Guess what?

I managed to breathe in mercury vapors... possibly. I decided to wash the back of an old mirror (bad idea in general) and used very warm water, accidentally. I noticed a sweet smell and that the mercury silvering started to flake off. I stopped the washing after that.

I read somewhere that certain mercury vapors have a sweet smell. I don't know if that was it, or the smell of the paint and wax I had used for the frame some time ago. Can warm water cause mirror mercury to become a vapor? It's apparently very harmful to breathe in, so I guess we'll have to wait and find out what happens.

Sometimes I think about quitting, not starting any kind of restoration projects... for safety's sake.

 

I'm sure you'll be fine.
Just check for things like nausea, breathlessness, palpitations.

There was another thread about mercury, and it turned out many of us had played with it as children, and we're fine.
I think.....

 

I'm not yet sure what's psychosomatic and what is not.

 

Go outside, take a deep breath, go for a short walk, and see how you feel when you come back. Take your phone with you just in case.
If you can't do those things, call a doctor.

 

Bluemoon, as far as I know, mercury is not soluble in water, and I'm sure that the water was not hot enough to make a difference. Mercury boils into a vapor at 356.73 °C (674.11 °F).
In other words, I don't think you're been exposed to mercury vapor.
As AJ has suggested, some fresh air will probably leave you feeling better.
Take care!
-C-

 

I just read an article that indicates that mercury vapor is odorless.

 

I think that is at room temperature, I don't know what it is like when you use very hot water like bluemoon did.

Oops, SBSVC already answered that.

 

Hi,
Just wanted to say, I remove old silver from mirrors using straight bleach. Talk about fumes. Try to do it outside. Inside will make you feel terrible. I do not like the tarnished messy look to old mirrors. I remove the silver, keep the glass and place a very thin piece of mirror behind the glass. It is the glass that is valuable. I know people have some mirrors resilvered. There is too much of a chance of braking the glass when resilvering.
greg

 

You wouldn't like one mirror I have, it's darkened and so tarnished, there's barely any silvering left.

 

How are you feeling now?

 

Other than being stressed and a bit more nervous than usual, I haven't noticed anything drastically different for now.

 

Good to hear that. It is probably the stress of the situation, but I think you'll be fine. Treat yourself to some me-time, do whatever is best for you.

 

You can scare yourself into symptoms. If you think you are sick, you will be.
Tell yourself you are fine, go outside like Any said, take a walk or sit and read for awhile. Think of other things.

 

Anytime I was feeling ill my Mom gave me a cup of tea with whiskey in it! Of course nowadays she would be hauled off to jail for that!

 

Any ill effects so far ?

 

Not that I have noticed. Thanks for the concern and advice everyone.

 

There is no mercury in a mirror