before the twins became ill.
A basement renovation.
Waterproofing.
New wall treatment.
“What am I looking at?”
“The product.”
He pointed.
Commercial sealant.
Solvent-based.
Applied beneath the east wing.
Directly below the boys’ rooms.
My stomach tightened.
“Could that smell travel upstairs?”
“Maybe through old chases.”
“Why wasn’t it in the environmental report?”
“The basement was excluded because air samples were normal after shutdown.”
“Did anyone test building materials?”
“No.”
I stared.
Another possible layer.
“Show Maya.”
“Already did.”
Good.
She ordered material testing.
The sealant contained a solvent that could off-gas for months if incorrectly mixed.
The contractor had documented an application problem.
A batch cured slowly.
It had supposedly been removed.
But not all of it.
A section remained behind finished walls.
Would that explain two years of illness?
Probably not alone.
But combined with poor ventilation, ozone, fragrance concentrate?
Maya called it:
“An exposure stack.”
That phrase
