Painting a door in our apartment?

They are painting all the doors in our apartment and have to have the door open while they do it. Kirby is in a closed room in the back of the apartment but its only a 3 bedroom and isnt very big anyway. What should I do about him? Im pretty sure the smell of paint could hurt him and they are doing it tomorrow. I dont have any friends with birds and I dont feel comfortable with bird boarders (plus, expensive!)
We are moving in a couple of weeks, should we ask them to push it back?
Or, we have a balcony, would he be safe out there?
If you have any other solutions, tell me. Thanks

You could try sealing the gaps around the bedroom door with a towel and open the window. Maybe even put a box fan in the window at a low speed to pull air in (but not out - that will draw paint fumes in through the cracks around the door). Not sure about the balcony. If there isn't any shade the bird could get overheated.

Will you be home when they paint? If not, I'd advice against the balcony. But if you will be home, you could supervise his stay outside until the smell dissipates some.

Can you point some fans in/out of the doors and windows to get some circulation in? Could help a bit.

Or you can ask them if could use Low VOC paint and make up the excuse that the paint smell makes you ill...Or ask them to come back to do it when you move....Paint smell sticks around and takes awhile to dissipate....But are they just paint the exterior part or are they doing the whole 9 yard with inside and outside of the door? If just exterior, do the towel thing under the bedroom door.

I paint my doors every now and then. I just take the doors off the hinges and paint them outside first thing in the morning on a bright sunny day. By the end of the day, they are dry and relatively scent free. If this isn't possible, open up all the windows in your apartment. The key is air circulation and ventilation.

We just recently decorated our dining room. We had the diningroom window open (very small) and the door to the kitchen and kitchen window open. Birds were kept upstairs with a towel pushed against the door edges to try and block any stray fumes but had the bedroom window open (opposite sides of the house so no 'circulation') windows were cracked open all evening and the dining one through the night too (as bunnys were moved back in there LATE evening.)

We used low VOC paint too, otherwise would have had the birds.

If you can put him on the balcony with a towel covering half his cage so he has shade and a bit of protection, I think that would be best. Rquest low VOC paint though (most are these days as they're more eco friendly!).

Made an image up so you can better see what went on in our house (didn't add the bathroom on to the other side of the kitchen because it wasn't relevant, we do have one though! )


Apparently the "master bedroom" part got jumbled somehow. Supposed to read "Master bedroom: Door sealed off, window open for 'freshness' more than anything. Budgie's, Merlin and our Gerbil kept there as they were most at risk pets. Door not opened during the decorating or for a few hours afterwards.

All our animals were completely fine with this and we did 'scent' check the room every once in a while to see if we could smell any fumes ourselves (big red flag if we can and birds would have been evacuated immediately!). Having lost birds to fumes many years ago (bloody grandparents painting around my budgies :'() I'm all too aware of the dangers! Luckily, like I said. Low VOC paint is more and more common and so if you take all the precautions (like I had done) you should be a-okay with your bird still in the house

For anyone curious by the way: Bunnie's and our Gerbil are housed in the dining room (aka. bunny room) and the birds are housed in the "2nd bedroom". Merlin's just been relocated to share our bedroom again now though and I'm currently more poorly with my health issue so I'm spending time with him through the cage, but still being in bed. But yes, pets all have their own rooms. Spoilt brats

Mayden said:

We just recently decorated our dining room. We had the diningroom window open (very small) and the door to the kitchen and kitchen window open. Birds were kept upstairs with a towel pushed against the door edges to try and block any stray fumes but had the bedroom window open (opposite sides of the house so no 'circulation') windows were cracked open all evening and the dining one through the night too (as bunnys were moved back in there LATE evening.)

We used low VOC paint too, otherwise would have had the birds.

If you can put him on the balcony with a towel covering half his cage so he has shade and a bit of protection, I think that would be best. Rquest low VOC paint though (most are these days as they're more eco friendly!).

