Category Archives for "Natural Home"

Air Quality Myths–debunked!

Don’t worry, at HypoAir we’re learning everyday too.  Whether the myth comes from the media, or your family, or just what you assume happens, many of the things we believe about air quality–are not true!  Let’s dive in and get to the bottom of these myths…

• My old, leaky house has better air quality than new tighter ones because it “breathes”.  Well, yes and no!  Ventilation is good, but if it’s allowing polluted or humid air in, that’s not good!  We like to opt for controlled ventilation, when you can open a window on clear days but on polluted or humid days, close it and still get fresh, conditioned air through special intakes to your HVAC.
• Air conditioners provide fresh air ventilation.  Actually, most air conditioners don’t provide any fresh air!  Standard central and window units are closed systems, which mean they are simply recirculating (and recirculating…) air within your home.  In order to get fresh air, you’ll need to have a special intake installed on your central unit, which may or may not filter and “condition” the air it pulls from outside.  Check out our post on Adding fresh air through the HVAC system for more info.
• It’s best to clean your AC ducts every 3-5 years.  This is a myth perpetuated by some duct cleaning companies.  Actually, we (and the EPA) don’t recommend duct cleaning unless you have mold in the AC system, have a pest infestation (rodents, bats or birds usually), or excessive amounts of debris.  Normal dust in ducts doesn’t pose a risk to indoor air quality and it’s best left undisturbed, because there are risks that ducts can be punctured or damaged during cleaning, or cleaning chemicals can leave behind VOCs.  For more info, check out our post “Should I clean my HVAC ducts?”
• My thermostat takes care of the humidity.  Are you sure?  Standard thermostats only regulate temperature, and when the system meets the temperature goal, it shuts off.  It’s best to have a second monitor, like our humidity sensors, to make sure you are meeting your humidity (40-60%) goal as well as temperature. 
• When it comes to AC units, the bigger the system, the better.  Actually, installing too big of a system (central or window unit) will cause a problem called short-cycling, where the unit turns on, quickly brings the temperature down, but does not have time to reduce the humidity.   This is definitely not good for your home or the machinery, because damp air can cause mold and mechanical issues.  Lesson: the correct size is better!  Contact an HVAC tech to perform a load calculation to size the unit correctly. 
• It’s normal for the upstairs of the house to be warmer.  Well, to some degree, but it doesn’t have to be a completely different climate than the lower story.  The two areas are called “zones” and even if you only have one AC unit, you can get the system “balanced” so it works less to keep both zones at comfortable temperatures.  Check out our post “Why selecting and sizing your AC system is critical for healthy air”.
• I don’t always need to use the stovetop ventilation when cooking.  Yes, you do need it a lot more than you thought–roasting meat, baking, and even stovetop cooking that only creates fumes for a few minutes all exude a lot of VOCs and particulates from the pans, oils and food.  Cooking with gas emits much more fine particulates (PM2.5) into the air than electric. 
• If a cleaning product has a natural smell, it’s not toxic.   Sorry!  This myth is why detergent companies market their products to smell “natural”, but load them with many toxic ingredients.  Also, some of the VOCs found in nature (like limonene, a citrusy smell) can react with other chemicals to form harmful pollutants.  Our recommendation would be to use products like TotalClean, which have no fragrance but do the cleaning job, then use your favorite essential oils to add a safe level of fragrance to your home.  Check out our post “Ewww!  How can I get rid of that smell?”  (hint–TotalClean works great as a deodorizer also!)
• My personal products have nothing to do with my allergies/sinusitus/congestion.  Actually, they definitely could. Since the chemicals in our shampoos, soaps, lotions and deodorants are among those that form ozone in summer smogs, they can hang around in your house and on your body long after showering (Guardian article), causing respiratory irritation.  Some of the ways that we can reduce their effects on us is rinsing for longer, using  the bathroom vent (ideally continual use for 30 minutes after showering to reduce moisture in the bathroom too) and switching to non-aerosol products. 
• Bleach is the best way to kill mold. Bleach certainly kills mold, but it also dangerous to your respiratory system and skin, and can react with limonene, a common citrusy-smelling VOC found in other cleaning products, to form secondary organic aerosols (SOAs), which are minute particles that compose smog.  There are a number of less toxic products that can kill mold, such as TotalClean (which contains iodine), hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, baking soda, grapefruit seed extract, etc. (be careful about what you mix together though!)  Check out this article for some natural solutions to clean up mold. 
• If the EPA allows the sale of a household product, then it’s not toxic.  Unfortunately, the EPA does not know all of the ingredients that household products contain, because they are not required to be disclosed.  Organizations like the Environmental Working Group (EWG) and Women’s Voices for Earth (WVE) have tested many household products to reveal the toxic ingredients they contain.  Check out our post “Reasons not to use your mama’s (or grandma’s) cleaning products”, to be better informed for healthy purchasing!

