Moving Into a New Home That I'm Allergic To!

Hello everybody!

I currently suffer from allergies to household dust and certain types of animal fur, which cause my eyes to water and the back of my throat to itch and drive me insane. These allergies stem from me having quite bad asthma from the age of 4. Now at 21, the asthma very rarely surfaces, only when I get a bad reaction to the dust or fur.

I've recently purchased a house that I will be moving into soon, but unfortunately, the previous resident of the house wasn't a fan of dusting. I guess it just wasn't his thing! Also, he owned two German Shepherd dogs, which unfortunately for me again, I'm allergic to. Ontop of all that, he was a heavy smoker

On both of my visits to the house during the viewing process (around 20 minutes at a time) I came out absolutely adoring the property, but I couldn't wait to leave on the count of my eyes were streaming and my throat was incredibly itchy. It had even caused the skin on my neck under my chin to be very itchy and triggered my asthma.

This is something that has greatly concerned me since purchasing the house, but I was convinced by people that that is would be possible remove from the house. My partner and some friends have kindly agreed to thoroughly clean the whole house from top to bottom, in an attempt to remove the allergens, but I'm concerned if they still remain hidden deep in the fabrics of any remaining carpets/furniture/fixings etc then it will set me off again which will be a total nightmare, as I will have to live there!!

I am wondering whether anyone could offer me any advice on the best methods to removing every trace of doggie matter and dust that my body doesn't seem to agree with. I know simply vacuuming and dusting everywhere is not going to be enough. It's going to need something a little more thorough!

Please help

Thank-you for you reply.

I did consider hiring a cleaning company, but of course, it can be quite expensive, so I thought a DIY method may just work. My partner has explained to me that she would ensure every carpet, fixture, fitting and surface would either be steam cleaned or wiped down where possible, which should collect the allergens, rather then just stir them up where regular dusting and vacuuming would otherwise do. We were planning on removing the downstairs carpets (where the pets were only allowed) and steam cleaning the upstairs carpets, and wet cleaning everything where possible. As you say though, if that doesn't help, I guess I'll just have to rip up the whole lot.

Do you think that could almost guarantee a sneeze free home for the time being?

 

  Hi Chris,

  You probably already planned to do this, but make sure you have the vents professionally cleaned.

  Also, there is a product you can purchase that is a filter that goes over the furnace and traps dust and allergens and supposedly makes a huge difference.  You can to this site:  www.homelife-enviro.com .  I'm not sure if it's listed there but you can e-mail the contact person and ask about it.  This guy is in Canada, so if you're in the U.S. I'm not sure, but maybe he could stlill help you out.

 

  We just bought an air purifier through that site and found the service was excellent and the purifier seems to be helping a lot. 

 

  As for the cigarette smoke, unless you buy sealant and paint all the walls with that, it will continue to remain in the air to some degree.  The molecules of tobacco are so small that they go right through regular paint (if you were planinng to try painting to cover it up it wont work too well).  And you can't clean it out.  I learned this years ago when my husband and I were about to move into a home that had been smoked in.  What we did do though, was to rent a steamer and hubby steamed all the walls with TSP in the steamer.  It did help some, but like I said, tobacco just doesn't really 'go away.'  I also talked with a lady who bought a house that had been smoked in and she said 'after 8 coats of sealant they finally got rid of the smell.'  So yeah, there are things you can do, but it's not easy to get rid of it.  I know when I am in a smoking house, generally my lips burn, throat and nose and eyes may itch, and face starts feeling hot.  That's how I react to tobacco so I just try to stay clear of it.  However, you've bought this house now, so I'm sure you'll be resourceful and find what you need to do to make it work.

 

  As others have said, definitely taking the carpets out will be a huge plus.

 

  I guess your answer is basically:  Perseverance. 

 

  One other thing I learned from the salesperson at the web-site I gave you, is that if you put the furance on adn leave all the windows open for a week before moving into a house, this will cause the house to rid itself of a lot of the gases from painting etc., so I assume it would also help to clean out the dust etc. in the atmosphere, but I'm not sure.

 

  I hope everything works out alirght for you.

 

  manyembers

Hi Chris,

That's good to hear! I'm glad you can remove the wall paper and go from there.

TSP - I don't even know what it stands for, but it's some sort of cleaner. I don't know if you'd have that in the UK. - Okay, just found it on the net. It stands for Trisodium phosphate. IT's an all purpose cleaner, and is good to use before painting to get a 'nice clean bite' according to the article I read. It removes grease and soot etc. You should be able to find some info. about it on google.

That's wild that you guys don't have vents your way like we do. So that is one less thing to have to clean.

Air purifiers - you can buy small ones for just one room - like the bedroom, or for an office or for the whole house - ranging in price of course. I have heard very good things about the ones that contain a "hepa" air filter.

All the best!, mb

My advice is to take all of the owners old things like the carpet, curtains and have them wash or better if you get a new one. When I moved last year into my new house, I put into garage sale the old owners things with his permission of course and the advance removals australia brought my things from my previous house.

Post Edited (connielee640) : 9/22/2012 7:48:36 PM (GMT-6)