Indoor Air Quality

There is ample research showing that indoor air quality is a real issue. According to the American Medical Association, “50% of all illness is caused or aggravated by polluted indoor air.” Much of our work addresses the issues that are directly related to the root cause of indoor air quality problems. Reducing high humidity levels in the house, adequate indoor ventilation, properly functioning combustion appliances, minimizing chemical storage are all important considerations that impact the health and safety of your home.

According to the U.S. EPA there are three basic strategies to improve indoor air quality

1. Source Control
2. Improved Ventilation
3. Air cleaners

Our work address all three of these indoor air quality issues.

1. Source Control: if you have issues with mold or mildew growth in your home or crawlspace then source control is the first measure to take. In these situations we often find that the crawlspace is moist for long period of times which causes high humidity and mold growth. By installing a french drain and vapor barrier in the crawlspace we can prevent the moisture from entering the crawlspace and diffusing into the home. For mold to grow it needs a food source, the right temperature and moisture. Eliminating the moisture makes the mold become dormant.
2. Improved Ventilation: most homes are so leaky that they don’t need whole-house mechanical ventilation. However, one retrofitting a house and make it air-tight, mechanical ventilation or heat recovery systems may be necessary. More commonly, we find that older homes lack bathroom exhaust fans. Most people think that opening a window is sufficient, but we have found that during the winter time this can have a counter-productive effect by allowing cold air to enter the bathroom which causes moisture to condense on surfaces. A good quality bathroom fan connected to a timer switch should be run for 20 minutes after the shower in order to evacuate any remaining moisture and prevent mold growth in the bathroom.
3. Air cleaners: once the above two issues are addressed, adding an air cleaner can be a final step for people who are particularly effected by indoor air issues. A recent publication in a scientific paper evaluated the effectiveness of indoor air cleaners and found that “forced-air systems with high-efficiency filtration were found to provide the best control of asthma triggers: 30-55 percent lower cat allergen levels, 90-99 percent lower risk of respiratory infection through the inhalation route of exposure, 50-75 percent lower fungal spore levels.” We can install a whole-house air cleaner on your HVAC system that eliminates 99.98% of airborne allergens.