Do you have an “Air Quality Myth” you would like for us to address?  Let us know!  

What is Sick Building Syndrome?

According to the EPA, Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) is used to describe situations in which building occupants experience acute health and comfort effects that appear to be linked to time spent in a building, but no specific illness or cause can be identified.  If a specific illness or cause is identified and attributed directly to airborne building contaminants, the name changes to “Building Related Illness” or BRI.  

If you or your co-workers complain of discomforts like headaches, ear, eye, nose or throat irritation, cough, itchy skin, dizziness or nausea, difficulty in concentrating, fatigue, or sensitivity to odors, and these conditions resolve shortly after exiting the building, then the building could have sick building syndrome.  The ‘American Standards for Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers’ (ASHRAE) states that a building is ‘sick’ when ‘20 per cent or more of its occupants voluntarily complain of discomfort symptoms for periods exceeding two weeks and affected occupants observe rapid relief away from the building’ (Environmental Analytics, 2009).

Here are some conditions that could cause sick building syndrome:

• Inadequate ventilation: OSHA recommends 15 cfm fresh air for each building occupant.  This recommendation was cut to 5 cfm per occupant in the 1970s to save energy, which had an adverse effect on building occupants.  In compensation, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) revised its standards to 15 cfm per person (20 cfm for offices).
• New buildings are susceptible to SBS due to internal chemical contaminants.  New carpeting, furniture, wall and window treatments and copy machines are all sources of VOCs, which can be quite potent during their first years. 
• Chemicals can enter from outside sources, if the ventilation of the building is not safe.  Nearby roads, garages, or industrial facilities are all sources of air pollution that can enter into a building if the ventilation is not properly placed or protected. 
• Biological contaminants such as mold, pollen, bacteria and viruses can infiltrate and multiply in buildings and cause respiratory and whole-body health issues.  If you’ve heard of “Legionnaire’s Disease”, it is a serious type of pneumonia caused by a bacterium that can live in HVAC systems and be distributed throughout the building through the ducts.  It was so named after an outbreak occurred among participants at an American Legion convention in Philadelphia in 1976.  However, the same bacterium was later shown to cause Pontiac fever, a milder influenza-type illness which occurred in the health department building of Pontiac Michigan in 1968.  

Today there is more reason to be concerned about SBS because offices, like our homes, need regular maintenance and upkeep.  Offices that were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic may have had cuts in maintenance schedules or worse, ventilation that was completely shut down for months, allowing humidity to increase and mold to grow in the HVAC system and furnishings.  Reactivating HVAC systems with mold can propagate it throughout the building, causing respiratory and whole-body illness.

One positive thing about the pandemic is that people are more concerned about the air they breathe; therefore, diluting, filtering and cleaning viruses from the air also means cleaner air in general (less dust, pollen, mold spores, etc.).  

When your employer reinstates in-office work, it’s not bad to ask how the building is being cleaned and safeguarded from mold and from viruses.  Reducing the number of employees in a space is only one step of many that building supervisors can take for the health of employees.  Air sensors are readily available now to monitor air quality in various spaces, such as humidity, which plays a major part in mold growth and airborne virus longevity.  The sensors can also be used to assess risk for viral transmission (see our post Are There Any “Virus-Detecting” Sensors Out There?)  

Although we are not post-COVID-19 pandemic, it is definitely a changed world since the beginning of 2020, and building environments have to be considered as an ally, not an enemy, of employee health.  

Reasons not to use your Mama’s (or Grandma’s) cleaning products

They say that family traits tend to skip a generation.  In my case, the cleaning habits did skip a generation, because my grandma would rather be outside or repairing a bicycle (her hobby), and I would definitely rather be doing anything outdoors than cleaning inside!  In any case, her old cleaning products like Pine-Sol and Simple Green are still around, but I found out that whenever I do get the urge to clean, I should not be using them.  What triggered my concern?  Several things, first being I knew from previous research that heavily-fragranced products contain a lot of toxic chemicals (see the post on Ewww! how can I get rid of that smell?).  Secondly, a recent study showed that simply mopping a floor with a normal terpene-based cleaner released as many nanoparticles into the air as are on a heavily-trafficked city street (yikes!).  I definitely am glad I do not have to clean as a profession.

