Healthy House: Improve Indoor Air Quality while Improving Your
Quality of Life
by Leia Sims
The quality of air we breathe has a direct impact on our health, well-being,
and ultimately, our life. Many people are concerned with the air quality
outdoors, and with good reason. It often contains toxins from smog, acid
rain, and automobile emissions. Laws to improve air quality have been
instituted, such as power plant emission standards and more stringent
mileage requirements for newly developed vehicles.
Homes are typically thought to be a safe place, however, indoor air quality
can be significantly more polluted and less healthy than outdoors. Since
the average person spends more than 90 percent of their time indoors,
65 percent of which is in their own home, improving indoor air quality
(IAQ) becomes a high priority for enhancing the quality of life.
Before we begin scaring you about the demons of indoor air quality, let’s
review some of the simple tips to make your home healthier with this checklist.
Healthy Home Tips
Reduce the use of carpeting in your homes, these can be great collectors
dirt, soot, chemicals, and who knows what else tracked into your homes.
Change your vacuum to a High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter
model, which removes 99.97 percent of airborne particles down to 0.3 microns
in diameter.
Use that same vacuum to facilitate dusting in the house, to remove airborne
particles that may be allergens (you will notice you sneeze less when
you use the HEPA vacuum).
Stop bringing poisonous chemicals into your home; use cleaning products
adopted by greenseal.org or other more stringent standards.
Use a more efficient filter on your furnace, and change it regularly.
Stop disinfecting everything, and masking smells with heavily perfumed
scents, try more neutral cleaners without strong odors.
Use house plants to help filter the air and provide more oxygen.
Wipe your feet before you come into the house, and have a series of shoe
and boot cleaners on the way in (experts call these walk-off mats). Once
inside, remove your shoes and keep them by the door.
Bring more fresh air into your homes and get more of the excess moisture
out, although there may be an energy penalty to adding more fresh air
into the home and running the bath and kitchen fan another 20 minutes,
it will remove the moisture and smells that are the root of many IAQ issues.
Following is a partial list of common indoor air pollutants, harmful effects
they have on occupants, where they can be found, and methods for reducing
your exposure to these toxins.
Dust: Symptoms of excessive dust include runny nose,
sneezing, and muscle spasms. Dust contains a variety of toxins from paints,
building materials, smoke, etc. It can irritate allergies and asthma,
and may also be a leading reason these conditions develop.
Where is it found?
Dust is found everywhere. It can be found in carpet fibers, pet dander,
deteriorating finishes and furniture. Carpeting, bedding, and even children’s
stuffed animals are breeding grounds for dust mites; these microscopic
creatures feed on your skin residue, then leave their excrement in your
bedding and carpet.
Reduce your exposure. Keeping the home clean is important to reduce the
amount of dust. Properly sealing your home and installing a properly designed
ventilation system will reduce the amount of dust entering from outside.
Vacuuming and dusting may eliminate many particulates. If you vacuum without
a HEPA vacuum, you make these particles airborne. Cleaning bedding materials
often helps reduce dust mites, as does frequent HEPA vacuuming.
Carbon Monoxide (CO): It is colorless, odorless and tasteless;
without a monitoring unit it is impossible to know it is in your home.
CO is a leading cause of accidental deaths in America and is known as
the “Silent Killer.” The Center for Disease Control estimates
that CO claims nearly 500 lives and causes more than 15,000 visits to
hospital emergency rooms annually.
Problems as a result of CO exposure include brain damage, headaches, hallucinations
and dizziness. Early symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as headaches,
nausea and fatigue, are often mistaken for the flu because the deadly
gas may go undetected in a home.
Where is it found?
CO and other gases including nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide are a
result of incomplete burning of fuels in combustion equipment (furnaces,
boilers, stoves, dryers, fireplaces). Incomplete combustion is attributed
to improperly vented appliances and ducts, that may lead to back-drafting
or spilling of combustion products back into the house rather than up
the chimney. Combustion equipment should be vented to the outside.
Reduce your exposure. All buildings with combustion equipment should have
a carbon monoxide detector near the equipment as well as near the sleeping
areas. If your equipment has not been checked with combustion analysis
tools and you regularly have headaches or nausea in your home, have your
HVAC service technician or a Building Performance Institute (BPI) certified
contractor do diagnostic testing. When replacing your furnace consider
using a sealed combustion venting system to reduce the potential of back-drafting.
Additionally, tobacco smoke contains CO and will add to the CO levels
in the ambient air. So, don’t smoke, especially inside your home.
Lead: It is most harmful to children under age six when
ingested, and the most common form of ingestion is through dust. Lead
impairs mental and physical development in growing children, and has been
diagnosed as a source for attention deficit disorder. Women of childbearing
age should be careful about lead exposure because it can travel from their
bloodstream into the fetus, resulting in developmental problems. Children
should be tested regularly for elevated lead levels in their blood. When
lead dust enters the body it will damage the kidneys, red blood cells,
and ultimately accumulate in the bones. It can be re-released into the
bloodstream replicating the original exposure.
Where is it found?
Lead is found in paint in old buildings, notably on
window and door frames, baseboard radiators, and walls. Lead was used
in plumbing pipes pre-1950. Some plumbing connections in modern homes
(up to 1980) used lead solder. Urban areas are at a higher risk for lead
exposure because they have older buildings and automobiles. Lead used
to be included in fuel, and the particulates are spread around and make
their way into homes, water and food.
