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Q: Chinese houses dangerous for the first year?
When I heard that from my friend, I wanted to laugh. She told me that her family didn't really live in their new house because it is dangerous for the first year. She didn't tell me why. Now, even if this isn't some superstitious mumbo jumbo, and there are dangerous gases like radon or whatever, it still doesn't make sense. For instance, every bedroom has a tennist ball sized hole in the wall where the air conditioner will go...eventually. They have Chinese windows, which we all know don't seal. Also, the first floor is a garage, so everything is already on the second floor or higher. They aren't finished building it, so the third floor is finished, but doesn't have anything in it. The fourth floor certainly isn't finished.
For clarification, this house is in a small town outside of Jinhua, which I believe would be considered third-tier? There was also NO HEAT in the house whatsoever, which is mostly a cultural thing. Part of that may be they aren't living full time in the house and haven't bothered to buy air conditioners yet. Even my friend couldn't explain why her parents hadn't bought a water heater for the bathroom.
Four floors and that's a small townhouse? Wow I'm running around with the wrong class of people here.
If you want to for me to try and give logic to this (though I have a feeling it has nothing to do with the real reason). I'm sure the ground the house was built upon was not properly compacted and tested before construction. Add a poor foundation with how cheaply and quickly most of the construction is done here. Their idea of waiting a year, with the time and various temperature changes, could show how much the building will settle and possibly collapse. Of course just because the place didn't fall the first year doesn't mean it will be safe once you add all the live weight.
My gf just recently mentioned this to me. It is true, most new cars vent noxious odors from the plastics and "leathers" but houses? They construct houses differently here than the West, so I would not laugh until I know more information. There is surely a reason why they think this. At any rate, I've seen chinese craftmanship and would not at all be surprised if a house was considered dangerous.
The emulsifier used in Chinese paint is literally poison. This means that while it evaporates you do not want to be in your home. I would guess that most materials used are very low grade. This combined with the Chinese fear for everything means you cannot live in a place until after a year. This is in my opinion a vast exaggeration. We've recently had an apartment painted, the paint might be bad but after a week with the windows open I doubt there is anything dangerous about it left. Kitchen cabinets however reek of some glue or something and will probably require another couple of weeks before I would feel comfortable being in the kitchen without having the windows open.
A while before we moved to China I painted our bathroom back home. It was a standard paint that followed whatever rules there is about that sort of thing, the safety instructions on it pretty much said that "Go to the emergency room if you ingest larger amounts of paint" That is larger amounts, having a shot glass of paint, no problem. When we started the apartment painting project in China, I looked into getting the same paint here. The price would have been many many times higher than the Chinese paint.
In all seriousness, new houses built in China can indeed be dangerous to live in due to the materials being used in the process. You have to be very careful who you hire and make sure you are involved (i.e. regularly showing up unexpected to see what's going on). Companies have been known to cut corners and use cheap and even cancer causing materials in the process. It is suggested you wait at least 6 months (with the windows and all drawers open to let the smell air out) to move in after construction has finished to lessen the health risks no matter the situation.
Dangerous for the first year? No, that's their shelf life. Rule of thumb is 'safe for the first year, dangerous for every year after that'.
Composite wood products are made with formaldehyde, even in North America. In view of its widespread use, toxicity and volatility, exposure to formaldehyde is a significant consideration for human health. It takes a long time to out gas. Paints in China contain lead. Lead is otten used in glazes for dishes also.
WHATTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry ,that does not make sense.
I'm a house designer, so I decided to look into this. I went to a house under construction. I don't know everything that was involved, but I can tell you that I wouldn't move in immediately after completion! It seems that there are no standards or codes for materials. Everything smells toxic and dangerous. The paint is the lowest quality I have ever seen. In the USA, I would never get permission to occupy such a house. It was really an educating experience. I doubt if I will ever buy a house in China, but if I did, I would do my own construction work. I don't trust the system here.
derek:
It's true. We bought a house 6 months ago and still aren't allowed to live in it due to the chemicals contained in the adhesives that were used in the decorating phase. The fumes are unreal.