Here are some common products (most of them overly-fragranced) that need a makeover.  

Pine-Sol: For some reason (probably because we lived in the woods) my mom favored Pine-Sol for cleaning our linoleum floors and the toilets and cleaning-wise, it seemed to do a decent job.  I even used it to clean my first apartment in the 1990’s.  However, it was recently discovered by Women’s Voices for the Earth (WVE) that many brand-name cleaners have hidden toxic ingredients, because manufacturers are not required by law to disclose all ingredients.  Their study and test-results give the details.  Pine-Sol contains toluene, which can cause pregnancy complications, limonene, which can cause allergies, and carbon tetrachloride, which is at least an irritant and at worst shown to cause kidney and liver damage.  According to the EPA it has already been discontinued from consumer use, but obviously manufacturers who are not required to disclose all ingredients to the consumer are also not purposefully disclosing to the EPA. 

Simple Green: Sounds pretty good, right?  I never like the smell of Simple Green, and maybe now I know why, because it was on the aforementioned study by WVE.  The formulation “Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner Non-Toxic Biodegradable” contains toluene, and “Simple Green Naturals Multi-Surface Care Lemon Verbena” contains phthalates, which cause hormone disruption and neurodevelopment disruption, and 1,4-dioxane, a cancer-causing ingredient.  The manufacturer was already ordered to pay $4 million in a class action settlement (2021) for making misleading claims about being a “non-toxic” cleaner.

Fabuloso: I was not familiar with Fabuloso until I started visiting family homes of a Latina friend.  It is quite popular in the Latin community, as it was created in Venezuela.  Full-strength Fabuloso, though formulated to emulate botanical fragrances like lavender and “spring in bloom” is very strong on the nose and eyes and every part of your respiratory system.  This smart Latina dug into  disclosed list of ingredients to find it contains Sulfuric Acid, 2 Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Hydroxide, Propylene Glycol Propyl Ether, and Alklbenzenesolfonic Acid, all of which are mild to severe respiratory irritants.  The EWG gives the Fabuloso Lavender Multipurpose Liquid Cleaner, one of the most popular fragrances, an “F” grade for toxicity.  It is certainly not “Fabulous”, and the not-uncommon habit of boiling it on the stove to perpetuate the fragrance can damage lungs and cause asthma in children.   However, it is a brand leader globally and a cultural icon, which means it will probably not die slowly.  

Do you want to be sure that you’re not breathing toxic nanoparticles or chemicals when you clean and afterward?  There are a couple of easy ways to do that.

• First, you can use natural cleaning products over chemical agents. (20 Ways to Reduce Indoor Air Pollution in Your Home)  There are many DIY cleaner recipes online that use simple ingredients like baking soda, lemon juice and non-toxic soap, that you probably already have in your pantry or cleaning cabinet.
• Our new product TotalClean is the one to replace floor cleaners, countertop cleaners, toilet cleaners and even spray deodorizers, because it performs well in all of these categories without toxic chemicals or fragrance.  If you want to add in fragrance, try adding a few drops of your favorite essential oils, which can be changed for your mood or the season.  This product has already replaced my Windex and Febreeze (also on the WVE list), and another countertop cleaner.  

With good non-toxic cleaners, maybe cleaning will move up the priority list–you never know!

Clutter is not just annoying (it affects our health!)

Last week our team at HypoAir discussed what images come to mind for a fresh, clean home.  Almost immediately I had to say: “clutter-free!”  I am also an artist exhibiting in a local shop, and I have a deadline at the end of each month to have a number of pieces ready for exhibition and sale.  This is a good and a bad thing.  Good, because it forces me to keep moving and complete works and not jump from one to another without finishing them.   Good, because I know that things will be leaving my house and I look forward to cleaning up the supplies.  Bad, because not all of the pieces are works on canvas; some of them are made from recycled materials like old doors that need prep work and make dust.  Bad, because I don’t have a dedicated art studio and use various parts of my home to do the work and store them.  Towards the end of the month, my home is a cluttered mess!  It definitely affects my state of mind and I need to have that “hang-in-there, relief is around the corner” mindset.  Even when I had a full-time office job, the state of my desk seemed to negatively affect my stress level and productivity.  Turns out, I was not imagining things!

