Green Remodel Forum

Clean Air Helps Make A Home Healthy

In this day and age, most people spend 80% or more of time indoor. A large part of that indoor time is in one’s home. It makes sense to ensure that the home provides an environment that is comfortable and healthy. Because we breathe all the time, air quality is the most important health aspect of a house. Unfortunately, the EPA has found that the air quality in a home is often 10 times worse than that outdoor. There are many reasons for poor indoor air quality.

• Building materials that contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Engineered wood, such as particle boards, may contain formaldehyde, which is a known carcinogen, as binding material. Carpets may contain brominated and chlorinated stain-resistant and fire-retardant additives. Paints may contain VOCs.
• Furniture that contains VOCs and toxic materials. Engineered wood used in furniture may have similar VOCs as building materials. Fire-retardants such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are known to cause health problems, such as affecting learning, memory, and regulation of hormone release. PBDEs pose greatest risk to infants and young children.
• Air leaked from attic, crawl space and attached garage into living quarters. Attic and crawl space may contain dust, mold, and bacteria from rodent feces that can cause respiratory problems. Car exhaust in an attached garage can be hazardous if leaked into the house.
• Water leaks and excessive moisture in the house enables mold to grow. Mold is a common cause of respiratory problems.
• Backdrafts from gas furnaces, gas water heaters, wood or gas fireplaces, and gas clothes dryers may increase the level of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide in the living space. Carbon dioxide reduces the amount of available oxygen while carbon monoxide is outright toxic. Backdrafts can happen when exhaust fans in kitchen or bathroom or clothes dryer are in use. Furnace, water heater or fireplace flues are the most convenient locations where air enters the house to make up for the exhausted air.

These causes of poor air can be avoided or the problems mitigated by taking proper actions during a remodel.

• Use building materials that contain zero or minimal amount of VOC and toxic additives. These include the choices of framing material, walls, insulation, carpets, paints, cabinets, etc. For more details of some of these materials, see the section on This forum provides you with resources about home renovation, improvement, makeover and repair topics such as bathroom design, construction, countertop selection, drainage, drought tolerant landscape, drought tolerant plants, flooring, heating system, home appliances, home design, home performance, hot water heater, interior design, kitchen remodel, mold removal, non-toxic material, rain water collection, remodel planning, retrofit, roof tiles, solar hot water, solar panel, solar system, water conservation, window replacement, and many others. While we focus on issues in California, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Jose, Oakland, Alameda, Berkeley, Cupertino, Danville, Fremont, Menlo Park, Mill Valley, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Pleasanton, San Rafael, Sonoma, most information is applicable in all parts of USA as well as the rest of the world.