To have a ‘healthy home’ you need to understand how a house works in order to control the conditions which can cause poor air quality. A healthy home is designed and maintained to reduce any excessive accumulation of chemical or biological gasses or particulates. It needs to be watertight and be well ventilated.
It’s important to make correct choices in building design, materials, ventilation and heating when planning any building or renovations. There should be a low air change per hour, effective air flow, controlled ventilation and good insulation. Energy efficiency is the key.
Good indoor air quality consists of an absence of or low levels of contaminates of any kind, including an absence of odours, fresh air and correct temperature and humidity levels.
You can assure correct ventilation of your home through natural ventilation- open the windows and let in the fresh outdoor air. Mechanical ventilation includes exhaust only types like the range hood fan and extract fans in bathrooms. Heat Recovery Ventilators (HRV) and Energy Recovery Ventilators (ERV) ventilate the entire house. Exhaust only ventilation removes stale air from the house and adds fresh outdoor air. The fresh outdoor air is pulled through the building envelope. Whole House Ventilation HRV and ERV exchange indoor moist stale air for tempered outdoor air.
It’s a real eye-opener to understand that a house works as an interconnected system- something happening in the basement will affect the rest of the house. Stored cans of old paint emit chemicals into the air. A wet or humid basement releases excess humidity into the house and can result in a mustiness or even mould growth.
Blocking air leaks is very beneficial to indoor air quality. It brings increased comfort, reduced heat loss, protection for the building and reduced noise and dust entering from outdoors. Simply caulking exterior cracks and improving door and window seals goes a long way in controlling your indoor environment.
Learn more about how to have a healthy home by visiting www.healthyhomeacademy.com
Tammy Dufault*
Century 21 BJ Roth Realty Ltd., *sales rep.