You don’t have to be a hoarder to be affected by clutter.  Also, clutter doesn’t have to be physical things–it can be an overflowing email inbox, a mental list of “to-do’s”, or disorder in your relationships.  An article by Psychology Today explained the findings of several studies on the effects of clutter in the home.  Home is where people feel psychologically safe and comforted.  However, clutter negatively affects that perception, and can make you feel stressed and alienated instead.   These feelings can be manifested in the following ways:

• Low subjective well-being: feeling that your home is your enemy, not your friend according to a 2016 University of New Mexico study

• Unhealthy eating: people actually eat more cookies and snacks if their environment is chaotic, causing stress (according to this US-Australian study)

• Less efficient visual processing: it’s more difficult to read the feelings of others, when the background is cluttered and chaotic, according to a Cornell University study.

• Less efficient thinking:  mental clutter over time can cause age-related memory losses, according to University of Toronto’s Lynn Hasher.  It turns out that your brain cannot efficiently wade through current stressful feelings in order to retrieve memories of people’s names and experiences in the past. 

Confession: I always thought that having a clean, uncluttered home was just a choice of how to spend your time.  For me, it gets thrown to the bottom of my priorities in favor of more “important” things like prepping meals, spending time with friends, or making art.  However, seeing that it can affect my long-term mental health (whoa!) was a reason to move cleaning and organizing and removing things, up the ladder.  According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, the physical act of cleaning and the clean room itself can lower stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms.  

Now that I know that cleaning is as essential as taking a shower, here are some tips I’ve found to get started and make it enjoyable, even if your home is overwhelming.

• Listen to your favorite music or for the workaholics among us (myself included), do double-duty by listening to an informative podcast while you clean.

• Set a timer!  Fifteen minutes is manageable, right?  Up the time if you feel like doing more, but 15 minutes a day will have a positive impact on your space.

• To avoid being overwhelmed, do your best to focus on one task at a time.  For example, throw away all the visible trash in your home, or pick up all the dirty dishes and load them into the dishwasher or sink, or pick up all the dirty laundry lying around and cart it to the laundry to start a load.  

• “Purge ruthlessly”!  I love this.  Have a donation box, and if you have not used something within a year, donate it or (if it’s in bad shape) throw it away. 

• Get guidance: there are tons of videos and how-to’s on how to clean a space in a short time.  Here’s a great one: Clean Up Your Bedroom in 15 minutes 

• Ask for help.  Some people actually love to clean or organize(!).  If you are blessed with such a friend, tell them about your situation and schedule some time together.  With two heads, you may learn of new donation opportunities and ways to work together in the future.  

Once you clean an area, the impediments to keeping it clean are also strong.  When it’s rainy season, I think, why bother cleaning the floors when I will track in mud tomorrow anyway?  When it’s one week to stocking the store with art, I think, why put these paints away when I may need them tomorrow?  There will always be a reason not to clean, but keeping the prize in mind (an organized, clutter-free space) should help to do a little each day, or every time the clutter reappears.  It’s the reason I find time to clean the kitchen each night before going to bed: walking into a clean kitchen the next morning starts my day off RIGHT!  Now, for the rest of the house….

Why you need to start deep-breathing NOW...and how it will help you later

I like simple cause-effect equations. 

Pandemic causes stress.  Stress causes age acceleration.  Age acceleration causes more stress (I haven’t found a study for the last one but looking at the exploding market of biohacking, I know it’s true). 

It’s no wonder people are looking high and low for methods that counteract stress and the corresponding acceleration of aging.  You may think, I need to win the lottery to afford some of these solutions!  However, among the top things you can do against stress is free, doesn’t take too long, and doesn’t take a lot of physical effort (triple bonus!).  I’m talking about deep breathing.

If you're a runner or another type of athlete, you probably already know the value of deep breathing, because it increases your lung capacity (for more ways to increase your lung capacity, check out this article).  More oxygen = more power flowing through your blood to your muscles!   But even non-athletes can benefit from deep breathing, because it affects our nervous system and our DNA:  keep reading...

Here’s the background: our autonomic nervous system (the one that controls involuntary actions) is divided into two parts: the sympathetic (fight or flight) and parasympathetic (rest and digest).  Shallow breathing is a natural response of our sympathetic nervous system to perceived stress.  However, by controlling our breathing and practicing deep breathing, we can naturally lower stress by stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system, helping us to calm down, think more rationally, and feel better.  Three studies have shown that deep breathing alone, also called diaphragmatic breathing, has a positive effect by reducing physiological and psychological stress.   In addition, a particular type of deep breathing associated with the SKY Breath Meditation (taught by mentors in Sudarshan Kriya Yoga) was shown to outperform other cognitive behavioral therapies to reduce stress, and effects even improved three months later.  

