had a smell like body odor to me, not very chemical, although others said “pickles”, and the paint rep said “paint and cat pee”. So perhaps I would wipe the walls with bleach before painting. I don’t know. It’s off my radar for the time being. I’m sure the gray streaky walls will become unbearable eventually. But for now I have to be happy to have the smell gone, and a room that is at least usable, if unattractive. Thanks again. Fingers crossed.
Brenda
Lisa
What kind of flooring do you have in your room? Did you put in a new floor? It seems our wood floor has absorbed the smell.
I went to an environmental company that does hazardous waste cleanup. They gave me a number to call, some kind of industrial environmental company and turns out the contact number they gave me I used to work with. So I am calling him Friday. Am hoping for any advice on how hazardous it is and what to do at this point. We’ve put new Sheetrock up twice now and the sour smell is still there. It seemed like it was gone when the walls came down but comes back that’s why I think it must be in the floor and then absorbs into the newly primed Sheetrock. I don’t think the sour smell came from the SW paint I think it is still from the first paint we used Olympic from Lowe’s that had the very chemical gas like smell. It must have gone into the wood floor and when we resheetrocked and then painted with SW it absorbed into the fresh wet paint and smelled sour and not as strong. We blamed SW and started over with new Sheetrock and only primed, same smell came back again.
I just wish the first time we tore it out we left it to air out for a year if we had to but husband is always in a hurry ?
Lisa
Brenda, my guess is that for you, at this point, there’s no way to really know what’s causing the smell unless you have some professional analysis done. Probably expensive. New source? Old source? Transfer or absorbed odor? One thing: I think, theoretically, that if something absorbed the smell, then it would also release the smell, given adequate ventilation (or put outside)
We now have many sources of toxic off-gassing in our homes. In my case it was evident that the painted surface was the problem. The smell didn’t transfer to anything else, but was apparent with nose up to the wall.
The room is carpeted, same carpet as has been there all along. It doesn’t smell. Nor does the ceiling (and we had painted the ceiling just prior to painting the walls – no problem). The insulation behind the drywall was free of odor as well as the back of the drywall.
It was astounding to see what a thin coating of paint could produce in the way of stench.
It’s more than likely that these odors we’re dealing with have more than one cause. My paint also had the problem of never drying properly. A year after it was applied, it could still be easily wiped off the wall. Anything that brushed against it got paint on it.
Like me, you may be more sensitive to all these smells now. I swear I could work as a sniffer dog at the airport. I think I’m probably a bit more difficult to live with these days because of that, BUT I believe that my new-found sensitivity protects my family, friends, and associates – they know that if I say something smells “off” or toxic, they’d best listen! Furniture, fabrics, plastics, flooring, etc – are all manufactured with toxic components, unless you shop “green” and pay top dollar. For those of us with working-class means, the best we can do is avoid products we don’t need, and try to allow off-gassing in the safest and most thorough manner possible. This is my non-expert opinion.
I truly wish you the best. I’m so sorry you seem to have gotten the double, and even triple whammy. Please assure your husband that there are many like yourself: stressed to the max and seemingly unable to escape the smells. You will get there. It took us 2 years, and we’ll never be the same. There was a foul odor after the drywall was replaced. The contractors had left a 5 gallon bucket of water that they were using while “mudding” – and I guess they didn’t change it during the week they were working. I went in the room and HOLY TOLEDO – it smelled like dead fish. Horrendous! I took it out and left it for them. I guess they were going to leave it there the whole time they were working. Were they going to leave it there while they primed and painted? Were they going to use that water for their brushes! Holy cow. I was really scared that the walls were going to be bad from using that disgusting water on them. The workers primed, and there was still a smell, but I held my breath and prayed.
We stopped the work before any paint was applied. I was pressing the guy to promise me the room wasn’t going to smell after the paint. He’d been in the room beforehand, and he said he didn’t want to do anything that was going to make me nervous. So the room remains unpainted. I hired a second guy to apply an anti-mold, mildew, bacteria primer. And that smelled like cow sh*t. I have no idea why. Again, I just thought OMG what have I done? But the smell cleared, and the room has made it through this past year without smell. This summer was the real test, because the room was always worse in the summer. I try to leave the windows open whenever we have decent weather, because apparently new drywall will off-gas for a long time, even though you can’t smell it (although maybe I could, as a super-sniffer).
