Woman spends 10 months clearing up home contaminated by mattress

A woman has detailed the difficulties she and her family have been through after their home was contaminated with fiberglass.

Laura Monnett lives in a four-bedroom house with her husband and three children in Kentucky, and has been dealing with a 10-month-long struggle of gutting her home and getting everything new after the fiberglass in a memory foam mattress caused the contamination.

“It has been an incredibly traumatic and life-changing experience for my family,” she told Newsweek. “There have been so many people who have commented or messaged me who have dealt with, or are dealing with, the same thing.”

Monnett shared a video to Instagram detailing exactly what happened and how she and her family have had to deal with it. Fiberglass is often used in mattresses as a flame retardant, but it can pose a risk to humans if it escapes from the mattress and is touched or inhaled.

In the footage, which has received 1.2 million views since it was first shared on Instagram on November 12, shows the family’s home before and after the contamination, as well as some of the physical symptoms they experienced as a result of fiberglass exposure.

Monnett had removed the cover from the mattress, which had then moved through multiple rooms of the house before they were aware that the fiberglass has escaped. She didn’t realize that the “webbing looking stuff was fiberglass”.

“This has been much more devastating than when we lost everything in a house fire in 2011,” she wrote in the video’s caption. “Because we have also had to throw away a lot of new stuff because of cross contamination. we’ve spent close to $15,000 total now (money we definitely didn’t have).

“We are about halfway through, and have learned a lot.”

The short compilation of clips shows red patches on Monnett’s arms and legs, as well as her chest. Viewers also see her and her husband wearing hazmat suits to get rid of everything in the house, from furniture to décor to even the paint on the walls.

“I was unaware of the extent to which fiberglass in a memory foam mattress can alter one’s life before it happened to me, and I’m hoping to raise awareness to help prevent others from dealing with the same nightmare.”

The National Capital Poison Center says that exposure to fiberglass can lead to lung disease, bleeding and scarring on the skin. Those who think they have been exposed to fiberglass can use the center’s chat service or call 1-800-222-1222 for free.

Many people took to the comments section of Monnett’s video to share their thoughts and similar experiences.

“I didn’t even know they were made of fiberglass,” said @grow_with_the_scotsman. “I’m happy to say I never found them comfortable but will pass this information on.”

“The best $800 I’ve ever spent was on a natural latex mattress. It is made of just latex, cotton, and wool,” @tasya.farias said. “It weighs a ton but there is zero fiberglass in it, and once I’m done with it, it will return to the earth instead of staying around forever.”

Offering some words of comfort, @crazyuniverse18 said: “I know it’s not much now but at least try to think back to when this all first happened and the huge wave of not knowing what to do or how to start and then take a deep breath and look at the progress you got so far. Take a minute to congratulate yourself on getting this far and just try to trust you’ll make it to the end of the health ordeal.”

Has your home ever turned into a nightmare? Whether it’s a burst pipe, unexpected renovations gone wrong, or any other house disaster, we want to hear your story. Let us know via [email protected], and your experience could be featured on Newsweek.