Whether or not you decide to learn the SKY method or other more complex breathing techniques, just starting with a simple deep breathing exercise will get you going in the right direction.  Here is how to start:

• Lie comfortably in a bed with a pillow under your knees or sit upright in a chair with your knees bent and shoulders and neck relaxed.
• Place one hand on your abdomen just below the rib cage, and one hand on your upper chest.
• Breathe in slowly through your nose, the object being that your upper hand remains as still as possible while your lower hand moves outward with your stomach.
• Use your stomach muscles to push air slowly out of your mouth with pursed lips, again with your upper hand remaining as still as possible. (Cleveland Clinic, Diaphragmatic Breathing)
• Continue for 10-15 minutes, several times a day if possible.

Stress is typically measured in cortisol levels, that hormone that jacks up when fight-or-flight situations arise.  At the molecular level, however, there are other indicators of the toll of stress: telomeres.  Telomeres are proteins found on the ends of our DNA that prevent damage and keep the DNA from “unraveling” or allowing major disease (heart and other organs) from taking over.  One of the discoverers of telomeres, molecular biologist and Nobel Laureate Elizabeth Blackburn, likens them to the tips on your shoelaces.  When the tips get worn down, the shoelaces are at risk of unraveling.  “Telomere shortening increases the risk of a wide variety of chronic diseases,” according to Dr. Peter R. Carroll, chair of the UCSF Department of Urology.  Stress shortens telomeres.  Amazingly, deep-breathing (with other healthy lifestyle changes) can significantly lengthen telomeres, even among early-stage prostrate cancer patients.  The samples for telomeres were taken from the blood of these patients, so it’s probable that the effects of deep breathing on our telomeres extend to the general population.  It’s biological, dear Watson!  

This lengthening of our telomeres is the major reason that you should start deep breathing and other healthy lifestyle changes like moderate aerobic exercise, a diet high in whole foods and plant-based proteins and low in fat and refined carbohydrates, and increased social support.   Longer telomeres = longer life.  I can live with that!

How does my home's lighting influence my health?

Lighting has important psychological effects on us as human beings, from when we wake up til the time we go to bed.  Examining the three characteristics of light, brightness, saturation and hue, helps to better understand what is going on. 

Brightness  (scientifically called luminance) is important when you think of the many different workspaces you have around the house.  The kitchen needs adequate illumination, as does the bathroom, stairwells, and any office or study space.  We want brightness for good productivity and energy.  

Brightness does not have one simple measurement!  Illuminance is the amount of light falling on a surface, which is what we need for task lighting.  It is measured in lux, and is affected by the brightness of the bulb (measured in lumens), the angle (for LEDs) and distance to the surface you’re measuring.  These are a lot more factors than the typical light bulb package reveals!  For example, we are used to describing light bulbs in watts (the power used), which did give an idea of brightness for incandescent bulbs, but in the advent of CFL and LED lighting, watts don’t adequately describe brightness.  It would be more helpful to understand the bulb brightness in terms of lumens (the scientific way of measuring its brightness), which is how bright the bulb actually is.  Fortunately, package labeling has changed to include this information. 

This label is from the energy.gov website, which also gives guidelines for replacing bulbs.  Since energy-saving bulbs use fewer watts, we can replace a 100 watt incandescent bulb with a 1600 lumens bulb, a 75 watt incandescent bulb with 1100 lumens bulb, 60 watt incandescent bulb with 800 lumens bulb, and 40 watt incandescent bulb with 450 lumen bulb.   The label, then, corresponds to the brightness of a 60 watt incandescent bulb, but since it uses only 13 watts, we know that it is not incandescent.

The other factors that affect brightness are the distance (and beam angle of light hitting your surface, if it’s an LED light).  More distance and greater angle means more diffused light (less light you will see at the surface).  Lux is the measured light we see at a surface.  For example, 500 lux minimum is recommended for studying.   If you only have overhead lighting and it doesn’t seem to be bright enough, you can use this online calculator tool to convert lux to lumens to see what bulb you will need, or add a desk light to amp up the lux.   When redesigning a space with recessed lighting, you can use a calculator that incorporates the ceiling height and room dimensions to get the number and spacing of overhead lights to provide general lighting, and add task lighting such as lamps wherever more light is needed (like next to a recliner for reading).  Since many more of us are working from home at least part-time now, it's super- important not only to make it comfortable and healthy.  Adequate lighting is a big player in transforming a part of your home to a healthy office.

