Allergies to Plastic Wood Filler

[seangoesbonk]

IF YOU DON'T LIKE LONG STORIES, JUST READ THE LAST PARAGRAPH.

Well, I finally got off my butt and decided to finish my subwoofer.
Before pics are here: http://members.shaw.ca/seangoesbonk/sgbSHIVA.html
Because I didn't have any decent clamps at the time, I used screws as well as glue to hold it together. I had to fill the screw holes before painting it. I went to Canadian Tire to pick up some wood filler. The only wood filler they had was "LePage Plastic Wood" http://www.lepageproducts.com/produc...id=303&PID=680
First BIG mistake...

So Applied the first layer with no problem. It smelled not-so-great but it was quite less fumey than paint. That night, I did a very, very, light scraping of the excess filler before adding a second layer. Did I mention I did this in my basement? Second BIG mistake...

Anyways, about an hour later my neck starts to itch. I figure, "Damn dog, he's got fleas again." Then my chest. Then my legs. Son-of-a-*&@%$ my feet feel hot. I lift up my shirt and take off my shoes and I have hives, swelling, and itching everywhere! I had to drive my girlfriend home, so when I got to her house 25 mins later I check the rash. GONE! What the hell? Weird. I figured it couldn't be from the wood filler because I had applied it that morning with no trouble at all.

So I return home and 30 minutes later (and without going anywhere near the sub) it all comes back. Worse! I slept in the opposite end of the house, but nothing seemed to help. So after 4 hours of trying to fall asleep, and just about losing my mind, I took some anti-histimine allergy pills. It was shortly after that, that I fell asleep.

The next day I took the sub outside to sand it and my hands started to itch. It then dawned on me that it was the DUST from the wood filler was causing the problem. When I applied it in the morning, it was still wet. All the dust from it was circulating through my house. It was weird because there was 5 other people in the house that day and it hadn't bothered any of them.

So anyways, I painted the sub that same day(truck bed liner of course) to seal it, and I chucked the can of remaining filler.

I read the MSDS and it says the product "May cause allergic skin reaction". No kidding. The MSDS is pretty scary. There is a lot of freaky stuff in that junk.

Moral of the story: MAKE SURE YOU USE REGULAR WOOD FILLER!!! CHECK THE MSDS BEFORE BUYING A PRODUCT!!!

EDIT: Link to the MSDS: http://www.henkelcamsds.com/pdf/10-00484-1.pdf

[SY]

If you mix sawdust with a little bit of wood glue, you can make a pretty nice filler that won't irritate you and is cheap.

MSDSs are designed to scare you.

[Jocko Homo]

Add about 2000 other "everday" products, and welcome to my world. Last time I tried to use plastic wood of some type, about 20 years ago, it had acetone, I believe. Nasty stuff. Fingernail polish remover......

Jocko

[Duo]

Jeez. I work in a chem lab at school after hours and after reading that MSDS I be darn carefel with that stuff.

The trouble is that, as stated in the MSDS, the chemical is exempt from most conditions when sold to the end-user. In a laboratory environment, we would be wearing gloves, goggles, and coat and have good ventilation.

Either way, there are so many nasty products like that in stores that they're very hard to stay away from. It's a nasty world out there.



Hope you've gotten over the allergies too, that sounds nasty.

[seangoesbonk]

Originally posted by Duo
Hope you've gotten over the allergies too, that sounds nasty.

Yeah, I chucked that junk out pretty fast. And I painted the sub as soon as I could, in order to seal up the filler. Somewhere between 12 and 24 hours later, all the residual dust floating around the house had either left the house or settled. Anyhow, it's not bothering me any more.

This event was one of those things that could and should have been avoided. But the leason has been learned, and I thought telling my story might prevent it from happening to anyone else.

Read those MSDS!!! Even if it seems like a mundane product!!!

[Duo]

Yeah, that's what they instruct at the school. It's a very good idea to read MSDS for whatever you use, even just to know what the chemistry is or what the product does.

BTW, is your girlfriend's sub still bigger? hehe

[davesaudio]

IIRC: i now a friendlier formulation than in the past
but I find it doesn't work as well as it did.
none of the formulations bother me despite I have some
spring and fall +bee venom type allergies

the problem is the latex based fillers are too soft and crappy

do you react to automotive spot putty? how about body fill?