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Guide to Plastic, Vinyl, Chemical Odor Source Diagnosis - Vinyl Siding & Plastic Window & other Indoor Odor Sources InspectAPedia®  -     Guide to Diagnosing & Curing Sources of Chemical and Plastic Odors in buildings Tracking down sources of plastic smells in buildings by noting area of strongest odor, time of day, sunlight exposure, and presence of particular building materials Plastic odor outgassing from vinyl siding and trim Plastic odor outgassing traced to windows, window screens, window shades Does your home have "BO" - building odor? Links to articles on diagnosing and curing smells in buildings Questions & answers on how to find and cure sources of plastic odors at building exteriors or interiors

Plastic like odors and smells in buildings: this article discusses common odor sources, including indoor "plastic odors" or "chemical smells" observed at some installations of vinyl exterior building siding or in other plastic or vinyl building products such as windows and trim.

Readers should see PLASTIC ODORS-SCREENS, SIDING, and also see Health Effects of Exposure to "Plastic or Vinyl" Odors. For a more broad approach to diagnosing building odor sources, see ODORS, Smells, Gases in buildings-Diagnosis & Cure and see our ODOR DIAGNOSIS CHECKLIST. Because vinyl and plastics used in vehicles can also emit odors, especially when the vehicle is new, we discuss those separately t BOAT & CAR SMELLS & ODORS.

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Guide to Finding Plastic or Chemical Odors In buildings

A variety of common building products, coatings, and furnishings may exude odors that disturb at least some occupants. Most of these occur in new building products and dissipate fairly rapidly. Other building odors or "house B.O." may be persistent or may be intermittent but unpleasant.

Some of these plastic-like odor sources in buildings can be tricky to track down. Here we list some common building products that may produce chemical or plastic like odors. We provide some suggestions for tracking down these odor sources in buildings, and we offer suggestions for removing or curing these odors.

Siding, window, screen, & other "plastic" odors: We've investigated a number of reports of strange odors in residential buildings that were ultimately traced to vinyl or plastic which was outgassing. We've observed this phenomenon with vinyl siding, plastic or vinyl window or door screens, and plastic or vinyl windows.

A key diagnostic step in finding odor source was the observation that the odors were strongest when the material under investigation was exposed to sunlight or other sources of heat. [This article is under development, September 2007, and we welcome content suggestions or questions].

Some Common Plastic & Vinyl Building Products that May Emit Odors Include:

• Vinyl siding in certain product batches by some manufacturers may exude a plastic odor, especially when new or when exposed to heat or sunlight. See VINYL CHLORIDE HEALTH INFO and PLASTIC ODORS-SCREENS, SIDING
• Vinyl or plastic exterior trim in certain product batches by some manufacturers may exude a plastic odor, especially when new or when exposed to heat or sunlight. See VINYL CHLORIDE HEALTH INFO and PLASTIC ODORS-SCREENS, SIDING
• Vinyl or plastic windows, such as plastic-clad or vinyl clad windows by some manufacturers may exude a "chemical" odor or smell, especially when new or when heated. See VINYL CHLORIDE HEALTH INFO and PLASTIC ODORS-SCREENS, SIDING
• Window or door screens, plastic or vinyl, sometimes smell, especially when new or when heated. PLASTIC ODORS-SCREENS, SIDING
• Vinyl flooring, especially when new
• Vinyl-covered furniture, especially when new
• Vinyl or plastic clothing such as raincoats or even plastic storage bags, especially when new
• Some glues and mastics used to apply flooring may off-gas a plastic-like chemical smell
• Plastic vapor barriers such as poly used as ground cover or dirt covering in crawl spaces can give off very strong chemical odors that can, in our experience, take four to seven years to dissipate, depending on the level of ventilation in the area, temperatures, and exposure to sunlight (unlikely in a crawl space)

Checklist for Diagnosing Plastic or Chemical Smells in buildings

We offer below a list of clues, focused on common sources of plastic-like odors, that any home owner, home inspector, or other investigator can follow in seeking to pinpoint the source of an annoying or obnoxious odor in buildings. Readers are asked to contact us to suggest additions or corrections to this list.

Often people's perception of odors varies with time and exposure or with a number of other site factors that make it hard to track down just where a smell is coming from. But if we think carefully about when, and under what conditions we notice odors, often that information is instrumental in tracking down an odor to its source and thus in helping us decide if an odor refers to a potentially dangerous or unhealthy condition.