Hue: This is the color of lighting, which as I said in the post about “Why wear my sunglasses at night?” is extremely important.  Cooler lights (blue tones) energize us, while warmer lights (think amber and red tones) increase melatonin production to help us get sleepy.  There is even a correlation between green light and healing; green colors were introduced in hospitals in the 1930s to increase patients’ mood of growth and recovery.  Surgeons use different color lighting to their advantage to reduce eye strain, stress and perform better, so why not use them in our homes?  Philips Hue is a smart lighting system that uses the connectivity of wifi to change the color and brightness of your lamps to invoke different moods or times of day, as well as turn lighting on and off remotely.  This is quite tempting, especially after reading a testimonial that by turning off white lights and turning on amber lights, kids were able to go to sleep faster.  Also, you can set the “mood” of your living space simply by saying a command or changing it through the app.  However, the availability of the blue light in these LEDs is concerning for homes with children and teenagers, because their eyes are not able to fully filter blue light and are more sensitive to cold blue light, according to a French environmental authority report.  For a healthy home and not just entertainment value, ideally smart bulbs would be programmed to change from blue-green in the morning (to waken us) and red or amber in the evening to get us ready for bed.

How is my Crawl Space affecting my Indoor Air Quality?

According to the National Association of Home Builders, 65% of new homes in 2020 were built on slab foundations, 22% had a full or partial basement, and 12% had a crawl space.  From their statistics since 2000, it’s clear that slab foundations are increasing, while basements and crawl spaces are decreasing.  From an indoor air quality perspective, we have to admit that’s a good thing!  We found a lot of other pros and cons about slab foundations, and if you are building or buying a home and have a choice, you should investigate the differences.

Slab foundations became popular in the 1950’s; before that, most homes were “raised” with a crawlspace or set over a basement.  Crawl spaces did their job to keep the main living area “off the ground”, ie. not in direct contact with the earth, and they accommodate floor plan renovations more easily than slabs because of easier access to plumbing.  However, crawl spaces typically are partially sealed off, and very contaminated with dust, mold, bacteria and stale air.  What you did not know about crawl spaces may be the most harmful of all: “Approximately 50% of air on the first floor of your home comes from your crawl space.” (goTerraFirma.com)  How can this happen?  Due to the stack effect which affects virtually every building on the planet, warm air rises through the house and is replaced by cooler air from outside, through leaks in the lowest parts of the home.  If you have a crawl space that is partially open to the outside, you may even place a pinwheel or light tissue in the crawlspace opening on a still (non-windy) day, and see if the air currents are blowing into the crawlspace of your raised home.  Fresh air from outside will be drawn into the crawlspace, pick up dust, mold and bacteria (not to mention musty or animal smells), and infiltrate your home through leaks in the flooring.  Gross!

If you can’t or won’t investigate the condition of your crawl space first hand, find a foundation expert and ask them to conduct a thorough inspection (with photos).  Knowledge is the first step to preventing or remediating the problem!  Here’s what they may find:

• Flooding.  Just like any other ground that floods, if water enters your crawlspace, it can pool and remain for weeks or months, depending on the environment and soil composition.  How about living over a stagnant puddle?
• Moisture damage.  Moldy and rotten timbers are a consequence of constant water contact and high humidity.
• Insect damage.  Termites can thrive in even lower moisture zones, and without proper termite prevention like physical barriers, they can do a lot of damage.  The shredded wood creates even more dust under the house.
• Animals and animal damage.  There are several harmful aspects of animals living in the crawl space under the house.  For one, their feces can carry virulent diseases like hantavirus (from rodents).  Then, unfortunately they may die under the house, with accompanying death smells and a bacteria-laden carcass… Third, they may actually undermine the foundation with burrows.  Did you know that groundhogs can seriously impact your home’s foundation, causing sagging floors and major structural problems?
• Damaged and missing insulation.  Exposure to water, insects and animals all results in deterioration of insulation on pipes, ducts and subfloor, so that the essential systems and floor itself are exposed.  

If you have a crawl space and want to improve indoor air quality, don’t miss this opportunity to take a step in the right direction by hiring a trusted professional to do an inspection, and then get several bids for remediation.  Most foundation companies will recommend a combination of the following to resolve these issues (from GroundWorks.com):

• Encapsulation is a method of sealing off the crawl space from the surrounding elements.  It involves closing crawl space vents, installing a vapor barrier so that moisture from the ground does not intrude, and installing a dehumidifier.
• Insulation is important to prevent condensation and resulting mold issues.  Damaged insulation should be replaced and missing insulation should be installed.
• Sump pumps are necessary if standing water has been a problem in the past, and to remove condensate from the dehumidifier.  
• Repair of sagging and damaged joists and supports.

