I have an old house with wooden windows which I am slowly replacing as $$ allows. However, for the windows which have not been replaced, I try to seal them up to minimize the heat loss.
Last year, I used "rope caulk", which worked oK, but was a pain to put up and which eventually dried out about 2/3 through winter and fell off.
This year, I found this stuff at HD called DAP Seal 'n Peel. It is a removable sealant which you install with a caulk gun and then peel off in the spring. I like this concept, because I can make beads of whatever size I want/need and installation with a caulk gun is FAST.
However, I did my first few windows today and I was really surprised by how much odor this stuff gives off. It smells like contact cement. So I looked up the MSDS and it is about 30% toluene.
(200 mL) * (30%) * (0.8809 g/mL) = 53 g per room
Assuming my room dimensions are correct, I have about 36 m^3 of volume per room. So the concentration of toluene vapor could be about 1472 mg/m^3.
According to the EPA, this is above the OSHA ceiling concentration, which is defined as: "Occupational Safety and Health Administration's permissible exposure limit ceiling value; the concentration of a substance that should not be exceeded at any time."
Anyway, my questions are:
- Is there an alternative product out there that people recommend?
- Am I being overly concerned? I'm really feeling guilty about having exposed my family to this stuff. It seems to me that this shouldn't even really be on the market. (Imagine if I had done all 13 of the old windows in my house at once!)
Thanks in advance, Jon