I'm not saying that you aren't having a reaction to the fumes...it's entirely possible that you are sensitive to those. But, it *may* be coincidence...with the cold snap happening so many places, most of us have furnaces that are working much more than what we are usually used to.

And furnaces normally blow very dry air - this leads to the mucus-y lining that normally covers in your sinus areas being dried out...and that will give you a bloody nose and slightly sore throat. I'm wondering if you run a humidifier in the house if you will find that you have less issues.

When they put down our sealer, the fumes were pretty bad for a day, but in spite of extremely cold weather at that time, I opened some windows. One had a fan put in it to exhaust and the other was opened a crack to let (cold, but fresh) air in. I also turned on our bathroom exhaust fan. I would have done so with the kitchen exhaust fan, but we are redoing the kitchen and that's not in.

Depends on the finish and ventilation but the fumes won't out last the dust you will continue find from sanding : )

Oil based poly stinks longer than water based. What did you use?

Ours smelled horrible for about 3 days, to the point where we stayed with friends. I have a fairly sensitive nose and could smell it for about a month, but it decreased a lot after 3 days.

I think I must be extra sensitive, as I just returned from a ski trip where it was very cold and dry and had no nose issues. It was warm enough to leave the windows open today, and we've even put one of those window fans in a window to really draw the air through, so hopefully I won't have the issues tomorrow morning. I still smell something, but way less than a few days ago.

I bet a humidifier would help me in any case, thanks for the suggestion!!

you are not overly sensitive. oil based poly fumes are very volatile and can last weeks f you cannot leave the house open.

My parents insisted on this finish when I was a kid, and redid it three times in the many years they owned the home they built. my father worked for builders.

there are now acrylic finishes which cure with two parts that are water based like bona traffic with little to no fumes.

I hate to say it, but we had 3 coats of oil based poly and I swear the fumes lasted for weeks, even months. We had the floors refinished while we were not living in the house, but when we moved in almost a month after they refinished, we still smelled the fumes. Not an eye-watering scent, but it was the first thing people mentioned when they came over to see the house.

If you're having trouble with fumes, putting baking soda and charcoal in the room might help absorb some of the odors

be aware that the smell can permeate any food you cook, too. I do recall my mother trashing batches of muffins and bread - she used to do baking in bulk.

When we had our new white oak floor finished in our new kitchen, the smell was AWFUL!!! We were prohibited to enter our house for a full 12 hours after the first coat was put on. When we came up to the house, we could smell it outside the house!! The floor people had told us we could return to occupy the house after 3 days. HA! When we entered 12 hours later to just look at the floor, the smell was like nothing we had ever imagined! Our throats tightened and burned and our eyes were weeping! My DH likened it to tear gas in the Navy! We just glanced at it and left immediately.

Two days later we went back to open some windows to create some cross ventilation. It was still VERY smelly. Too smelly for me. We basically stayed away (camping on air mattresses at my parents house) for 6 days. I am very sensitive to smells, so someone less sensitive might have been able to go back in a little sooner, but not much sooner. Our finish was an oil based product and it was extremely smelly. We were prohibited to turning on the furnace so dust and lint particles would not adhere to the just finished floor. It could have taken less time to cure if the outside weather would have been warmer. We just happened to coincide the floor finishing with the coldest weather we had to date of 19 degrees ! I'm sure that didn't help.

After we came back home a week later, the smell lingered for a few weeks more, but thankfully not at the intensity of the first few days!! I opened windows every day, weather permitting, and was able to use the furnace too. That helped a lot! I'd say that there was a faint smell for about a month.

I hate to say it, but three weeks later we repeated the above process with the second coat of sealer. Yucko smelly again!

The end result was a beautiful oak floor in our new kitchen.

In the future, we would like to refinish our original 90 year old white oak floors in the LR, DR and hall. They have the original finish from 1925! I think we may have to move out for that project! OMG!!! I can honestly say that we are not rushing into that project just yet!!! :)