Like you, we painted with another brand and there was a smell. But we hadn’t removed the drywall, we’d only applied several coats of BIN, over the course of 10 months or so. But the walls still smelled after the BIN, so I don’t know why we applied the paint. We just didn’t know what else to do. The paint company (PPG) refused to come back to our house after we’d applied the BIN and told them “hey, it still smells – can you please come back and help us?” We really didn’t know what to do and replacing the drywall, well, why would we do that if the new paint was going to fix it? (we had several painters come and assess the problem, and the one I had apply the first couple coats of BIN said that the smell would go away after the topcoat, because it must be the BIN we were smelling.) It’s apparently too unbelievable to some professionals that a couple coats of BIN wouldn’t fix any odor problem. That’s why we have to insist on the paint companies sticking with us through these ordeals. And the only way to do that is if we know, from the beginning, what we’re up against: hence the true and great value of this site (as long as someone finds it before they’ve tried primer or something.)
I made many mis-steps, like believing that all I had to do was show the company there was a smell, and then when I got it fixed they’d pay for it. First, they led me to believe that because I didn’t have the paint cans, they were entitled to do nothing. Then, believing that having a rep admit it smelled would ensure their assistance. Finally, that they would be forthright in their legal dealings with me.
Again: the companies are aware of this problem and are avoiding responsibility by every means possible. There are probably some customers with whom they settle out of court. But if they think they can put you off, they will.
Brenda
Lisa,
Thanks for the support, I can’t believe how stressful this whole nightmare is, it seems so never ending! I called the Industrial Environmental company today and spoke to a guy I used to work with, he is going to talk to one of his companies experts and get back to me. I’ll let you know what comes of that. The expert is on vacation but suppose to be back sometime next week. I’m just afraid whatever they will suggest doing will be expensive to test as you have stated before that tests are costly.
Candice Jacobs
The interior of my house was painted on June 23 and 24 this year. The paint smelled like wet paint for months. At four weeks an inspector was out and said that it was like opening a can of paint and putting your face in it. Five days later a Valspar rep came out and of course he said that he didn”t smell any paint. The painters I hired painted on cool days, 50’s and lie 60’s, relatively high humidity and didn’t wait the recommended time between coats. I didn’t know anything about painting except that the paint reeked right from the beginning. Both the inspector and the rep didn’t think those reasons caused the lingering smells and they both independently said that it looked like the painters did a good job. At this point I can still smell it on one small section of wall in a small hallway upstairs. The wall across from that wall is a half wall and opens onto the entry way/living room so I sometimes smell it there too. I looked online and it looks like there mit be a little blistering/bubbling (from pics that I saw) on this one small wall. The very strong paint smell earlier just about literally drove me nuts and I still have burning on my nose from the lingering odor. Any help is appreciated.
Cassie
Also experiencing the odor – like sour milk.
PPG recommending the BIN shellac primer.
After reading these comments, hubby wants to sand
first.
Would spraying the primer be more effective than rolling?
WR
I think even the paint companies don’t know what the problem is. I suspect that it may be different problems for different batches of paint. For the paint that is not drying I suspect that a bacteria or fungus is eating through one of the components of the paint. The paint is then missing that agent (since the bacteria or fungus ate it) and then the paint can’t dry properly. However, I’m not sure how that leads to such a bad smell for such a long time. Perhaps the paint is still drying, very slowly, and releasing chemicals as it dries? If so, the chemical released must have a very bad odor such that a small quantity of chemical creates a noticeable smell. Or perhaps the bacteria or fungus is still living on the wall and continues to eat the paint, and that biological process releases something that smells very bad?
I do think it would be a good idea to wash the walls with bleach before painting, as that should help with any bacterial or fungal issue.
I also believe that anything that absorbed the odor should be able to release it, though it may take awhile. So furniture, carpet, etc. should eventually air out once the source of the smell is finally eradicated. But it might take a year or more.
Prior to this experience, I was not a huge fan of wallpaper. But I think I may wallpaper any rooms that I want to change the look of from now on. Or, I have also thought about buying artist’s paints at craft stores so that they might be higher quality and not have these issues.