It may seem like a daunting task, and these tend to get postponed until things get really bad.  If you don’t know the condition of your crawl space, we want to encourage you to take a first step of inspection, which many companies do for free.  If remediation is required, call several more companies for inspections and quotes, and research their work.  When the work is completed, you will have the comfort of protecting your largest investment (your home) and increasing your air quality at the same time.  It’s hard to overestimate the cost of a less humid, healthier, fresher home! 

How can I make sure my basement has good air quality?

If you glanced at our post on crawl spaces, you would know that more new homes have basements than crawl spaces, but they are both declining in popularity.  Here’s what the National Association of Home Builders found:

Still, many existing homes have basements, finished and unfinished.  They can add value to your home value by boosting its square footage and livable space, or they can be a detriment to your home value as a source of mold and poor air quality!   Let’s hope that your basement falls into the former category…but read on to make sure!

The basement shares several characteristics with the attic: many times they are not planned to be living space, and thus often lack the proper ventilation and fresh air flow.(ecolivingexpert.com)  Also, they are often made to be storage spaces containing boxes (cardboard is food for mold and many types of insects and pests), and then home heating systems are often installed there, which if they are gas- or oil-powered, have the potential to leak fumes.  

Whether you use your basement as living space or not, the basement has to be maintained with proper ventilation and dehumidification so that it doesn’t contaminate the rest of the house with poor, even dangerous air quality.  Let’s take a look at these problem areas and sort them out one by one!

Radon is a concern in many areas of the country.  It’s a colorless, odorless gas that that seeps naturally from certain underground rocks and can permeate basement walls and foundations, as well as contaminate ground or well water.  Because radon is radioactive, it can cause cancer (it’s estimated by the EPA to be the #1 cause of lung cancer among non-smokers).  Radon tends to accumulate in basements because it’s heavier than air, so it’s best to have the basement checked for radon levels, and if present, investigate mitigation systems (you can find local qualified contractors through the link on this page, and information on water testing labs here). 

Moisture and mold: If you smell an earthy, musty smell in the basement, it’s most likely mold that is starting to form or has already formed.  The smell is characteristic of the Microbial Volatile Organic Compounds (mVOCs) that the mold releases.  Some MVOCs have been identified as irritants and can contribute to sick building syndrome (easlab.com).  The key is to identify the area (possibly many areas and the whole basement) and remediate in order to stop the growth and get rid of the mold, as soon as possible.  Here are ways to do it:

• Ventilate: Although opening the windows of the basement, if you have them, will help dilute the smell, it will not stop the mold from growing and continuing to produce mVOCs.  Ventilation has to be done with dehumidification (next point), eliminating excess moisture, in order to stop the growth of mold.  Ventilation can be accomplished by a dedicated basement ventilation system (check out EZBreathe), or by installing air vents from your existing HVAC system to ventilate the basement, creating a positive pressure in the basement.  Although installing a return air vent in the basement could utilize the coolness of the basement to lower AC energy costs, if you have a mold problem in the basement, this is not a good idea as it can distribute the mold spores through the rest of the home. 

• Dry it out: Check that any water pipes running through the basement area or behind its walls or ceiling are not leaking or even causing condensation.  Cold water pipes from a well or underground can easily cause condensation to form, leading to…you guessed it– mold!  Drying them off and adding insulation can solve this problem.  If there are no leaking pipes, condensation, or flooding issues, then moisture from the surrounding earth can be permeating the block walls of a basement, because concrete is porous.  (For all of my childhood, I lived in a neighborhood called “Spring Hill Estates” because it had springs, one of which was a constant source of moisture for our basement.)  It’s possible that the humidity can be lowered by running a portable dehumidifier, which should be run to a permanent drain (sink, shower or other drain) in order to avoid shut-off or accidental flooding issues.  Alternatively, there are numerous foundation and basement repair companies which can inspect and suggest drying solutions to keep the basement at a proper humidity (30-60%)--the drier the better!  Don’t wait on calling several firms for inspections and quotes, as these are normally free of charge.  

• Add some active air purification like Air Angel, a purifier that zaps mold spores using 3 technologies for more breathable air.  A standalone HEPA filter is also recommended to filter out mold spores (alive or dead) with an activated carbon element to remove mVOCs and smells.

