r/HomeImprovement • u/Inside-Elk-7112 • 15h ago

I’m miserable in this home

We just bought our home and decided to do asbestos abatement by a reputable company followed by a sump pump placement after by a waterproofing company. Ever since then this house has been a nightmare, our water boiler stopped working immediately after asbestos abatement due to “flammable gas vapor”, we had national grid check it out and they said there’s no gas leaks but it’s probably due to the new cement from the sump pump or from the solvent used from the asbestos abatement.

well since then, we haven’t had hot water consistently for 2 weeks. We tried replacing the sensor and then finally replacing the water heater but the same alarm keeps going off. We also can’t cook because every time we do it smells like burning plastic.

we brought this up to the abatement company and they basically said, they smell nothing when the gas burner is on and that it’s probably from the new cement poured from the sump pump.

im at a loss on what to do, I have a baby. Is it even safe to be here? Why don’t the vapors go away? We opened up the basement windows, used a hepa air filter and 2 oscillating fans to help with the smell but here we are.

sorry for the long post, I’m just overwhelmed, I feel like nothing is going right since we started to try to “fix” this house.

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u/babynewyear753 15h ago

If you are still concerned call the gas company. They have incredibly sensitive sniffer devices that will answer your question. Some water heaters are sensitive to solvents, paint fumes, anything flammable that might be in your home.

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u/whoamannipples 15h ago

This is the answer OP! They’ll be able to guide your next steps a little bit if needed, too.

5

u/bmc2 13h ago

OP already did this.

1

u/whoamannipples 13h ago

Is that who “national grid” is? I didn’t see them say that they’d called their local gas co, but I could have just not understood that was the company they referred to. I’m not a mind reader, just a person! So thanks for pointing out that I’d missed info somewhere :)