Formaldehyde has been a component of particle-board and other glued-wood products for decades. Perhaps it's time for someone to figure out a way to mitigate the off-gassing, maybe through the wonders of chemistry -- sort of like sound-canceling technology as found in new cell phones, etc. Maybe that's on MIT's agenda ?
Otherwise, those trailers have to be sent into space. Maybe an attractive satellite ring (think Saturn) would be a nice addition to the night sky ?
(Why are these trailers off-gassing more than the typical home -- if they are ?) Is the particle-board used as an interior finish ?)
In trailers the interior partitions, interior faces of the exterior walls, counters, cabinetry, built-in furniture, and interior doors, are often all or in part made from particle board laminated with wood or p-lam veneer, all of which is crammed into a very small and poorly ventilated space. Typical homes generally don't have anywhere near the concentration of formaldehyde containing materials per cubic foot.
They have 100,000 units slated for disposal, bu they have ppl offering to buy them...one guy wants 10,000 of them. I just don't get it..they are constructed by standard methods and materials...yet the massed of folk living other similar Trailers and Mobile Homes don't apparently have this problem.
The FEMA trailers are of the type typically used occasionally for recreational purposes and not quasi-permanent inhabitation.
My theory as to what went wrong is three-pronged. First, due to the government's bulk purchase, a lot of these units were in the hands of the end user within days of manufacture rather than the weeks or months it might take for one to reach a regular consumer. This cut out a lot of the time the materials would normally have to off-gas. Second, the trailers were put to use in a hot, humid climate where sealing them up and cranking up the AC was really the only way to keep them from turning into ovens, but at the same time it trapped the off-gassing chemicals. And finally, they were used as residences when the typical recreational user would probably not be using them for more than a couple weeks at a time for a few months out of the year.
How much are they going for? I might be interested in a few if the price is right. Those things make awesome back woods hunting shacks. Pull wm up, park em, let em sit.
your body produces small amounts of formaldehyde naturally.
You could probably live in one of these trailers for years with no issue, but you put thousands of them in one spot and leave them baking in the sun and off gassing from the particle board, vinyl, plastics and other compounds could become an issue.
People live in those trailers as permanent residences all the time, at least, in rural areas. I agree with 4arch about the amount needed at once, and such. I'd like to add that its posible because so many were needed so quickly, that the jobs were rushed, and perhaps things were not allowed to dry fully, ect. I'm sure some corners were cut, but you had people crying for free housing, and others demanding that they receive it. If the time had been taken to allow things to fully cure, people would've been upset. Its like how on Trading Spaces, paint is often not even dry when they instal, or how student models are not always set before a crit.
I still say FEMA should've just moved all those people up to Detroit and put them up in abandoned houses. There's infastructure already in place to accomodate an additional 1 million people, and outside of the occasional meth lab home it's arguable an abandoned house in detroit has less human health issues than those trailers.
I started to snicker abit at the thought of your post, but actually ..you might have something there. From a certain perspective, mobile housing is crucial for disaster relief,....but people are more mobile in those situations, just like when the New Orleans Natives were scattered across America after Katrina.
but the idea of a "dedicated refuge" in a blighted American city might have some virtues as you mention.
I did a competition for a kind of trailer solution once...in which I looked at how there networks of of the private sector: food,housing, water, and medical aid integrated are throughout America, but there seems to be no cooperative plan in place to speedily coordinate the industries. Not that the Red Cross doesn't do a good job, but I theorized an organized and cooperative Disaster Relief plan , that triggered by a tragedy, would automatically alert all potential aid, food, and housing suppliers to essentially do what FEMA has proven to have trouble with. The whole repsonse methodlogy needs to more dynamic and intelligent.
This thread hits close to home, as I am actually spending my summer in one of these infamous trailers.
At first I was skeptical, but I did a little research and the high levels of formaldehyde the Sierra Club and other agencies have been reporting were due to the fact that the trailers had been sitting out in the Mississippi sun for several months with the windows closed and the AC off. Additional testing showed that the 400-500 ppb count inside the trailers was reduced to somewhere around 80 with proper ventilation, an entirely reasonable level.
Jul 14, 08 9:13 pm ·
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FEMA Trailer Graveyard
High levels of Formaldehyde and decrepitude are causing FEMA to recycle the trailers. Sounds like MIT is planning a competition on how to use them...
Formaldehyde has been a component of particle-board and other glued-wood products for decades. Perhaps it's time for someone to figure out a way to mitigate the off-gassing, maybe through the wonders of chemistry -- sort of like sound-canceling technology as found in new cell phones, etc. Maybe that's on MIT's agenda ?
