Reminder: absolutely no chemistry training other than high school science!
So....I am getting my basement concrete floor polished professionally in my little house. The contractor added a densifier to the concrete, as seems to be the typical routine when concrete polishing.
The densifier contains basically 3 ingredients: lithium silicate, water, and alcohol ethoxylate.
After a little bit of research, I found that the alcohol ethoxylate can be commonly contaminated with 1-4 dioxane and ethylene oxide during manufacturing.
Both of these are toxins and carcinogens.
My question is, how can I know if this particular product contains these contaminants? Is that even possible?
And my second question is, even if it does contain both or traces of both, does this create any safety concern once the densifier has been applied and cured properly? Can these two byproducts penetrate skin or enter the air after the densifier is hardened into the concrete? I don’t understand the chemistry here so I’m trying to identify any risk in these materials in a residential setting. I have a 4 year old daughter and don’t want any strange or dangerous chemicals as a result of this process. Basically, is there anything I should be worried about here from a health and safety standpoint that we could be exposed to going forward because of this densifier?
This is the product: SDS and other sheets and info available at the link.
https://can.sika.com/en/construction/floors-walls/concrete-accessories/decorative-concreteandaccessories/scofield-formulaonelithiumdensifiermp.html
Thank you in advance!