Does anyone else suspect that the glossier finishes may have more of an issue, including eggshell? I seem to be noticing that. Has anyone painted with a matte paint and still had this problem?
WR
I just noticed that someone did have an issue with a Benjamin Moore matte paint, so perhaps it isn’t an issue with the finish of the paint.
JT
I just painted with a flat ceiling paint and it has a strong chemical smell. I primed all of my walls first so there would not have been any bacteria on the walls to affect the outcome. I also painted two other parts of my house–some walls I primed and some I did not–and there was no problem with any smell, but I used a different brand of paint. So, I don’t think it is the walls–I think it is the paint and the chemicals (or lack of chemicals) in the paint.
JT
Hello again,
I’ve been trying to post for several days. I just changed my security settings to allow more cookies, so hopefully my post will pass moderation now.
I’ve read this entire thread. It seems to me that there are two problem paint smells (please correct me if I’m wrong):
1) sour, gassy, ammonia, cat pee, pickles, dead animal smell (described various ways like this, especially “gassy” in the UK)
2) chemical paint smell that won’t go away
It seems like I have hit the jackpot and gotten both smells at the same time (I used a ceiling paint and a wall paint), but perhaps they are just both chemical in nature. One area smells like pickles but the other areas with the same paint smell like harsh chemicals. The fresh paint smell is in one room with the wall paint.
I’m trying to figure out this difference because it seems like the alkali resisting primer works for the gassy/ammonia smell that seems to happen in the UK and seems to potentially be caused by bacteria overgrowth versus just brutal off-gassing of bad chemicals in other cases (paint smell past a few days to several years later).
I’m still trying to figure out what to do on my end. For those who had success with primer, was your smell chemical in nature/fresh paint smell or the other smell?
For those of you who had to tear out your drywall, was your smell chemical/fresh paint smell or the other smell?
Thank you to everyone for your help.
JT
Dan Jurman
The nasty paint saga continues. Painted over the bad smelling paint with Killz and a good can of paint a few weeks ago. We were good for a while and I was hopeful. The smell came back in my son’s room over a week ago, and keeps getting worse. I talked to a contractor about tearing out the drywall and starting over. He suggested I try one more painting with an oil based shellack primer to seal the smell into the wall. Painting again Saturday. If the smell goes away, and stays away for a month or two, then I’ll paint with a color. If it doesn’t work, those walls are coming out. I have to admit, I’m tired of painting this room.
Brenda
WR
I was thinking on the same lines you mentioned but after everything I’ve gone thru I’m leaning towards a microscopic mold that’s in the paint and once it hits fresh air it multiplies and obsorbs or clings to everything other than metal and plastic.
But I know Michelle tried killing mold in case that’s what it was and it didn’t work. I just don’t understand how the smell cam intensify due to weather when the paint was removed from the room.
I did contact someone that works at an environmental engineering company and he said they have a guy who they call Mr Mold that works with them. He said to test it could be up to $1,600.00 and could be inconclusive. That’s crazy expensive after all the money we’ve spent so far trying to solved this nightmare.
So I sent Mr Mold an email and asked if I could at least pick his brain and told him the scenario and what he thought. I also sent him this website and told him we needed an Erin Brockovich. Hoping it might peak his interest.
Lc
Behr premium plus paint from Home Depot made my room smell like literal SHIT! as if my dogs came in and crapped all over the place.
Kirt Roberts
I think I found a solution with the help of Mr. Minttu Z Leonard a contributor
I too have the same stinky paint problem, I brought my stinky canvas tarps into my home, they are covered with the same stinky paint smell, I threw the tarps on the floor in front of my natural gas floor heater, I turned up the heat, and within hours the stinky paint smell dissipated, not completely but less smelly,
I flipped the tarps over and heated that side up, same thing less stinky, next I went to my stinky paint smelling apartment and cranked up the furnace and opened a window, and little by little the smell is dissipating, it takes weeks of Heat and ventilation, the off Gassing is speeded up with heat, you can smell the obnoxious paint smell leaving the home if you stand close to opened window, God Bless, Remember weeks and weeks of heat and ventilation.
