Carpet update II

This un-retouched picture shows the difference between clean and dirty carpet. The clean part is lighter patch closest to the door, the dirty part is closest to the hose. Keep in mind that the clean part is wet and therefor darker than normal.

We finally had our carpets cleaned this morning. What a bliss! and the apartment is once again a huge mess! A team of professional carpet cleaners spent about an hour using hot steam and the chemical called Sodium tripolyphosphate which sounds worse than it is according to Wikipedia. Since they didn't use any soap or shampoo the dirt that will fall onto the carpet in the time to come will not adhere to the soap residue and accumulate. 

Having spent a few hours walking around on the still wet carpets, our feet are clean, and that terrible "new carpet smell" that gave me a sore throat, is mostly gone also. 

The cleaner dude who ran the machine said the carpets looked quite dirty, he showed me a patch of clean carpet next to the dirty and it was quite noticeable.  I took a photo, naturally, which I will post later. (Update: see photo above) 

All we have to do now is wait until the carpets are dry before we can put our stuff back and continue packing out. That also means we cannot put Lucia down on the floor today, and have to hold her all the time. 

:(

Crisis Averted

So we were kind of freaking out yesterday about the new carpet. It leaves black marks on our feet, and black marks all over Little Girl. Sad face!! Also, we noticed that we're not feeling that great -- scratchy throats, allergies/asthma symptoms, etc. Yikes. We thought maybe it was just us and the stress of the move, but our friend came over last night and sat in our apartment for less than an hour, and said her throat hurt. So we googled and discovered it was likely the VOCs. VOCs are Volatile Organic Compounds, which are in a lot of things, but mostly carpet, paint, etc. We were kindof freaking out -- okay okay, really freaking out about the fact that Lucia's room is the smelliest (in terms of new carpet smell -- not just dirty diapers!). So we put her in the portable crib last night in the living room. She was slightly confused but doesn't really care where she is anytime after 8 p.m., she just wants to go to bed. She's like me that way.

We talked about moving out; some other things haven't gone exactly perfectly during the move-in process. Of course I cried and was worried sick over the health effects of all of us. But we really like the place, and our landlord has been receptive (and is talking with the carpet manufacturer about the black marks).

This morning I talked with our Environmental Health expert at work coincidentally, because I was supposed to have a meeting with her today, and because of aforementioned freaking out, I took the day off to deal with the situation. She recommended getting an air purifier with an activated carbon filter. So off to Lowe's I went, and purchased this one. Yes, it's expensive, but I didn't want to risk it, ok?

Since running it all day (it even has a remote!), the place is far less smelly and we're feeling better. We walked around our neighborhood tonight and we're making progress slowly on unpacking, and I think everything's going to be OK.

Phew.

Finally online again!

We have been siphoning off Whole Food's wireless network for a while which has been slow and intermittent. Today a repair man from AT&T hooked the building onto their network again since the cables got cut some time before we moved in. (!)
He was also very kind to fix the outlets inside for free, they had been painted over and rendered useless in several other ways.

As Heather mentioned in the previous post, the carpets have been a disaster. They are brand new so they have that VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) related new-carpet-stink, but they also give us dirty feet.

Check out this photo on the right, it shows one washed foot and one that has been walking around for two hours inside the apartment..
I worry about the fumes from the carpets the most since my throat is constantly sore and I am worried that Lucia may be harmed also, she play all day so close to the carpets, but I take comfort in the fact that the landlord has been very responsive and I believe the matter will be solved within a week or two. I am also happy we got an air cleaner today with an active coal filter and an HEPA filter. It seems to work pretty well, it took most of the VOC stink out of Lucia's room – in addition to that other stink.

The apartment is still a mess, but we keep emptying boxes so we should be done soon. We even made dinner here for the first time today!

Unpacking

Who knew unpacking could be so fun when you've got a crawling baby that puts everything in her mouth? This morning I told her no when she tried to get into the potted plant (again) and she actually took off crawling faster. Not good. I'm generally feeling pretty overwhelmed with packing and while we think we're going to love our new place, it's hard to be in love with it when it's boxes galore and it's impossible to find anything. Sad face.