Solvent-free adhesives minimize odor complaints

Accord­ing to a pro­verb, you can­’t make an omelet without break­ing eggs. Like­wise, you can­’t do build­ing or renov­a­tion work without using mater­i­als that may some­times pro­duce a smell of new­ness. This smell will nor­mally dis­ap­pear with prop­er vent­il­a­tion. Occa­sion­ally, how­ever, res­id­ents com­plain of unpleas­ant odors remain­ing long after the crafts­men fin­ished their jobs. These can be min­im­ized if very low-emis­­sion adhes­ives are used.

1. Provide a sufficient amount of fresh air

An adult per­son needs about 30 m³ of fresh air per hour accord­ing to the BINE Inform­a­tion Ser­vice. Oth­er­wise, the lack of fresh air may cause head­ache, fatigue or gen­er­al dis­com­fort. Per­ceived (new) odors are then regarded as “pol­lut­ants”. Res­id­ents believe that these emis­sions eman­ate from the mater­i­als used for renov­a­tion – without there neces­sar­ily being a con­nec­tion. After new con­struc­tion or renov­a­tion work, the interi­or should there­fore always be well vent­il­ated to provide a suf­fi­cient amount of fresh air.

2. Carefully prepare the substrate

It is recom­men­ded to pre­pare the sub­floor very care­fully before installing a new floor. Resid­ual lay­ers of old adhes­ives should be removed and ideally lev­elled over so that later no unpleas­ant odors arise. Before new work is car­ried out on the floor, the sub­floor must be dry as mois­ture pro­motes the growth of fungi and thus the form­a­tion of odor.