Brenda
Wow it’s been a while since anyone’s posted anything. Just wondering how everyone is doing with your paint smell issues. I ended up contacting a few environmental companies and was told pretty much the same thing by all of them…it’s as most of you guessed it’s the VOC’s in the paint.
The companies all recommended ventilating the room for a long period of time. They said just by leaving the windows open and a regular house fan won’t work it just makes it worse by stirring up the VOC’s. They said we needed a commercial grade exhaust fan so we bought one and have had it sucking the air out for almost two months now and the smell is much better. We found that when we tried to cover the room with primer or new paint the room kept smelling. What was happening is we didn’t get rid of the VOC’s that continue to float thru the air and would stick to the wet paint and for whatever reason it makes the VOC’s smell stronger.
They also recommended spreading large amounts of baking soda on the floor and leave it for a few weeks, then vacuum it up, we use our shopvac so we could clean that outside. Then mop the floor with ammonia and repeat the process.
We are going on vacation next month so will have to take out the vent to close the window while we are gone so when we get back will really tell how this work d out or not. Will keep you posted.
Jean
Thanks Brenda for your update. Our room continues to smell off and on. It smells when we close off the room and doesn’t smell when open it up. We are just hoping that as time passes it will go away. But what you said is interesting about leaving baking powder for weeks in the room floor. I’ll definitely try that! We left baking powder for a couple hours once but not a couple weeks.
Brenda
Jean
Yes try the baking soda, you can leave it down for a month if not using the room. We had also bought a heavy duty air filter and tried it for a month but it did nothing so the company we bought it from paid to have a monitor sent to us which we used for 2 weeks. They had the monitor hooked up by wifi so they could monitor it remotely from CA. It showed lots of VOC’s in the air. So since the filter didn’t work they are paying to ship it back to them and all we get a total refund on the filter. We were very impressed with this company. They said all we can do is air I out and wait. Lord knows how long!
Dan
We tried everything we could and ended up tearing down the walls and rebuilt it 3 months ago, and the smell finally went away. Good luck！
Michelle
We also replaced walls. Our chemical reaction that created the smell was going on for over a year.
Brenda
Our problem was it didn’t go away after replacing the walls, what happened is the VOC’s that were still airborne stuck to the newly primed walls and were stuck to the ceiling and closet. Also the wood floors absorbed the smell. So hopefully. Once it’s been vented enough and who knows how long that will take, we will prime a few coats over everything and put some polyurethane over the wood floors and pray that does the trick.
We have no way to fight the paint company at this point as we dont have enough to fight back with, Lisa gave a lot of good advice to fight back but we dont have the energy to fight that long and hard or the resources. Yes we are spending a lot with what we’ve done so far but what it would do to our relationship and the stress of court and big companies, well we just don’t have it in us. I hope someday the paint companies take a big hit for all their greed, but I don’t think anything will happen until someone dies from it because that’s usually what it takes to force them to do something.
Eleanor
I also have a bad chemical smell – it’s made me ill and triggered my asthma. It was while using Annie Sloan chalk paint. I was shocked – it says on their website it has “no odour” but it smelled strongly of ammonia and cat pee and also of formaledehyde in my opinion (a commonly used VOC in small quantities). I can smell that anywhere as I have a known allergy to formaldehyde. Their spec sheet says it contains 10 to 25% ammonia. So I have been doing some research and the only safe paint really is one with no VOC’s – low VOC isn’t good enough. I used the Annie Sloan chalk paint on a cupboard and it’s so bad we ended up throwing the cupboard out. I feel for anyone having the same problem with wall paint and would suggest having a professional decorator sand all the paint off, seal the dry wall and then repaint.
I have been using Earthborn claypaint on our walls recently. it’s lovely – smells of nothing – except wet mud maybe and has zero VOC’s. I’m in the Uk – not sure which countries it’s available in. They also make a VOC free wall glaze that seals well and doesn’t smell either ( a slight smell of vinegar but not of chemicals).
Having used this lovely clay paint (made with clay) I made the mistake of thinking chalk paint was natural and made with chalk. It isn’t – it’s a bunch of chemicals and the website makes clear it just “feels like” chalk after being painted on. It contains 10 to 25% ammonia, plus the stuff antifreeze is made from. Although it says low VOC – there’s enough in it to make me feel ill.
