Emergency house repairs!- Advice needed on dust and fumes

[Eric&Rebecca]

Ok so last night a pipe burst in our apartment. Both birds were unharmed and there was only water downstairs in the hallway and the shop underneath us.

The builders came today and said they will have to rip out and replace the bathroom. Neither cockatiel was bothered by the loud drilling and banging during the emergency repairs, both continued eating and sleeping. We didn't have the option of moving them as it was at 4am and it had to be done!

What I am concerned about is

Dust- we can move the birds into a room away from the bathroom and shut the door. Also place a towel under the door which will prevent any airborne dust entering.

Strong smells from sealents, new tiling and membrane glue- again I can put them in a separate room and close the door and put the towel down. However I'm worried because smells penetrate the whole apartment! They've said they will work with the doors shut and with the extractor fans on. Do you think the birds will be ok? The smell can last up to a month. I've looked up what's in sealants and aside from the possible strong smell I can't find anything that's particulalrly toxic like PFTE but obviously no fumes are ever good for them.

They coming tomorrow and the only people I trust to take my birds are away on holiday. I'm so worried. The only thing I can think of is to ask if upstairs neighbours will have them in their travel cages upstairs... but then if the fumes are there for ages it's not going to help.

I might be paranoid but I went totally mad when next door started painting and I could smell fumes through our window...

[Eric&Rebecca]

Oh and I can put a fan outside the door that will blow the fumes in the opposite direction....

[KimberlyAnn]

That's a hard one! When I was a kid, a huge earthquake hit my area and we needed to move all the birds out of the house and to the neighbors until the repairs were done plus two days to air out the house. We were lucky to have windows in every room though...and good weather. Do not let those workers work with the door closed for very heavy fumes. It's toxic to them too and a bathroom fan won't do the job. I know when they did our bathroom in my apartment...I felt like I could not breathe well and I was in a different room with all the windows open. :/

But I think airing out your place for awhile and keeping the bathroom window closed and fan on for month...plus the towel blocking the bird room will help. But I would remove them for at least 24 hours.

I'm so sorry! I know this is difficult. And with your friends out of town too? Wow! Perfect timing! I remember when I went to see my family in Finland and my ex and I got a call from the neighbor that water was running out of out garage...and the neighbor lost our house key...and we could not get ahold of my friend who also had our house key...and the only other person who had our house key was my mom who sat across the table from me helping me dial out to America. Lol So we sat helpless on the other side of the world as our neighbor broke our window to get in and turn off our water. $1,000 later...new water heater, new window, and a big mess to clean up after a fourteen hour flight four days later.

[Eric&Rebecca]

Thing is the is nowhere we can move them. Upstairs is allergic to birds- as in throat closing up allergic. They aren't using any paints, glues or chemicals tomorrow. Literally they just taking out and dehumidifying tomorrow. They will be in the bedroom away from that.

it's not massive damage and the only fumes are coming from the floor membrane which they will put down in a few days. There's no paint or anything like that. The tiles are per sticky ones, Not lineolium or vinyl though because I know they toxic.

there's no one we can give them too. Might just have to tell them to rip it out and then wait till we can find someone to take them.

[KimberlyAnn]

Oh that does not sound so bad...the gutting of your bathroom. The other stuff I'm not so sure about, but it sounds better then the conventional ways to redo a bathroom..Less fumes maybe? I can ask my husband tonight, but hopefully a home improvement guru here can answer. Or hopefully you get good weather and can open your windows all day at least.

Either way...what an annoying situation all the way around. :/ Bathrooms are pretty important!

[Eric&Rebecca]

Ok I've had a word with plumber he said they will use a glue to put a waterproof membrane down. And tiling. And then sealing the bath. They did the sealing once with birds in house without asking, I went mad as you can imagine. Luckily no damage was done.

My biggest worry is the glue.

[Andromeda]

Strong smells from sealents, new tiling and membrane glue- again I can put them in a separate room and close the door and put the towel down. However I'm worried because smells penetrate the whole apartment! They've said they will work with the doors shut and with the extractor fans on. Do you think the birds will be ok? The smell can last up to a month. I've looked up what's in sealants and aside from the possible strong smell I can't find anything that's particulalrly toxic like PFTE but obviously no fumes are ever good for them.

Do you know if the glue contains formaldehyde? A lot of industrial glues (carpet glues, etc.) do contain formaldehyde and that is very deadly to birds.

[Eric&Rebecca]

Yeah I read that. Having a meeting with them tomorrow. I researched pva or water based sealants and glues are way safer. If not they will just have to wait until till we can find a suitable bird sitter.

[Eric&Rebecca]

My mum is wonderful! She came back from holiday when she heard what happened and will be taking the birds tomorrow! No fume work will be happening till Monday.

Just a quick question? How will I know when its safe to bring them back? 48 hours after work has stopped? Are the fumes safe then?

[marie83]

I think 48 hours is the recomended but personally I would judge it on how much air movement there is through the house.