Fumes from redoing floors?

[Safira]

I am considering pulling the carpet out of my bedrooms and bird-room and putting down pergo, which will match the rest of my house.

Do they use glue to put down flooring? I would assume if they do the fumes from it are harmful for birds and mine should vacate the house for the day at least?

This is my first home and I have no idea how people install flooring.

 

[IcyWolf]

I'm not sure but I would probably at least move the birds far from the room they are working on, if possible do it on a day where you could open the windows or use an air purifier, or you could just take the birds somewhere else for a day or two. I would ask the company but I don't know if I would trust them to really know if it's safe or not. I know when I worked at petsmart we would have people come to wax the floors every so often and we almost always lost a few budgies the next day

 

[Safira]

Poor Budgies.

I have a one level ranch style home so it's hard to get her far away. I really want the floors redone, it'll be SO much easier then carpet with my animals.

If they do use glue, I'll wait till its warm enough to put her outside and just hope my vaccum stays alive for a few more months.

 

[IcyWolf]

That's probably a good idea. We have all hard wood floors in our house and it is a blessing and a curse all in one. It's great for the birds because any seed or poop can just be swept or wiped up/mopped. The downside is that we also have a dog, a rottie/shepherd mix and he sheds soooo bad, if I don't sweep everyday the dog hair accumulates around the edges of the rooms(like where the floor meets the wall) and even after 2 days, it looks as if I haven't swept for a week. Sometimes I swear I could build a second dog from the hair I sweep up. :20:

 

[roxynoodle]

Some laminate floors are glue down and some are floating (they just sit on top of the padding). The parquet floor I put in my bird room is glue down though. I just moved them into another room, and they were fine. The glue didn't really put out much in the way of fumes. I even put 3 coats of polyurethane on top of the wood floor to provide extra wear and tear protection. Birds and other animals were all fine.

You can set fans up in the doorway to redirect the fumes away from the room the birds are in.

I did a full kitchen remodel with them in the next room. Although I did use the "safe" stripper for all wood stripping even though it takes longer, just to be on the safer side.

 

[roxynoodle]

Oh, and if you have any questions about home remodeling, that's kind of my specialty, lol! I don't know why, but I love doing it! I've done drywall, electric, plumbing, tile, hardwood flooring (install and refinishing), and the roof, siding and stone veneer on my house. I also built my pole barn. The only thing I've hired out was the duct work and forced air furnace. And I'm always happy to help.

 

[Safira]

Icy, I have 3 dogs and they ALL shed like there is no tomorrow! In one day I have tumbleweeds of dog hair rolling through my rooms. It's horrible, but so much easier to sweep.. My vaccum clogs up with it.

Thanks Roxy! I also googled it and saw something about it being tongue and groove? The guy comes tomorrow to give me an estimate. If I tried to do it myself I'd probably put it on backwards or something. You should see my paint job in some of these rooms. ^.^

 

[roxynoodle]

Ok, lol, you can't really put it in backwards because you wouldn't be able to get the next piece on.

It may also be nail or staple down, and then you'd have no fumes of any kind either. But, I think as long as you move the birds to another room and put a fan in the doorway to blow any smell back out, they should be fine.

As for not killing vacuum cleaners, I first clean up as much as I can with a broom or Swiffer. Then I vacuum. I now also have a nice Kirby, and the hair bypasses the motor so you can sweep up anything with it. But prior to owning this vacuum I'd kill them pretty regularly in 3 years or so even with doing preliminary cleaning with a broom.

I still think hardwood or tile floors work a lot better with animals than carpeting. I ripped all the carpeting out of this house years ago. And bird poop mops right up.

 

[Angeladeedaa]

REFINISHING HARDWOOD FLOORS NEAR PARROTS. I wanted to share with parrot owners what worked for me.
I used water based products from Bona.com.
PREP: Sealed off bird room - closed door and covered with 4 mil plastic before sanding.
(Be sure to cover EVERYTHING in your house if you don't want to live with fine dust everywhere.)
SEALER -- BonaSeal Satin (no stain used. The Satin is almost clear. They have another sealer that will give an amber hue if you prefer.) My crew used a paint brush to apply. One crew member's work was even, the other's was not, so they had to do some sanding and another coat of BonaSeal using the "ROLLER" this time. The Roller costs $20. Most installers will remove the little white wheels because they're not accustomed to water based products. My advise is leave the wheels on. Also watch the video online and buy the edger, also $20. The Sealer dries in about 4 hours.
THE FINISH -- Product used was Bona Traffic HD. I chose Traffic HD over Traffic because it dries in 2 hours not 4, it has about 40% less VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) and it off gasses 80% in 24 hours, and its surface is stronger. The crew lightly sanded per instructions using palm sanders. I recommend using a buffer if the area is large and to save time. Either way use 180 grit sandpaper. This time I locked (with padlock) my macaws in their cages, took out the windows to increase ventilation, ran the Pure Air filter, placed a small LG A/C unit in one window and set it to 3 and checked the airflow to make sure it wasn't hitting any of the birds, ran weather stripping around the door frame, attached a door sweep to the bottom of the door, closed the door and sealed the door with 6 mil plastic. My crew set a ladder outside the window so I could climb up to the 2nd floor and check on the birds. I had 4 parakeets in the room and figured they would serve like the canary in the coal mind. The odor from the product was faint, kind of like nail polish remover. We took a 2 hour break and then put on the 2nd coat of Traffic HD. The instructions say sand lightly before applying, but the floor was smooth so we skipped sanding. One hour after the floors were finished I was able to tip toe up the stairs and back down once without a trace.

It's three days later and the birds are all doing fine. The door and plastic was all that separated their room from the floors that were being refinished.

AVOID STAINING THE FLOOR: One installer I had consulted said he had an experience in which the parrots became ill ($3,000 medical bills) from the stain he used (I'm not sure if the other products he used were water based or not).

NOTE: The Traffic and Traffic HD have a hardner that comes in a separate bottle which you add to the gallon jug of solution. The warning on the label of the hardner says wear rubber gloves, mask, goggles and not to wear the same clothes away from the area. My crew ignored that and so did I without incident. Seeing that warning was enough to nearly give me a panic attack though. I don't advise disregarding the warning, but there's no need to have a panic attack either.

I found the Bona.com Customer Service Technical Department very helpful. Although they could not advise on the use of the product around parrots, they could tell me who in town carried their products.

Don't take my word for it, do your own research, talk to your avian veterinarian and installers and product suppliers, but I couldn't be more pleased.