So just wanted to share. I read also that “non-toxic” doesn’t mean anything – it’s marketing blurb. It only relates to VOC’s and there can be other toxic chemicals in paint that are not VOC’s.
I am now using nothing but Earthborn paints, although found Johnson’s primer/undercoat fine and Laura Ashley eggshell virtually odour free as well.
So try removing paint from drywall – prob needs professional to do it and a lot of sanding, and then sealing.
Lisa
Hmmm. So how long do people think is reasonable to wait if you don’t live in a mansion where you don’t need the room? Is two years long enough? That’s the statute of limitations for a defective product in my state.
Wait as long as you want to for the smell to go away. But if you’re hoping to have the paint company do something about their stinky product, don’t wait. Your rooms shouldn’t smell after a few days, and certainly not past 30 days, as long as you’ve followed proper painting protocol.
Call the paint company. Make someone come out. Get their name. Call them again. Then call them again. And when they tell you it’s the floor or the ceiling or your closet or your bathroom, get somebody who can tell them it’s not.
I still get so angry about this baloney. At this point in time, these paint companies are willfully ripping us off.
Anita
Hi Brenda,
Thank you for sharing the information. Where did you get the commercial grade exhaust fan and how much did you pay for it? Can you smell the horrid smell from your bedroom outside while the fan in running? When we exhaust, the chemical smell stays outside for months just hanging in the air. Who is the company that remotely monitored the VOCs? How much did their service cost?
h82paint
I had an awful experience with low voc paint smell. It was in the room for over a month before I found this solution. First here is what does not work: opening windows makes it worse. Fans blowing 24/7 has no effect. Painting over it with shellac primer (the real stuff, not the synthetic shellac) stopped the odor for a few days, but it then came back worse. An Ozone generator did not work either.
The Solution: Buy activated Charcoal (also called activated carbon). I got mine in the aquarium section at walmart for about $5 and then spread it out on a pan in the room. Heat up the room with a space heater. I kept my room at about 80-95 degrees. Run a fan and also a dehumidifier in the room and empty it regularly. I did this routine for about 3 days to finally get rid of the smell. The heat draws out the low voc vapors and the carbon and dehumidifier catches it.
That’s the solution. If it works for you then please repost so others know how to get rid of it also.
susan
the problem is not from tints. my issue has been going on for 2 and a half years. pure white was used in zinser bin and also mythic paint. next is rip out, but i don’t know what paint to use afterward.
do not try AFM safecoat, it doesn’t work and many have tried it.
Anita
Found this post on another site from JT:
JT on October 22, 2016 at 4:10 pm
Hello,
We painted with Behr Premium Plus Ultra Ceiling Paint and Behr Marquee in our bedroom and four closets. The smell has not gone away even with windows open (night) and air filters running (day). We have become so ill that we had to move our bedroom into our living room. When I phoned Behr to ask how long the paint smell would take to dissipate, they took the number off the top of the can, put me on hold, came back on the line and told me that to solve the problem I need to paint over the paint with Kilz primer and another topcoat of Behr. They would supply the paint for free. When I asked again how long the smell would take to dissipate, they said maybe two weeks, but that to really solve the problem, I should use Kilz and more paint. Then I found this website: http://www.edpaintingonline.com/blog/interior/getting-rid-of-paint-smell/#comment-76869 and am really worried that there is no other solution besides pulling out the drywall, which is what many others had to do. We can’t pull out the drywall because we rent. Has anyone had any luck getting rid of these kinds of paint smells? We did turn up the heat for three hours only (the entire house). Maybe I should try a room heater although the Behr rep said to save my money on heating and just use the free paint. Of course, he wouldn’t refund my $1200 in labour costs for the contractors we hired and would need to hire to do the job again. The same day we also painted our ceilings in the kitchen/living room with another paint and that smell was gone in two hours. We painted our laundry room a few weeks ago and that smell was gone in two days. Same thing two years ago–no lingering smells beyond a couple of days. And this smell is odd–the Marquee has a fresh paint smell that does not dissipate at all, and the ceiling paint smells like a harsh chemical to me, like a urine puck or vinegar to my sister, like incense to my partner, and like laundry detergent to another person. We used this paint in all of our closets. It is beyond horrible. Other people have tried to use BIN shellac primer and AFM primer to seal in the smell and it hasn’t worked. We are really, really worried!