Made an image up so you can better see what went on in our house (didn't add the bathroom on to the other side of the kitchen because it wasn't relevant, we do have one though! )

Apparently the "master bedroom" part got jumbled somehow. Supposed to read "Master bedroom: Door sealed off, window open for 'freshness' more than anything. Budgie's, Merlin and our Gerbil kept there as they were most at risk pets. Door not opened during the decorating or for a few hours afterwards.

All our animals were completely fine with this and we did 'scent' check the room every once in a while to see if we could smell any fumes ourselves (big red flag if we can and birds would have been evacuated immediately!). Having lost birds to fumes many years ago (bloody grandparents painting around my budgies :'() I'm all too aware of the dangers! Luckily, like I said. Low VOC paint is more and more common and so if you take all the precautions (like I had done) you should be a-okay with your bird still in the house

For anyone curious by the way: Bunnie's and our Gerbil are housed in the dining room (aka. bunny room) and the birds are housed in the "2nd bedroom". Merlin's just been relocated to share our bedroom again now though and I'm currently more poorly with my health issue so I'm spending time with him through the cage, but still being in bed. But yes, pets all have their own rooms. Spoilt brats

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Wow, thank you for this! We already pushed back the paint day a couple of days because of Kirby. One thing though, im not sure if we can request low VOC paint and the bedroom Kirby is in has the doorknob broken. The front part of the doorknob is off so the fumes could get in through there.
They are doing it at 8 AM. When do you think he could come back in?
Also, I dont think I could leave the door closed that whole time. I get super worried in these kinds of situations and have to check on Kirby every few minutes. Literally. :/
Im probably going to do the balcony thing, but if it takes hours for the smell to leave then that might not be possible. The balcony's window is the only window that would allow the fumes out, but that would make the fumes go strait to Kirby.
By the way, so sorry about your budgies

happycat said:

Wow, thank you for this! We already pushed back the paint day a couple of days because of Kirby. One thing though, im not sure if we can request low VOC paint and the bedroom Kirby is in has the doorknob broken. The front part of the doorknob is off so the fumes could get in through there.
They are doing it at 8 AM. When do you think he could come back in?
Also, I dont think I could leave the door closed that whole time. I get super worried in these kinds of situations and have to check on Kirby every few minutes. Literally. :/
Im probably going to do the balcony thing, but if it takes hours for the smell to leave then that might not be possible. The balcony's window is the only window that would allow the fumes out, but that would make the fumes go strait to Kirby.
By the way, so sorry about your budgies

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It was a very very long time ago, I was very young so I'm "over" it, but thank you .

If you need to be checking on Kirby - then perhaps just stay in the room with him the entire time? Grab a laptop or book or something and just keep yourself occupied when there. Like I said, low VOC is ideal but it's not necessary - chances are it IS low VOC. Perhaps ask to see it when they're beginning to paint and you'll be able to reassure yourself some more . We checked on the budgie's perhaps once through the entire process this last time, but on the rabbits a bit more frequently (every 20 mins or so) during the process because they wern't always caged and they were more 'exposed' to the fumes compared to the budgies.

I've decorated many many times with my budgie's and they've gotten through it just fine. If you're worried about the door, block it with towels - but the door knob (if you're worried about fumes) can be covered with tape or something. A temporary blockage. Or something as easy as blu tack!

If you could maybe show me (via a paint example like I did ) and give us a layout of your apartment, maybe I can suggest something more specific for you. But I think what I've suggested already should be fine. If you're in the room he's in and can't smell the fumes, chances are he'll be alright too. They are mores sensitive than us, but it's a good sign if you can't smell it either.

Oh - and regarding time, would depend on fume content. If it's not low VOC I'd leave the balcony open pretty much all day just to let it properly air out. Low VOC could be maybe just a few hours. But I myself leave all windows and doors open to air out the decorated room for as long as possible (basically until bedtime and then just leave that singular room's window open a tiny smidge) just to be on the safe side. So if you can do that and just keep Kirby in the separate room all day would be best. You can worry less about 'letting fumes in' after an hour or two when the painting is done and so people can come and go more often. But I wouldn't want the prolonged exposure of him being in the room nearest the paint etc without letting it properly air out first.

We heard anything about what happened here?