Is your house sick?

Energy efficiency and better health go hand in hand indoors

Houses breathe.  Furnaces, water heaters, fireplaces and stoves, for example, all draw in air to feed their flames. The heat air generated from these devices radiates back out, rising naturally or driven by fans that circulate it further and faster.  

Most of what we do to weatherize a home is aimed at keeping that heated air circulating inside the home. We caulk around windows to seal leaks that allow air out and plug up unused electrical outlets to stop air from flowing in. Every air leak we cut off can have a powerful impact on our monthly energy bill since heating and cooling account for roughly half of the average energy bill.

Unfortunately, many people stop short of doing all they can to weatherize their home because of a mistaken belief that they can put themselves and their families at risk for serious illness if they do so. A home that is sealed too tightly, they believe, can become a breeding ground for pollutants that can trigger illnesses from common colds, to asthma, to lung cancers.

The fact is that properly designed and maintained energy efficient homes can be healthier than their leaky counterparts. According to the U.S. Environment Protection Agency, a tight home can actually prevent some harmful chemicals and gases from entering your home in the first place.

Radon, a radioactive gas found commonly around the globe, is a good example. In recent years, higher concentrations of radon gas have been found inside houses than in soil samples from outside.  It is drawn in to a house through foundation cracks, sump drains and openings around pipes. 

Once inside, it is drawn upwards through furnaces, or aerated in water heaters and faucets. Once airborne it travels everywhere, eventually clinging to dust particles and settling throughout the house. When breathed in by people, it can cause serious respiratory illnesses including cancers. 

An energy efficient home gives you two ways to fight the spread of this odorless and colorless gas. Tightly sealing the shell of your home, including foundation cracks and openings around drains, etc. blocks most of the gas from entering. The second line of defense is a good ventilation system. 

Kitchen and bathroom exhaust fans can catch and expel radon at the points it’s most likely to enter the atmosphere of your home, over stoves and faucets. Those same exhaust fans are also going to catch and eliminate many more common indoor air pollutants.

A circulating fan may be all it takes to rid your house of cigar, cigarette or cooking smells, but they don’t touch the sources of the greater pollution problems in those areas. Other gases such as carbon monoxide, which can be lethal at high concentrations, and nitrogen dioxide, which can cause respiratory irritation and chronic bronchitis, can be released into the air of your home from improperly functioning furnaces, wood or gas stoves or water heaters. 

A check of the flame color on all your combustible appliances can tell you whether you might be at risk from gas pollutants. A blue flame is healthy, but a yellow flame indicates the appliance needs adjustment.

Exhaust fans vented to the outside from your kitchen and bathroom, along with a properly sized and clean dryer vent, will eliminate the immediate hazard of these gases, along with the other major hazard to your home’s (and your) respiratory system; moisture.  

Some moisture in your home is necessary for your health and comfort.  In the winter, many of us are all too aware of low moisture levels, with dry skin and static problems getting the bulk of our attention. Incidences of respiratory infections rise when indoor air levels are too dry according to the EPA. If you use a humidifier to add moisture to your home, you should take care to clean the unit according to your manufacturer’s directions and to replace the water every day to reduce the build up of bacteria inside.

The EPA recommends that you aim for a 40-60% relative humidity level. Moisture levels above that can larger problems than a little condensation on the inside of your windows. Mold and mildew growths found when moisture levels are too high can lead to allergies and asthma as well as rotting wood and walls.

While there is no standard, one size fits all test for indoor air quality, there are several ways to determine if your home is suffering from any of the air quality issues discussed here. There are inexpensive kits available at most hardware stores to help you check for radon levels in your home, for example.  A visit to your doctor may help you determine whether a lingering cold is actually an allergic reaction to an indoor pollutant.

Regardless of your home’s specific diagnosis, weatherizing your home will put you in control of the flow of air in your home. That not only helps you create a balance between energy budgeting and your family’s health and comfort. It should help both you and your house breathe a little easier.