Reduce your exposure. If you live in a house built before 1980 the paint
should be tested for lead content, most importantly on friction surfaces
such as windows and doors. Simple testing kits are available at hardware
and home-improvement stores. Water should be tested if children are found
to have elevated lead levels. Removing your shoes will minimize the spread
of lead and other particulates that may have been collected from outside.
Newer toys, and in particular, many tested over the last few years from
China, have been found to have elevated lead levels.
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs): These are chemicals
that release harsh smells, for example, the scent of drying paint and
finishes. VOCs lead to increased greenhouse gases, air pollution, and
contaminated waterways. They can cause eye, nose, and throat irritation;
headaches, loss of coordination, nausea; damage to liver, kidney, and
central nervous system. Some VOCs can cause cancer in animals; some are
suspected or known to cause cancer in humans.
Key signs or symptoms associated with exposure to VOCs include conjunctival
irritation, nose and throat discomfort, headache, allergic skin reaction,
dyspnea, declines in serum cholinesterase levels, nausea, vomiting, nosebleeds,
fatigue and dizziness.
Where is it found?
VOCs are found in the following household items: paints, paint strippers,
and other solvents; wood preservatives; aerosol sprays; cleansers and
disinfectants; moth repellents and air fresheners; stored fuels and automotive
products; hobby supplies; dry-cleaned clothing.
Reduce your exposure. Choose products that do not contain VOCs. When sealing
up the home it is important to avoid VOCs, as there will be fewer air
changes per hour in your homes.
Formaldehyde: A colorless, pungent-smelling gas, formaldehyde
has been proven to cause cancer in animals and may cause cancer in humans.
Health effects include eye, nose, and throat irritation; wheezing and
coughing; fatigue; skin rash; severe allergic reactions.
Where is it found?
Formaldehyde is found in pressed wood products made with adhesives that
contain urea-formaldehyde (UF) resins. Pressed wood products made for
indoor use include: particleboard (used as sub-flooring and shelving,
and in cabinetry and furniture); hardwood plywood paneling (used for decorative
wall covering, and used in cabinets and furniture); and medium-density
fiberboard (used for drawer fronts, cabinets, and furniture tops). Cigarette
smoke and fiberglass insulation contain formaldehyde.
Reduce your exposure. Choose building products that do not include formaldehyde.
Increase ventilation to assist in getting the formaldehyde out of the
building.
Tobacco Smoke: Firsthand and secondhand tobacco smoke
is extremely harmful. It contains a mix of 4,000 chemicals, 50 are cancer-causing.
In the United States 3,000 nonsmokers die each year from lung cancer.
Where is it found?
Secondhand smoke lingers in a building and leads to severe health problems.
Reduce your exposure. At this point nearly half of the states in this
country have banned smoking in public places. Banning smoking in your
own home is the best way to protect yourself from the poisonous chemicals.
Quitting smoking is very important.
Asbestos: The only way to detect that a material contains
asbestos, which is a mineral fiber, is with a microscope. Asbestos can
lead to increased risk of lung cancer, mesothelioma – a cancer of
the lining of the chest and the abdominal cavity, and asbestosis –
lungs are scarred with fibrous tissue.
Where is it found?
It is not in any manufactured home products today, yet may be
in some older ones like siding and flooring of older homes. Up until the
1970s, many building products contained asbestos including – steam
pipes, boilers, and furnace ducts insulated with asbestos blanket or tape.
Asbestos was in resilient floor tiles, the backing on vinyl sheet flooring,
and adhesives used for installing floor tile. It was found in cement sheets
and paper used as insulation on furnaces, door gaskets on furnaces and
wood stoves. It was in patching and joint compound and textured paints.
Asbestos roofing shingles and siding, and artificial ashes and embers
were commonly used. Asbestos is still used today for automobile brake
pads and linings.
Reduce your exposure. Usually the best thing to do with asbestos is to
leave it alone. If there is material in an exposed area that you think
might be asbestos, have a professional take a sample and have it tested.
If it is in fact asbestos, let a trained contractor handle it. If you
plan to do renovation/construction in an area that is believed to have
asbestos, have it tested before disrupting the material.
Mold/Moisture: Mold often develops as a result of moisture
that is not properly ventilated from the home and condenses on nutrient
surfaces. Primarily, mold is unsightly, but some molds can lead to respiratory
problems for the occupants and if left unchecked, has the potential of
deteriorating your home.
Where is it found?
Mold develops mainly in kitchens, bathrooms and where moisture collects
in the home, either trying to get out or unintentionally getting in from
the outside.
Reduce your exposure. Proper ventilation systems, especially in areas
where there is moisture (kitchens and bathrooms) will enable your home
to dry out effectively. Sealing up your home properly will reduce the
ability of moisture to enter. Leave shower curtains in closed positions
to reduce mold. Open washing machine doors and glass shower doors to enable
the wetness to dry and reduce potential of mold growth. (see Mold Alert
article on page 32 of this issue).
Taking care that your home or building is healthy will give you many benefits
including increased comfort, economic savings from more energy efficiency,
reduced impact on the environment and peace of mind knowing that your
building is healthier for you and the other occupants.
Leia Sims is a consultant with Steven Winter Associates, Inc., and is Building Performance Institute certified. She can be reached at lsims@swinter.com.
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