New bathroom vanity advice

[amalthia]

Hello everyone,

Real life update, our sinks were dying so last month we decided to replace our vanities along with the sinks. The upstairs vanity install went okay. It's the downstairs vanity install that didn't go as smoothly.

The downstairs vanity required the installer to cut a hole in the bottom because the heater vent in the bathroom came up under the vanity. Now the problem is the downstairs bathroom smells strongly of wood/sawdust, the vanity was made out of particle board. At first I thought I was just smelling sawdust from when the installer removed the previous vanity (and didn't clean up the floor), however we were able to vacuum up most of the sawdust through the hole in the vanity. But now I'm now wondering if I should get a air quality monitor to see if what I'm smelling is just the particle board off-gassing?

I was hoping someone on my friends list would know if it's normal to smell particle board for weeks after a vanity install and I just need to be patient, or if I need to buy an air quality monitor and if it says the VOC levels are too high look into some sort of sealant? I'm worried after reading that some VOCs can make you sick if exposed to them a long time.

I'm wondering if I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill, but I figured it doesn't hurt to ask for advice.

This is the first time I ever did a home renovation like this and in hindsight I probably should have looked for a vanity that already had a air hole for heat to escape. I'm seriously questioning the mental abilities of the person who designed the condos in my neighborhood, who thinks it a good idea to place a forced air heater vent under a cabinet?

Comments

[ride_4ever]

Particle board will off-gas formaldehyde and other chemicals until the chemicals are completely off-gassed. This doesn't necessarily take a decade, but it's been known to take that long. I don't see any down side to you getting an air quality monitor and doing some testing.

[amalthia]

I think I may just go with the assumption it's going to off-gas for a while and look for a good air purifier for the room. The new ones coming out are much quieter and can handle "VOC" toxins.

[ride_4ever]

Good decision. And are you able to have a window open there?

[amalthia]

Yes, luckily we installed it while it was still warm enough to open the windows. Though we're now at the point where it's a good idea to close the windows at night because we're hitting freezing temperatures and it may snow this month. The hard part is finding a purifier there are so many options! it's a little overwhelming.

[ride_4ever]

So many choices, yes. Decision fatigue is the down side of how the Internet brings us every possible choice for the purchase of such items.

[amalthia]

I narrowed down my choice to what is available to buy locally, it helped so much. :) Also, I try not to buy from Amazon if i can help it. Though I do use Amazon to review the products and learn more about what I plan to purchase. I'm just glad the newer air purifiers are quieter. I have a Honeywell and it's way too loud to sleep with it running.

[mllesatine]

I think it's weird that you still smell sawdust weeks later. Is it possible that there is a leak somewhere and the vanity gets wet where you don't see it?

[amalthia]

Does wet sawdust smell stronger for longer than dry sawdust?

It's hard to see under the cabinet, but I did put a rubber place-mat under the sink so in case it drips it wouldn't drip onto the cabinet.

I live in Alaska and with our heater running now I'm not sure how anything wet wouldn't have dried by now. That's why I was thinking maybe I was smelling the particle board off-gassing. The installer did have to cut a hole in the cabinet and I can see the particle board where he cut.

[mllesatine]

I think wet wood smells a lot stronger than dry wood. Maybe I'm just over-concerned because the installer didn't just replace the vanity but the sinks as well and maybe a pipe wasn't properly fitted and now water leaks into your walls? I might just be watching too many of those HGTV renovation shows where they always find huge water damage when they fix some other unrelated problem.

[amalthia]

I think in this case we're probably safe from water damage, the installer did replace our sink pipes but we can see the connection where the pipe goes into the wall and we monitored for leaks the first week. However, you have now instilled in me a new sense of paranoia for all the things that can go wrong with any installation work that can happen in the house.

I think I need to get the side splash to cover the gap between the counter top and the wall, and I may need to fill in the gap between the cabinet and the wall too. It's about 3/4 inch gap and according to google you shouldn't have more than 1/2 inch gap...

[burnishedvictory]

In case it's just that the scent won't go away, can you try activated charcoal air purifying bags? That's what it took to get the cat smell out of a bedroom at my house, even after running a fan, an air purifier, and having the windows open. But the charcoal bags disappeared the smell quite quickly.

[amalthia]

Hi, that's a good idea. Most air purifiers seem to have a charcoal filter but it's not their main purpose. I'll give it a try and see how it goes! Thanks for the tip. :)