Mobile homes are inherently toxic, thats is a goal of mine to design
one with good materials. Will keep you posted. But an older one is
certainly better than a new one.

For any kind of sealants look at AFM products; they also have caulks i
believe.
http://www.afmsafecoat.com/products.php?page=2
For alternative products also look at www.natl-life.com

The alternative is to remove anything that is offensive, not cover it up.

If you can find a local green building supplier, you can always try
small samples of these products, remember everyone is different so
there are no absolute solutions.

A product that seems to work for everyone - is alumna foil. Its not
pretty, you cant paint it, but it seals and it doesnt ofgass.
Here is a good list of these materials - i used to sell green building
materials so this is from my old website
http://www.andresschulz.com/clients/environmentaldepot/insulation.htm

Again, if any of these interest you, talk to the people at
natl-life.com or another green building supplier.

Hope this helps. Sorry for the delayed response, im working a project
in Africa!

thanks
andy

--- In buildhealthy@yahoogroups.com, Gretchen Greene
<gretchengreene@...> wrote:
>
> Hello,
> We have an acoustical ceiling in a mobile home...it appears to
made from a paper product. We need to use a stain blocker, then paint
the ceiling. We know of Bin by Zinser for stainblocking. The ceiling
is now painted with 'flat' paint.
>
> Also, we are going to paint the closets with a formeldehyde
blocking product. We have used Bin in the past. My husband is very
sensitive to it, so is there another product you'd recommend?
>
> We are also redoing the floors. Some areas of the subfloor
(fiberboard) will need patching. We have plywood, which seems o.k.
for us.
>
> Also, the shelves in the closets are made from a fiberboard
material which seems to be coated. Should we replace the shelves with
Fir which does not outgas?
>
> We will need to use caulk, wood filler, and other products to
repair, maintain and upgrade this home. (It is a 1975 Viking mobile
home).
>
> Of course, it is not insulated well...is there a product we could
affix to the paneling, like a wall paper? Some people replace the
paneling with drywall, but I don't know if we could do that and live
in here at the same time.
>
> People recommend that we replace this old home with a new one
(toxic!), but we are in a situation in which our HOA is not friendly,
so we feel that we have no choice but to fix this up and eventually
sell it and then move to our 'non-toxic' home.
>
> Thanks for any information.
>