I am experiencing headaches and soreness at the back of my throat after having a hardwood floor installed. What can I do?

I have recently had a couple of other individuals contact me who were experiencing discomfort from their newly installed hardwood flooring. In both cases, it was the underlayment that was causing the discomfort. In those cases, I recommended a formaldehyde-free fibreboard such as MediteII or Medex (available from the Medite Corporation in Oregon) or Homasote ComfortBase underlayment which is also formaldehyde-free (available from P.J. White Hardwoods Ltd. in Vancouver and MAC Building Products in New Westminster).

If, in fact, it is the glue that is causing the problem, here are some things to consider:
1) Use an adhesive with water as a solvent. Organic solvent-based adhesives emit chemical vapours that can affect the respiratory and central nervous system organs.
2) In some cases, the adhesive may only affect you during drying and curing. If you just had this work done, this might be the case. There are a number of alternative adhesives recommended for those who are environmentally hypersensitive:
-acrylic latex (water-based)
-casein glue (natural, water-based adhesive derived from milk)
-contact cement (water-based)
-polyvinyl acetate (water-based)

Oil can also be a problem for environmentally hypersensitive individuals. Volatile petroleum solvents (naphtha) in oil finishes are toxic. They are also slow to cure and slow to stabilize. While the oil is curing, it is important to keep the area as well ventilated as possible. An alternative finish is lacquer, which also contains toxic solvents, but these evaporate much more quickly, leaving a very stable finish.

As a general resource, I would recommend Building Materials for the Environmentally Hypersensitive by CMHC. It can be ordered from their website (www.cmhc.ca) and contains all the products I have listed here.