This list is in simple alphabetic order, not in order of probable cause, importance, or health risk, all of which can vary widely.

• Odors & Appliances: does the odor appear only when certain appliances are running: cook stove, air conditioner, heater, aquarium pump, fans, clothes dryers, clothes washers, dishwashers, or electrical devices such as TV's?
• Odors & Building Structure: does the odor relate to presence of a nearby air movement pathway such as a building stairwell, elevator shaft, or heating and cooling duct system?
• Odors & Fans: while exhaust fans are often used to move odors out of a building, a little thinking and investigating may be in order: does the exhaust fan or whole house fan or attic roof vent fan cause odors, dust, or even mold to move upwards through the building? (Be careful that your whole house fan or other exhaust fans do not overpower and cause improper operation of your radon mitigation system if you have one installed).
• Odor history: when was the odor first noticed? What date? For how long has it been observed? Who first observed it? Does the first occurrence of a smell relate to an event, change, or modification in the building? If so, what exactly?
• Odor location: does the odor appear throughout a building or only on certain floors, in certain rooms, or at certain walls?
  • What is different about the room where an odor appears:
    • What side of the building is the room on? What conditions are different there such as sun exposure, wind exposure, nearby trees, prevalent wind direction, outdoor possible odor sources?
    • What side of the room, what wall, has the strongest odor: is it an exterior or interior wall?
    • What materials are unique to the odor-source room, such as carpets, carpet padding, drapes, window shades, kind and type and age of windows, screens, heat, air conditioning, pet occupancy, people occupancy, laundry storage, proximity to baths, kitchens, laundry, openings between floors?
  • What is different about the floor or level in a building where odors occur? Proximity to basements, attics, leaks, rodents, pests, animals, heating equipment, pesticide treatments
    
    On request we can describe a procedure that assists in pinpointing odor sources to a particular surface or piece of furniture or carpeting, using aluminum foil, paper towels, and simple masking tape.
    
    
• Odors & neighbors: does the odor correlate with activities by building occupants or building neighbors? What about trash burning, level of septic system usage, use of woodstoves, coal stoves, home improvements, building projects.
  
  
• Odors & occupants: does the odor occur when the building is occupied by large number of people, visitors, or specific individuals who may have brought something new into the building?
  
  
• Odor perceivers: who notices the smells? Is the odor perceived only by certain occupants? Is the odor more noticeable to building occupants or to occasional visitors.
  
  People's sensitivity to many odors tends to diminish over longer exposure times as the odor-sensing neurons and brain response become desensitized. Such individuals may notice an odor only upon entry to a building and not after being indoors for a time; people can also become desensitized to an odor such that even after leaving and returning to the building they do not notice the odor as much as is noticed by visitors. This seems especially true with animal and pet odors for people who live with pets.
• Odor strength: is the odor perceived as strong or mild?
• Odors & time of occurrence: does the odor appear all of the time or only at certain times. For odors that come and go, does the time of the odor correlate with:
  • Time of day, sunlight, operation of heating or cooling equipment
  • Time of year, season, foliage, outdoor or indoor activities
  • Heating or cooling season: does the odor appear when the heating system comes on? Check immediately to assure that there are no carbon monoxide hazards or flue gas hazards. See CARBON MONOXIDE - CO
  • Cooking activities may be an odor source
    
    
• Odors & local temperature: does the odor appear or disappear in relation to changes in building temperature?
  • Sunlight striking plastic window screens may make a distinctive odor only on the sunlit side of the building
  • Plumbing system drains or vent systems may release odors when a private septic system is under heavy use or in certain weather conditions - see SEWER GAS ODORS in COLD WEATHER
• Odors & weather conditions: does the odor correlate with weather conditions such as humidity, temperature, rain, snow, wind?

Health Effects of Exposure to "Plastic" Odors or "Vinyl" Odors

The jury may be out on this question. Plastics are used in an enormous range of building materials and consumer products, and plastics vary widely in their properties, chemical composition, tendency to give off gases, smells, odors, and in possible health concern.

One of the plastics that has received a lot of study are those using vinyl chloride. This product might be present in some common building products such as vinyl siding and vinyl windows or screens. The US EPA has classified vinyl chloride as a Group A, human carcinogen.

See Health Effects of Exposure to "Plastic or Vinyl" Odors.

