# What exactly is making current occupants sick in former "meth lab" houses? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 23, 2012, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-making-current-occupants-sick-in-former-meth-lab-houses/638591 "2012-10-23T03:17:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-making-current-occupants-sick-in-former-meth-lab-houses/638591/1 "2012-10-23T03:17:07Z")
I would think that any solvents would probably have long ago completely dissipated, I guess actual methamphetamine is a possibility(one news story mentions dry mouth as a symptom the family was experiencing) but it seems hard to believe enough would become airborne. Other things like red phosphorus and iodine? > **[Meth Rehab: Former labs a nightmare for unwitting homebuyers](https://www.foxnews.com/us/meth-rehab-former-labs-a-nightmare-for-unwitting-homebuyers)** > > Soon after John Bates and his wife moved into their first home, the euphoria of realizing the American Dream gave way to a nightmare of foul odors, unexplained illnesses and spiraling costs. It makes vague claims, the only direct claim is iodine stains and human feces. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-making-current-occupants-sick-in-former-meth-lab-houses/638591/2 "2012-10-23T03:45:23Z")
A friend, K, who works as a rental agent at a local real estate agency was telling me about their meth lab nightmare when one of their tenants was busted. By law the house had to be decontaminated before it could go back on the rental market and this meant removing every porous surface in the house - plaster walls, counter tops, floor coverings, everything. The place was basically gutted. They were permitted to retain and reinstall the stove after it was cleaned and decontaminated as it was non-porous (I think the wall heater was allowed to stay too). Much of the top soil in the backyard had to be taken away and replaced too because it tested positive for high amounts of chemical residue - the residents used to take their equipment out and rinse it under the tap in the backyard. The tenant was said to be a seemingly respectable middle aged woman with good rental references. K said the whole lab fit into a wheeled bin and when they had their six monthly rental inspections, they’d just wheeled it into a cupboard. Until the place was raided, the agency didn’t suspect a thing. I realise this doesn’t answer your question about what exactly was making them sick, but there was a world of difference between the article’s “fresh coat of paint” and K’s tale of demolishing the interior of the house. If the Aussie way isn’t an extreme overreaction, then it’s no wonder the new residents were getting sick. K stressed _every_ porous surface and I’m sure she said they did extensive testing to determine the extent of the contamination, which backed up the need to rip it all out and start over. ---
**Author:** ![John\_H\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9bcb4/32.png) [@John\_H\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_H_1)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-making-current-occupants-sick-in-former-meth-lab-houses/638591/3 "2012-10-23T03:54:13Z")
A response by Michael Rowzee in the comment section of [this article](http://scienceline.org/2010/04/are-you-living-in-a-former-meth-lab/) has some very good detailed info. > [@](#): > > Some of the residues from manufacturing meth are extremely hazardous. These may include volatile forms of iodine (hydrogen iodide, methyl iodide, elemental iodine), volatile forms of chlorine (hydrogen chloride, radical chlorine), and red phosphorus. Red phosphorus emits phosphine when exposed to moisture including high humidity. Not all meth labs leave these compounds. A seldom-used method can leave mercury. Other contaminants can be left behind but these I’ve listed are typically the most hazardous. Methamphetamine can be hazardous if the concentration is high enough. The most vulnerable are children below the age of 2. The method used to decontaminate is important. Painting or other encapsulation measures are normally insufficient to contain iodine, phosporus, and mercury vapors. These three contaminants are extremely hazardous but rarely tested for. The method used to decontaminate is very important. Washing materials from walls, etc. then vacuuming contaminants from the floor can leave contaminants in subflooring. At a minimum, washing should be followed by removal of absorbent floor materials. Another method, demolition, may also be insufficient to decontaminate. For example, where a meth lab is used in an unfinished basement, a protocol directing removal of sheetrock, flooring, cabinets, ducts, and the furnace, then painting all remaining materials may leave occupants at a dangerous risk. Removing the least-contaminated materials and painting over the most-contaminated materials is not a reasonable decontamination effort. Some people attempt decontamination with extremely high concentrations of sodium hypochlorite. I recently decontaminated one of these sites to abate the radical chlorine emitted from the hypochlorite residue. A dwelling where someone smoked methamphetamine is not a meth lab. The lowest pre-decontamination test result I’ve seen at a confirmed meth lab is 15 micrograms (15ug). Where a dwelling was or may have been a meth lab, a protocol capable of decontaminating meth lab residues, not just methamphetamine, should be used. And decontamination should be followed by testing, at a minimum, for meth lab chemicals such as iodine, chlorine, phosphorus, and in some instances – mercury. Testing after decontaminating a meth lab is only appropriate where a decontaminating protocol capable of decontaminating the most hazardous residues is used. The most hazardous meth lab chemicals are far easier to decontaminate than methamphetamine. Testing only for methamphetamine makes sense if a protocol capable of decontaminating the extremely hazardous but easy to decompose chemicals is used. If the difficult-to-decompose methamphetamine is gone, you can be assured the other residues were gone long before. ---
**Author:** ![C6541](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90db22/32.png) [@C6541](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C6541)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2012, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-making-current-occupants-sick-in-former-meth-lab-houses/638591/4 "2012-10-23T04:24:51Z")
If they use the older phenylacetone method it can also make the house have a strong fish odor (methylamine), which makes it really hard to live in.