How To Create A Healthy Home

Test Your Home

A safe home is a healthy home. It is possible that the air inside our homes is more contaminated than the air outside. Measuring pollutant levels is crucial if you suspect an air pollution problem in your house or if you are moving into a new property. Indoor air quality monitoring is a useful tool, but if there are multiple pollutants to be concerned about, you may need to prioritise. Biological pollutants, chemical pollutants, and combustion pollutants are the main culprits.

General Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic compounds that easily become vapors or gases that can harm your health.

The Home Air Check is a testing kit with a sampling pump and sorbent sample collection are included, which is forwarded to the company's American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) accredited lab once completed.

Lead

Lead is highly dangerous and when it gets airborne, it can be inhaled or swallowed, allowing the chemical to enter the body. It has the potential to cause damage to the brain, central nervous system, blood cells, and kidneys.

The 3M Lead Check contains swabs that can detect lead on must surfaces within 30 seconds.

Detoxify Your Home

Painted Walls

Eliminating potentially toxic pollutants that have a negative impact on our indoor air quality is one of the most important methods to create a healthy house. Target the VOCs that are recognised or believed to be harmful to human health. Formaldehyde and benzenes, both carcinogens, are found in a lot of VOCs.

Most VOCs can continue to off-gas for several years in a home. The smell of VOCs in paints is really obvious after they have been applied to your walls. However, just because the off gassing has stopped does not mean that the VOCs are no longer present in your home. VOCs can linger for up to ten years in well-sealed dwellings with little airflow.

Look for paints that have the following:

• GREENGUARD. When rating low-emission items, this certification uses strict certification criteria that take into account the unique sensitivities of the elderly and children..

• SQAQMD-113. Although this air regulation may still exclude some VOCs that are harmful to human health, it does restrict VOCs found in both the base paint and the tint utilised..

• GreenSeal. An independent, third-party system that strictly regulates numerous different forms of VOCs oversees this accreditation.

• Health Product Declarations (HPDs) compare product contents to a variety of "hazard" lists provided by government bodies and scientific associations to offer a complete disclosure of potential compounds of concern in products.

• An accreditation or standard complying to The Living Building Challenge™ is the building environment’s most rigorous performance standard

• GECA-certified. The amount of titanium dioxide used in GECA-certified exterior and interior paints and varnishes is limited, and no carcinogenic or mutagenic compounds are employed. Only water-based paints with low VOC concentration are certified by GECA.

TIP: If painting on a previously painted wall, and the previous coating is quite old, the amount of off gassing is likely to be low. In this case, using a VOC free or low VOC paint should suffice. If the previous paint is fairly new, use a hospital grade non-toxic sealing primer. Prior to painting, to break up the gases, warm them up raising up the heat for several hours and then ventilating.

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Improve Air Quality

Air Purifier

Poor Air quality from pollution can significantly impact your health. By using air purifiers, you can improve air quality with internal fans to pull air through filters that can remove dangerous particles such as bacteria and dust, making it easier and healthier to breathe.

Install at least one (example) in a high-traffic area such as the living room or kitchen.

TIP: Open windows to allow fresh air to enter once a day, between five and twenty minutes, for longer periods if your live in low to no pollution such as the mountains, country and seaside areas. Use fly/insect screens.

Air Quality Monitor

Air quality monitors are useful and advantageous in informing you if your indoor air quality is bad, allowing you to detect and repair any openings in your home, as well as selecting where to install your air purifier (example) or if you need to temporarily relocate.

TIP: Install carbon monoxide and radon detectors

Indoor Plants

Indoor plants improve your health by removing cancer-causing volatile organic chemicals such as formaldehyde and benzene from the air, and generally yield such benefits as removing CO2 and other toxins

Plants

Creating lush green interior spaces to aid persons healing from stress, illness, or those looking to re-energize. Plants with air purifying qualities such as:

• Snake Plant or Mother-In-Law’s Tongue

• Spider Plant

• Aloe Vera

• Areca Palm

• Weeping Fig

• Chinese Evergreen

• Chrysanthemum

• English Ivy

• Barberton Daisy

• Money Plant

• Broad Lady Palm

• Dragon Tree

• RUBBER PLANT

TIP: Do not over water plants. Cover soil with stones.

humidifiers and dehumidifiers

Coughing, shortness of breath, and weariness are all indications of overly humid or too dry air. It might aggravate allergies and asthma by drying up your airways.

Humidifiers add moisture to the air to make an indoor room more humid.

Dehumidifiers remove moisture from the air and help to keep it dry indoors.

TIP: Use a dehumidifier inside your house to keep the humidity around 50%.

Remove Carpet

Carpet can have a negative impact on one's health. Pollutants such as dust mites, pet dander, cockroach allergies, particle pollution, lead, mould spores, pesticides, filth, and dust may be trapped in carpets. Some new carpets, carpet pads, and the adhesives used to attach them contain chemicals that are harmful to your health.

Research has found negative effects of carpeted floors on perceived indoor air quality as well as symptoms increasing in asthma and allergy sufferers.

When possible, use a non-toxic and environmentally friendly flooring option such as wood or tile that is laid with low VOC products. If carpeting is required, choose area rugs rather than wall-to-wall carpeting to avoid your exposure to toxic adhesives and other installation chemicals.

At a minimum, remove carpet in rooms that are damp like basements and bathroom.

TIP: Wash rugs at least once a week.

Eliminate Fragrances And Scents

Cleaning goods with scented scents, as well as personal care products, include chemicals that we breathe in and have been connected to a variety of health issues, including respiratory issues like asthma. A product labelled "fragrance" may contain a variety of harmful substances, just a handful of which may have been disclosed by the manufacturer.

Fragrance ingredients are also not needed to be assessed for safety before being sold. Even natural fragrances, such as those derived from essential oils, can aggravate asthma.

TIP: Use herbs, plants and flowers in the home to us as a natural and healthy air freshener alternative.

Keep A Clean Home

A clean house will help avoid triggering asthma or allergies. Use cleaning products that that contains no harmful allergens or irritants.

TIP: Use as directed. When using disinfectants and cleaning products, wear protective gear like gloves and eye protection if advised on the label.

Pets

If you have pets, such as dogs or cats, take steps such as routinely washing them, limiting their access to bedrooms, and changing bedding and vacuuming on a regular basis.

TIP: Including yourself, have children wash their hands after touching pets.

Pest Control

Make sure you don't have any allergy-inducing pests such as cockroaches or mice in your home. To ensure that your sensitive family members are not exposed to toxic waste particles from pests that might provoke asthmatic reactions, or harmful chemicals used to control pests, employ an ecologically friendly pest management service.

TIP:

• Food should be stored in airtight containers. Clean up crumbs and wash dishes as soon as possible.

• Make use of a trashcan that has a lid. Remove rubbish from the house on a regular basis.

• Water is required for the survival of cockroaches, mice, and rats. Make sure there aren't any water puddles inside. Repair any leaks as soon as possible.

• Pet food and water should not be left out overnight. Keep any leftovers in airtight containers.

• Instead of sprays or poisons, use traps or sticky pads to kill them.