Healthy home*

The US EPA ranks indoor air pollution among the top five environmental risks to public health.

Unhealthy air is found in up to 30% of new and renovated buildings. Indoor pollutants can be grouped into the following general categories:

• particulates (lead, asbestos, fiberglass, dust)
• combustion gases (carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, hydrocarbons)
• volatile organic compounds or VOCs (formaldehyde, pesticides, vinyl chloride, soil gases)
• tobacco smoke
• moisture and mold

Here are the strategies for each:

• particulates:
  • especially dangerous to small children who play on floors, crawl on carpets, and regularly place their hands in their mouths;
  • reduce air infiltration (air being drawn into the building) from areas that are dusty such as attics, wall cavities, garages, and crawl spaces; we accomplish this by testing for and air sealing a home; if needed, we then ventilate the home using openings to "fresh air" sources.
  • reduce areas covered by carpeting in favor of non-fibrous floor coverings; carpets act as a reservoir for particulates, especially plush and shag carpets. vacuuming hard surface floors will remove almost 100 percent of dust, while vacuuming a carpet typically removes only 30 to 60 percent.
  • use hydronic heating systems rather than forced air systems which move particulates into the home as well as circulating them
• combustion gases
  • your home will have at least one of these fuel-burning appliances:
    • furnace
    • stove/oven
    • water heater
    • fireplace
  • they all emit varying amounts of combustion byproducts the most toxic of which is carbon monoxide (CO). CO results when the appliance does not draft properly, or is out of adjustment.
  • we will inspect and measure the draft pressure and CO concentration of each fuel burning appliance in the home or garage and will create a worst case condition while making these measurements. if a problem is found, you will be notified as part of the Home Wellness Report. If a health problem is found, we will inform you immediately and will disable the device until a qualified technician inspects it.
• volatile organic compounds or VOCs
  • We have all smelled that new car smell or the odors inside a newly built or remodelled home. The smell results when products such as the following offgas:
    • plywood
    • particle board
    • wood paneling
    • carpets and carpet padding
    • insulation
    • paints
    • finishes
    • adhesives
    • heating fuels
    • solvents
    • waxes
    • polishes
    • household cleaners
  • The solution is quite simple. For every product on the market that contain significant amounts of VOCs, there are products of equivalent or superior efficacy having lower VOC content. While it is difficult to have zero VOC products, we will always select the "low VOC" alternative.
• Environmental or second hand tobacco is the smoke that comes from burning cigarettes, pipes, or cigars as well as smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers. This pollutant is a mixture of some 4,000 chemicals, 200 of which are known poisons and more than 50 known cancer-causing agents. Since there is no safe level of exposure to second hand smoke, smoking in the home should be avoided.
• mold and moisture
  • moisture may not be a pollutant, but high or low humidity in a house can make you feel uncomfortable, and can even cause health problems. High moisture levels create a breeding ground for bacteria, viruses, molds, and dust mites, increases offgasing, and can cause a room to feel stuffy. Low moisture levels, on the other hand, can cause high dust levels and respiratory infections.
  • one of the most dangerous effects of high moisture in the home is mold. Molds and mildew (two words meaning the same thing) are simple plants of the fungi family. They grow on the surfaces of objects when the relative humidity (amount of moisture in the air) is high. Mold is commonly assumed to be found only in older homes, but it can be found wherever moisture accumulates, such as basements, kitchens, bathrooms, window sills, carpets, furniture against outside walls, wall cavities, unventilated storage areas, laundry rooms, or where leaks have occurred. As a rule of thumb, if you can smell it, you have mold.
  • We will attempt to find the source of the moisture and remove it. Some examples are:
    • a stucco screed too low to outside grade level so that moisture from the soil wicks up the stucco and penetrates into wall cavities.
    • plants draping against exterior walls
    • sprinklers not adjusted properly spraying walls
    • roof overhangs which do not extend far enough over a wall to protect it
    • irrigation runoff wicking up through a slab or footing

*Much of this information came from Green Remodeling by David Johnston and Kim Master; see Books for more details.