Had my asphalt driveway repaved last year and had seal coating sprayed last week. When they came to seal coat I put my car in the garage and shut the garage door thinking that any odor would stay mainly outside. Was told that I could drive on my newly seal coated driveway in 24 hours. So the next day I went to the garage to pull out my car and the odor in both the car and garage was out of this world. One walk through the garage and my whole body and clothes smelled terribly. A minute or two in the garage would immediately make me feel like vomiting, give a headache, make me dizzy, eyes burning, and throat hoarse. Its an odor I never smelled before that was so potent. I tried leaving the garage door open daily hoping to rid the odor and sprayed neutralizing deodorent to no avail as the odor is very, very strong. My car is not driveable yet as the smell is in it the same and am leaving the windows open around the clock to air it out. The smell is now continuing to seep through the house.
Any suggestions as to what I may buy or do to get rid of this toxic and strong smelling odor would be very gratefully appreciated.

 

Call the company that did the job. If that gets you no where call your local Hazmat non-emergency number and talk to them.

 

I'm not an expert on this at all, but the first question I would ask would be directed at the paving company. Warm air inside your garage would escape and pull in replacement air, ie the fumes from whatever solvent might have been in the sealer. A high sulfur content would have a rotten egg smell, which is very pungent.

Doubtful they will fess up, so you might want to bring someone in to test while it is strong.

GL
Bud

 

Fresh air circulation usually works best for removing fumes. Can you set some fans in the garage? are there any windows? or maybe an exterior service door?

Did they spray only? or did they also use a squeege or roller? Spraying only colors the asphalt, the sealer needs to be worked in with a squeege, roller or brush in order for it to seal the asphalt.

 

marksr

They only sprayed the driveway. Would you happen to know what checmical they put in driveway sealer that would make the smell? Could it be sulfur and how do you get rid of sulfur

 

I don't know a lot about driveway sealers
The most popular sealers are waterbased but it sounds like they used the solvent based formula. I think it's coal oil based but don't know for sure. I don't know if any of them have any sulfur or not.