Otherwise, those trailers have to be sent into space. Maybe an attractive satellite ring (think Saturn) would be a nice addition to the night sky ?
(Why are these trailers off-gassing more than the typical home -- if they are ?) Is the particle-board used as an interior finish ?)
I think it has to do with people not opening their windows and allowing the place to breath properly.
formaldehyde is in alot of things......... i once heard they use it in mcdonalds french fries
In trailers the interior partitions, interior faces of the exterior walls, counters, cabinetry, built-in furniture, and interior doors, are often all or in part made from particle board laminated with wood or p-lam veneer, all of which is crammed into a very small and poorly ventilated space. Typical homes generally don't have anywhere near the concentration of formaldehyde containing materials per cubic foot.
yeah, can't they just open the windows? they don't off-gas forever.
They have 100,000 units slated for disposal, bu they have ppl offering to buy them...one guy wants 10,000 of them. I just don't get it..they are constructed by standard methods and materials...yet the massed of folk living other similar Trailers and Mobile Homes don't apparently have this problem.
FEMA can;t win for losing.
i think it's a big "issue" because people want to some how link it to katrina and all that jazz........
people get all ryled up just to get ryled up....but yet look around...... how many people still live in building with abestos and lead paint/etc.....
eww me me me
The FEMA trailers are of the type typically used occasionally for recreational purposes and not quasi-permanent inhabitation.
My theory as to what went wrong is three-pronged. First, due to the government's bulk purchase, a lot of these units were in the hands of the end user within days of manufacture rather than the weeks or months it might take for one to reach a regular consumer. This cut out a lot of the time the materials would normally have to off-gas. Second, the trailers were put to use in a hot, humid climate where sealing them up and cranking up the AC was really the only way to keep them from turning into ovens, but at the same time it trapped the off-gassing chemicals. And finally, they were used as residences when the typical recreational user would probably not be using them for more than a couple weeks at a time for a few months out of the year.
How much are they going for? I might be interested in a few if the price is right. Those things make awesome back woods hunting shacks. Pull wm up, park em, let em sit.
it prolly beats living under a bridge overpass...
your body produces small amounts of formaldehyde naturally.
You could probably live in one of these trailers for years with no issue, but you put thousands of them in one spot and leave them baking in the sun and off gassing from the particle board, vinyl, plastics and other compounds could become an issue.
your body also produces small amounts of sewage naturally.
sometime it even comes out of one's mouth...
People live in those trailers as permanent residences all the time, at least, in rural areas. I agree with 4arch about the amount needed at once, and such. I'd like to add that its posible because so many were needed so quickly, that the jobs were rushed, and perhaps things were not allowed to dry fully, ect. I'm sure some corners were cut, but you had people crying for free housing, and others demanding that they receive it. If the time had been taken to allow things to fully cure, people would've been upset. Its like how on Trading Spaces, paint is often not even dry when they instal, or how student models are not always set before a crit.
The big money men having another good laugh at the tax paying plebs.
I still say FEMA should've just moved all those people up to Detroit and put them up in abandoned houses. There's infastructure already in place to accomodate an additional 1 million people, and outside of the occasional meth lab home it's arguable an abandoned house in detroit has less human health issues than those trailers.
aqua,
I started to snicker abit at the thought of your post, but actually ..you might have something there. From a certain perspective, mobile housing is crucial for disaster relief,....but people are more mobile in those situations, just like when the New Orleans Natives were scattered across America after Katrina.
but the idea of a "dedicated refuge" in a blighted American city might have some virtues as you mention.
I did a competition for a kind of trailer solution once...in which I looked at how there networks of of the private sector: food,housing, water, and medical aid integrated are throughout America, but there seems to be no cooperative plan in place to speedily coordinate the industries. Not that the Red Cross doesn't do a good job, but I theorized an organized and cooperative Disaster Relief plan , that triggered by a tragedy, would automatically alert all potential aid, food, and housing suppliers to essentially do what FEMA has proven to have trouble with. The whole repsonse methodlogy needs to more dynamic and intelligent.
"I said, 'Oh my God,' " she remembers. "I said, 'There's formaldehyde in those trailers. What is formaldehyde?'
This thread hits close to home, as I am actually spending my summer in one of these infamous trailers.
At first I was skeptical, but I did a little research and the high levels of formaldehyde the Sierra Club and other agencies have been reporting were due to the fact that the trailers had been sitting out in the Mississippi sun for several months with the windows closed and the AC off. Additional testing showed that the 400-500 ppb count inside the trailers was reduced to somewhere around 80 with proper ventilation, an entirely reasonable level.
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