Vinyl chloride might be present in gas form as a colorless, flammable gas with a faintly sweet odor at levels of about 3000 ppm (the odor detection threshold). We provide the US EPA health report on vinyl chloride at VINYL CHLORIDE HEALTH INFO.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the diagnosis & cure of plastic odors in and around buildings

Question: Trace down odors from roof on hot summer days

I had a new roof and gutter system installed a year and a half ago. Most of the roof is asphalt single and a section of the roof is torch on. On hot summer days in the evening when the weather cools down a tar type odor appears in the front of the house. This is where most of the torch on resides.

A new gutter system was also installed at the same time in that same area - it is u-shaped and the corners are sealed with what appears to be a white caulking. This odor has been ongoing since the roof/gutter system was installed and wasn't present before the installation. No one can figure out what this is happening. Any ideas? - Carmine M.

Reply:

Carmine we wouldn't expect a torch-down roof system to smell like plastic but you might indeed smell bituminous product VOC outgassing from flashings, flashing cement, or the runout or even the bituminous material itself, such as modified bitumen roofing material.

If the odor is plastic-like, I wonder if you've installed vinyl or plastic gutters and leaders?

If the odor is from roofing materials themselves (other than plastic roofing, that is) the outgassing should diminish as the roof system cures in sun over the summer.

If the odor is coming from plastic or vinyl building materials, sometimes those sources can be quite long lasting.

Question: Mysterious plastic related odor when sun hits side of home, headaches, nausea.

We are trying to sort out a mysterious odor that we think is "plastic related", but not sure. A strong industrial-plastic like smell only
noticeable when sun bearing down on southwest side of home, enough to give us a headache and nausea, occasionally. Lasts only about 90 minutes when at peak.

Localized to one room with interior wall about 18 ft from exterior wall. No where else in house. We think it might be window shades, but hard to believe as odor seems to disappear when blinds are up (recent relevation). We had oil tank removed nearby room about 24 months w/prof contractor with negative soil samples. No oil smell detected ever. Also, localized mold remediation project adjacent room and prof cleaned up. Need some help?? - Tom

Reply: things to check

Tom

We have had quite a few cases in which plastic odors in buildings were traced to a material that was being heated by the sun (or by other heat sources). Your linking of the odor to sun exposure and time of day is a helpful clue in this regard. Some components reported to give strong plastic odor outgassing when heated (including just by sun exposure) include

Plastic framed window sashes and jambs
Plastic window screens
Plastic interior window shades
Some vinyl siding and trim products
Plastic interior or exterior trim

Heating oil smell is for most people very distinctively different from plastic odors.

Try removing the suspect window shades for a week and let us know what you find. What you learn will help other readers.

Question: Comment on wet plastic odors

Everyone is worried about the smell of the windows in the sun, but they should also be concerned about what vinyl windows smell like when it is damp: you shower, run your stove, etc. Plastic smells when it is wet!! I have double glazed vinyl windows that were installed in a 1950's walk up (in the past 5 years before I moved in).

Everything in this apartment is old - the outside is 1950's stucco (not painted for years), the inside is lathe & plaster (painted with no VOC paint). The floors are the original strip oak floors. We have only wood furniture, cotton futon couch, a 40 year old stove, and a very expensive (not smelly) small fridge that we located well away from the windows.

And yet the B.O. smell coming from these windows fills up the apartment, due to any MOISTURE that accumulates on them, even in the summer. It is especially bad right now since it is in the minus temps, ie. when you wake up there is moisture all over the windows. As soon as you wipe off the moisture, run a dehumidifier, open the window, and pump up the heat - the smell goes away.

Everyone else in our building uses excessive amounts of cheap perfume to cover this up. But I think people should be aware before installing that this could happen to you. Everyone who has visited our apt has commented on it. And ironically enough, these windows don't smell in hot summer (but then again we don't get direct sunlight on them). They are great windows for keeping clean, and blocking out sound. But yes, they are smelly, 24-7. - Molly

Reply:

Thanks for the comment, Molly. We have not had reports nor tracked down plastic odors to wet conditions. I'd look carefully to be sure there are not other water or leak related odor sources including some molds that can produce odd smells in buildings.

Questions & Answers regarding this article

Questions & answers on how to find and cure sources of plastic odors at building exteriors or interiors.

