frant26
Member
A week ago, a mercury thermometer fell off my desk (about 4ft tall) on the wooden floor and broke into pieces. I immediately swept the glass and spill with a broom onto a dustpan, placed it inside two bags and called it a day.
Obviously, I later realized my cleaning procedure was far from ideal.
The impact was pretty hard and I never noticed a big lump of mercury, which probably means the mercury liquid spread around the room.
It's winter here. My underfloor heating was on and I stayed inside the whole day -- no ventilation -- oblivious to any mercury vapors... Moreover, I walked around the house all day (although not on the precise spot of the accident).
Once I understood the danger, it lead me to buy some sulfur powder, which I generously spread around the whole apartment, let some 30 min react with the remaining mercury and swept back into a tight container. I then left the house for 2 days with all windows open to properly ventilate.
Today I got back home, and when using a torch at an angle, I see micro-beds of mercury shining ALL OVER THE HOUSE. And to be honest, I started to freak out because the greater the surface the greater the chance for it to form toxic fumes. Wasn't sulfur powder supposed to get rid of it?
I called the toxicology department at a local hospital, and told me to "constantly ventilate and that is it". Well, not fun when it's 5º C outside with very cold winds. And of course, all the articles on the Internet that recommend how to clean up but not "what to do when you f*** up the cleaning already".
So what I did now, is turn on the underfloor heating to the max, left all windows open - and left the house again for a few days. Super annoying. Family members and friends are telling me I'm greatly overreacting! Many of them broke thermometers in the past, didn't clean up well, and "nothing bad happened".
Symptoms: very mild breathing difficulty and mild lower back pain that comes and goes (I could be making this up?). I started supplementing 3-4g of taurine daily. I have a few questions:
- Am I really exaggerating and I should just chill in my house even when I see micro-beads everywhere? I feel very uncomfortable sleeping surrounded by vapors
- Given this amount of mercury around, what are the worst possible consequences? I'm trying to make sense of the dimension of such spill. How long would it take to fully evaporate? Or at least to non-toxic levels?
- Tomorrow I'll go to the hospital where they'll take a urine sample for labs. Is this a good way to measure inhaled mercury over the past week?
- If I wanted to further clean my house -- what do I do next? Sulfur powder evidently did not get rid of all the mercury. Call the Hazmat??
Lastly, I have amalgams in four teeth. Perhaps that should be the real source of concern. Any input appreciated - I'm very confused.
Obviously, I later realized my cleaning procedure was far from ideal.
The impact was pretty hard and I never noticed a big lump of mercury, which probably means the mercury liquid spread around the room.It's winter here. My underfloor heating was on and I stayed inside the whole day -- no ventilation -- oblivious to any mercury vapors...
Moreover, I walked around the house all day (although not on the precise spot of the accident).Once I understood the danger, it lead me to buy some sulfur powder, which I generously spread around the whole apartment, let some 30 min react with the remaining mercury and swept back into a tight container. I then left the house for 2 days with all windows open to properly ventilate.
Today I got back home, and when using a torch at an angle, I see micro-beds of mercury shining ALL OVER THE HOUSE. And to be honest, I started to freak out because the greater the surface the greater the chance for it to form toxic fumes. Wasn't sulfur powder supposed to get rid of it?
I called the toxicology department at a local hospital, and told me to "constantly ventilate and that is it". Well, not fun when it's 5º C outside with very cold winds. And of course, all the articles on the Internet that recommend how to clean up but not "what to do when you f*** up the cleaning already".
So what I did now, is turn on the underfloor heating to the max, left all windows open - and left the house again for a few days. Super annoying. Family members and friends are telling me I'm greatly overreacting! Many of them broke thermometers in the past, didn't clean up well, and "nothing bad happened".
Symptoms: very mild breathing difficulty and mild lower back pain that comes and goes (I could be making this up?). I started supplementing 3-4g of taurine daily. I have a few questions:
- Am I really exaggerating and I should just chill in my house even when I see micro-beads everywhere? I feel very uncomfortable sleeping surrounded by vapors
- Given this amount of mercury around, what are the worst possible consequences? I'm trying to make sense of the dimension of such spill. How long would it take to fully evaporate? Or at least to non-toxic levels?
- Tomorrow I'll go to the hospital where they'll take a urine sample for labs. Is this a good way to measure inhaled mercury over the past week?
- If I wanted to further clean my house -- what do I do next? Sulfur powder evidently did not get rid of all the mercury. Call the Hazmat??
Lastly, I have amalgams in four teeth. Perhaps that should be the real source of concern. Any input appreciated - I'm very confused.
