# Contact Cement Fumes



## SundayST (Oct 30, 2015)

I am hoping someone can help me with this. I saw some previous posts about contact cement safety, and someone even mentioned that they use it with felt (putting felt in drawers). I helped make a mask for my son's Halloween costume, using DAP contact cement to glue the felt together with other materials. (It covered over plastic and duct tape if that matters.)

It has been finished since Tuesday evening, and it'd now Friday evening, and the mask STILL smells icky. I don't want to send him out breathing glue fumes, of course, and I was thinking the cement would be dry in three DAYS. Is there anything I can do to dry it faster? Would a hair dryer help or hurt (or start a fire?!?)

Is the residue smell harmful? Or should all the solvents/dangerous things have evaporated by now?

I'm a complete novice at crafts.

Thank you for ANY help.


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## wapakfred (Jul 29, 2011)

This is strictly a guess, and there will be more experienced answers…but I'm thinking the porous nature of the materials is allowing the off gassing to be so noticeable. I also think it would be a bad thing to breathe the fumes. I am fairly certain some moving air would speed the process up, but whether it would be fast enough for Halloween is questionable. Just a fan blowing on it might help.


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## WoodNSawdust (Mar 7, 2015)

I would not breath the fumes if I could avoid them.

Like Fred suggested try getting some air movement (fan). Also try warming the mask with a heating pad, heat lamp, etc.


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## SundayST (Oct 30, 2015)

Thank you! For the quick replies. We are going to go with Plan B (an entirely different costume) and save the mask for the school's book character costume contest, which will be a few weeks away and plenty of time to clear the fumes. When I got some heat and air on it (blow dryer), it started really smelling…which a family member that used to use this on the job said is good in terms of curing the mask, because it means the heat is releasing the chemicals…but bad from a wearing the mask perspecitve because apparently there's still lots of solvent in there or off-gas. 

Thank you for the tips and helping make our Halloween choice safe. I appreciate it.


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## Mahdeew (Jul 24, 2013)

With contact cement both side should be tacky dry before application. The fumes are pretty nasty and do cause disorientation sort of high.


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