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PLASTIC CONTAINERS, TANKS, TYPES
PLASTIC HEATER VENT
PLASTIC ODORS-SCREENS, SIDING

VINYL CHLORIDE HEALTH INFO
  Vinyl Chloride Health Hazards US ATSDR
  Vinyl Chloride Health Hazards US EPA
  Vinyl Chloride Exposure, Acute & Chronic
  Physical Properties of vinyl chloride
  Inhalation Exposure to Vinyl Chloride
  Standards for Exposure to Vinyl Chloride
  Health Effects of Exposure to "Plastic or Vinyl" Odors
  Vinyl Chloride Exposure - Opinions
  Vinyl Chloride Exposure Questionnaire
  Emission Standard for Vinyl Chloride
VINYL Siding or PLASTIC Window ODORS in Buildings

• "Vinyl Chloride, Hazard Summary-Created in April 1992; Revised in January 2000," US EPA, available at epa.gov/ttn/uatw/hlthef/vinylchl.html
• Asthma Citation: Bornehag, CG, et al. “Allergic symptoms and asthma among children are associated with phthalates in dust from their homes: a nested casecontrol study,” Environmental Health Perspectives. 15 July 2004
• HCL (hydrochloric acid) Toxicity Citation: OEHHA(CA Office of Environmental Health Assessment) Acute Toxicity Summary: Hydrogen Chloride March 1999
• American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH).  1999 TLVs and BEIs.  Threshold Limit Values for Chemical Substances and Physical Agents, Biological Exposure Indices.  Cincinnati, OH.  1999.
• "Blue Vinyl", (movie), BLUE VINYL TOXIC COMEDY PICTURES, 77 Bleecker St #C218, New York, NY 10012 Phone: 212.875.0456 Fax: 646.290.9274 Screening information: email: screenings@bluevinyl.org, Co-Director/Co-Producer Judith Helfand Judith@bluevinyl.org, Co-Dir/Co-Producer/D.P. Dan Gold, Dan@bluevinyl.org, Co-Producer Julie Parker, Julie@bluevinyl.org - from the film's website:
  A Toxic Comedy Look at Vinyl, The World's Second Largest Selling Plastic. With humor, hope and a piece of vinyl siding firmly in hand, Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Judith Helfand and co-director Daniel B. Gold travel from Helfand’s hometown to America’s vinyl manufacturing capital and beyond in search of answers about the nature of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Her parents’ decision to “re-side” their house with this seemingly benign cure-all for many suburban homes turns into a toxic odyssey with twists and turns that most ordinary homeowners wouldnever dare to take. The result is a humorous but sobering and uniquely personal exploration of the relationship between consumers and industry in the feature-length documentary BLUE VINYL, which won the cinematography award in the documentary competition at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival
  BLUE VINYL also poses a refreshingly simple question: “Is it possible to make products that never hurt anyone at any point of their life cycle—when manufactured, when used, or when disposed of?"
  
• Carcinogenicity of Vinyl Bromide Exposure, NIH, ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/roc/eleventh/profiles/s185viny.pdf
• Vinyl acetate information: not to be confused with vinyl chloride
  • information from OSHA: see osha.gov/SLTC/healthguidelines/vinylacetate/recognition.html includes exposure limits and hazard description.
  • data sheet from DOW chemical: see dow.com/productsafety/finder/vinyl.htm
• Medical Management Guidelines for Vinyl Chloride (C₂H₃Cl) - PDF from the US ATSDR, Department of health and Human Services, Agency for Toxic substances and Disease Registry, atsdr.cdc.gov/MHMI/mmg20.html. ATSDR can tell you where to find occupational and environmental health clinics. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Division of Toxicology and Environmental Medicine, 1600 Clifton Road NE, Mailstop F-32, Atlanta, GA 30333, 800-CDC-INFO • 888-232-6348 (TTY), Email: cdcinfo@cdc.gov
• "Standard Support and Environmental Impact Statement: Emission Standard for Vinyl Chloride" - original source U.S. Environmental Protection Agency US EPA, National Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP) at http://www.epa.gov/nscep/ordering.html
• Vinyl Chloride Exposure Questionnaire
• "Siding With Vinyl", Vinyl Siding Institute, a vinyl building products industry association, National Housing Center, 120115th Street NW, Suite 220, Washington, DC 20005 - www.vinylsiding.org
• Thanks to reader Uri Dekel, Ph.D. for discussing PVC hazards and building odors 4/12/2010

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