Amy
Even though I’m not sure there’s one real solution through all these years’ worth of posts, at least now I know I’ve not gone completely crazy!
I moved into my house last fall, and repainted the open-shelving in the kitchen. On one side of the sink, I primed first (Zinsser) and then painted using Valspar low VOC. The other side I just used the Valspar (it is supposed to be paint and primer in one).
I began noticing an awful smell shortly after the painting was finished. I assumed it was coming from the sink. I have spent a lot of time cleaning the garbage disposal–bleaching it, using rubber gloves and scrubbing the seals inside and out, using drop-in enzyme tablets, vinegar and baking soda, lemons, frozen lemon rinds. Seriously I have the cleanest sink and garbage disposal in Missouri. I did notice that when I leaned in to clean it, the smell got worse when I got close to the shelves. I thought maybe the sunshine coming in on the fresh paint might be doing it, but convinced myself that was ridiculous and it had to be the sink. What else could explain such a horrible smell? I’ve been putting my head into the shelf, smelling it, and knowing it was the paint, but seriously talking myself out of it because it doesn’t smell like paint, it smells like something gone bad in a sink!
Thanks to this series of posts, I can now quit bleaching my sink, and start working on the paint issue. For what is worth, the side that I primed first before using the Valspar paint, does NOT have this odor.
Charles
My situation is different We purchased a house with a separate office area connecting a shop. I just thought the odor in the office was a strong cleaning agent and i was going to repaint and redo the floor anyway, so I didn’t think much of it. We went ahead and redid the entire office. We did not tear out drywall of course not knowing the severity of the issue. Three months later we still have a room that smells like paint and seeking solutions like others.
Angela
Hi
What a relief to find this website …
Not long after having my son’s bedroom painted 2 walls with VALSPAR paint the other 2 walls with Dulux paint .
I noticed a smell of cat pee in the room .. I searched everywhere for for the offending smell .. Pulled out all the furniture, bed, toys, clothes, shoes and removed and sniffed everything! Cleaned and disinfected thourghly but still the smell existed .. I started to think I was going mad and imagining things … Then my sister came to stay for a couple of days . As soon as she entered my son’s bedroom she said it was stinking of cat pee smell ( I have never ever had a cat in the flat)
I asked her to please see if she could find out where the smell was coming from .. The next day I returned home from work and she said the smell was coming from the 2 walls painted with the VALSAPAR paint !!
Absolutely no doubt about it …!!!! It was the paint ! To my utter disbelief I sniffed the walls and it was coming from the paint .. The other 2 walls which were painted with Dulux were fine …
This now proves that it can’t be “the walls”
My problem now is .. What to do next?
I will obviously put a complaint in and persue this with VALSPAR
But how do I get rid of the awful smell? .. I only have a small 2 bedroom flat in Edinburgh.. I’m a single mum working part time with a low income .. My son is too old to share a bedroom with me.
I really can’t afford to spend money on primers etc if they don’t work …
Has anyone tried wallpapering over the offending paint with a thick plain wallpaper?
It sounds like the most viable option for me? But will it work?
If anyone has tried this will they let me know
Sorry to hear about all those people having health problems … I do worry that that fumes may be affecting my 10 year old son … But thankfully he has shown no signs
I will update later with my response from VALSAPAR
Angela
Wei
I am struggling with different kinds of odor for many years….
When I tried to patch some places with BEHR 0 VOC paint+prime, I noticed it’s off-gassing strange smell when it is dried. The smell never disappears. Then I tried to apply this same paint on some other clean surface which has not been painted previously. I didn’t notice same smell at all. In another word, the paint may be OK at least on new surface.
So my guess is new paint will have some reaction with old paint. Especially, primer usually has stronger odor. Need to be careful to use paint+primer. And also, I am double about 0 VOC. There could be some replacement which even worse.
I am still doing a few different experiments before paint my entire house…. I just tried AFM safecoat transition primer. Itself has strong odor too and seems never dry.