Paint stripper smell that wont disappear.

[neville1983]

A few weeks ago I decided to strip the paint from brass and iron work that I had already existing in the flat. I had a friend that had an old bottle of paint stripper used for dipping. To my complete stupidity I filled up an old wash basin with the paint stripper and dipped all of the objects.
The smell was rather strong, but with my experiences of nitromors etc, I thought that the smell would disappear in a couple of days.
It is now 4 weeks later and there is still a strong smell! The smell seems to have absorbed in to the walls of the room. I have tried cut lemons, vinegar, vanilla essence. This cleans the air in the room, but after a few hours the smell returns from walls.
Do any of you have any ideas of getting the smell from the walls? The walls are victorian plaster. I have thought about sealing the walls in PVA or getting them replastered. I would ideally prefer to remove the smell completely rather than mask or cover up.
Any tips/advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,

Neville

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

what was the make and name of the product used, did you follow any instruction given.
Some paint strippers will react differently to the material they are removing.
Only strip paint with chemicals that are marketed as paint strippers.
Firstly I would ventilate the area, it may help to use a fan as added cross venilation.

 

[neville1983]

Thanks,
The chemicals that were in the stripper were:
Dichloromethane
MP-Cresol
From a bit of research, the smell is from MP- Cresol. Any ideas of how to neutralise this?
I have tried cross ventilation. It seems to help, but not get rid of the smell completely.
Thanks,
Neville

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Dichloromethane, should evaporate and any smell given should after time go.
MP Cresol may stick around awhile longer, washing with soap and water, and ventilation is my only safe advise.

 

[neville1983]

Thank you for this.
If I were to paint the walls, do you think that it would seal the smell in? I am gloss painting the bathroom and water based paints in the other rooms.
Do you know anything about the dangers at risk of low level MP Cresol fumes?
I am guessing that because it is a 'greasy' chemical, using soap would be the best idea. What about something like sugar soap or other degreasing products?
Best wishes,

Neville

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

I will try find a data sheet for the MP-Cresol, and link it.
as far as sealing the walls, if you as mentioned are plastering, I would go down the route of PVAing as original post, rather than paint as the paint will still need to be primed with PVA prior to plastering anyway.
So a coat of PVA will hopefully seal any smells.
But I will have a look for data sheet, I have read one before but can't remember wht the spec on it was.

 

[neville1983]

Thank for this.
Ideally, I would prefer not to re-plaster the walls as it an added expense and the walls/ceiling are in good condition at the moment. Do yo have any other advice for what I could do? The oil/solvent based paint works in covering up the smell, but not to sure if waterbased paint will have the same impact.
Would a change in room temperature help de-stablise the smell?
Many thanks,
Neville

 

[neville1983]

Hi,
Have you had any luck on finding the spec sheet from the creosol?
Many thanks,
Neville