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Margaret Badore (@mbadore)
Design / Green Architecture
September 3, 2013
Losing their health and homes to spray polyurethane foam
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When Keri Rimel's husband first came down with respiratory symptoms, he wasn't sure what caused them. He had a sore throat, congested sinuses, and runny eyes.
The day before, he has visited the construction site of their new home, where a contractor was installing spray polyurethane foam insulation. He and the architect were in the same room as the installer. "He didn't think anything of it," said Keri Rimel.
Their house in Austin, Texas was a new build. They had chosen Demilec's Sealection 500 spray foam as the only insulation and it filled every exterior wall cavity of the structure and the roof. Whenever he went back into the house, his symptoms would return.
"As soon as I went into the house, the smell would be overwhelming and my throat would clog up."
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