It’s time for us to clear the air
How much thought do you give to the quality of the air inside your home? When we think about air quality, most of us tend to think what’s going on outdoors, concerned with things like smog or other air pollution. But the truth is, the air inside your home can be just as contaminated as the air outside.
If your air quality indoors is no good, it can really have an impact on the way you feel. Breathing in these contaminants over time can cause small ailments like headaches or skin irritation — or in some extreme cases, severe illness like cancer.
Fortunately, managing your indoor air is a pretty straightforward task.
Here’s where you start:
TESTING YOUR INDOOR AIR
With some exceptions (like visible surface mould), you can’t eyeball the state of your indoor air quality. A home can be a host to many contaminants that are detrimental to your air quality. Everything from mould to volatile organic compounds (VOCS) to cancer-causing radon.
If you suffer from inexplicable headaches, congestion, nausea, skin irritation or burning eyes, a good bet would be to book an indoor air-quality test through a home inspector. They’ll collect a sample of the air from your home and send it to a lab for testing. These tests can even give you an exact mould spore count in your home. Every home will have some degree of mould spores, but you don’t need to be concerned unless the spore count exceeds that of the outdoors.
While your inspector is gathering air samples, have them perform a separate test for radon gas in your home. You can get a short-term or a long-term test. I prefer the long-term tests to get a more accurate reading of the levels in your home. Long-term radon tests last for a minimum of three months. It’s the leading cause of lung cancer among non-smoking Canadians, so I encourage you all to take it seriously. If your home uses a well system for water, have that tested for radon gas, too.
Finally, depending on the age of your home, your home may contain asbestos. When left undisturbed, you typically don’t have to worry. So when is a good time to test the home for asbestos?
Well, if you’re planning to renovate, you don’t want to let those fibres be released into the open air, where you’ll be breathing them all in. If you suspect asbestos, have the area tested before you start demolition.
CONTAMINANTS
Did your indoor air-quality test come back with concerning results? For every problem, there’s a solution.
Mould needs three things to grow: a source of food, air and moisture. Remove one of those sources and you’ll curb the growth. If your mould growth isn’t related to a leaking or burst pipe, odds are good it’s a ventilation or humidity issue.
Make sure you’re running your exhaust fans in the kitchen and bathroom (or opening a window to promote ventilation) when you cook and bathe. Using a dehumidifier could help, and if you have a heat recovery ventilator (HRV), make sure it’s working properly — and leave it on at all times! It’s meant to constantly promote a healthy air exchange, so switching it off will mess with the balance of your home.
There are several ways to deal with radon, depending on the source of entry. If it’s from the soil under your home, you can install a device to your HRV that can detect high levels of radon in the home and then trigger an air exchange, bringing in safe, healthy, treated air from the outdoors inside — and take the radon-infused air out. If your radon is coming from your well water, you can install a device right in the well that will aerate the water, stripping it of its harmful gases before it enters your home when you cook, clean and bathe.
When it comes to safely removing asbestos, here’s what I’m going to say: Don’t do it yourself. This is something that takes abatement professionals. Seriously — it’s something even I wouldn’t consider doing myself. Leave it to the experts.