• Get rid of “consumables” like cardboard: Side story: I was sorely disappointed to walk into my storage building at the beginning of summer and find an antique portable sewing machine case (which was covered in a clothlike material) streaked with mildew.  Similarly, if you have to use the basement for storage, plastic tote containers or vacuum bags are way better at resisting mold and protecting the items inside from moisture and insect damage than cardboard. Try to store containers on shelving with plenty of ventilation under and between them (like wire shelving) instead of stacking them on the floor or against each other or a wall.  If antiques are valuable to you, try to make room for them in your normal living area, where the humidity is more controllable.  Also, furniture that is made of “pressboard” can absorb more moisture than real wood, with less options for cleaning and disinfecting it.  The use of scatter rugs rather than wall-to-wall carpeting allows for easier washing and cleaning of the floor if it has moisture issues, too.  Consider using hardwood or plastic blinds or shutters for windows instead of draperies, which can absorb moisture. 

Combustion fumes: If you are intentionally or unknowingly using a “negative pressure” ventilation system in your home, exhaust from a gas, oil, coal or biofuel (like wood) furnace can be extracted out of the appliance’s exhaust system if it’s not well-designed or sealed.  As we reviewed in the post “How is my crawl space affecting my indoor air quality?”, the stack effect causes warm air to rise through a home and exit through the roof or attic, drawing cool air into lower levels of the house.  The rise of the hot air creates a slight negative pressure on the lowest levels, like a crawl space or basement, drawing in outside air and even extracting combustion fumes from a furnace into the air.  This can create an extremely dangerous mixture of VOCs that spreads through the rest of the home with the air flow. 

Chemicals, paints, batteries and cleaning products: We get it, these are the substances you don’t want anywhere near your pets or children, so the basement seems like the perfect space to seal them up and store them away!  It is okay to store them there, but only if they are truly sealed (hammer to the lid of the paint can or transferred to a more sealable container with a screw top) AND humidity/moisture is under control AND they are not overly old, so that metal containers do not rust.  Due to external or internal moisture, I’ve seen metal paint cans rust completely through the bottom, and then I’m left with a gooey, toxic mess!   The best scenario is to dispose of old paints and chemicals safely; most communities have a toxic material disposal site or a designated day to bring them to the regular garbage site.  It’s just safer to have these things out of the house!  If you use the basement as a hobby space, make sure to have the proper exhaust ventilation.  The stack effect can drive fumes from glue and paint and dust like sawdust particles, right up into the house.  

Install an air monitor to help take the guesswork–or legwork–out of knowing if the dehumidification and purification is working.  Thanks to wireless technology, you don’t even have to open the basement door to know if pollutants are elevated.  AirThings’ View Plus monitors all the important conditions of a basement: radon, PM2.5, CO2, humidity, temperature, VOCs and pressure (if they had to add anything, CO would be helpful for spaces with combustion appliances like gas furnaces or dryers).  Their connectivity to the app on your phone makes it easy to check!  Kaiterra’s Laser Egg + Chemical is a close runner-up that monitors Total VOCs, PM2.5, temperature and humidity (it doesn’t do radon or CO).  Either of these monitors will help you “see the unseen” air quality of your basement.

Your basement doesn’t have to be scary because of mold and poor air quality.  Shed some light on the subject by doing your own inspection, and if it seems overwhelming or the solutions you try are not working, get professional help.   The health of your family and home depend on it!

How to lower humidity in your home by choosing the right dehumidifier

If you have incorporated a humidity sensor or two into your home and monitoring routine, bravo for you!  We at HypoAir believe that these are among the most important tools you can have in your air quality toolbelt.  Now, what you do with that information–home or room humidity–-is equally important!  If the monitor tells you that a space is consistently above 60% relative humidity, after you’ve checked and mitigated the sources of moisture (see our post “Humidity and an Indoor Moisture Inventory”), then a dehumidifier can bring it down into the 40-60% range.

The great thing about dehumidification is that by reducing the humidity, you are also increasing comfort.  In hot climates, excess humidity in the air prevents our bodies from cooling effectively by evaporation, because the air is already loaded with moisture.  In cold climates, excess humidity in the air (such as in coastal regions) causes us to feel colder than in dry air at the same temperature.

You are also saving on energy usage for 3 reasons:

• Air conditioners use less energy to cool dry air than more humid air at the same temperature, and heaters use less energy to heat dry air than more humid air at the same temperature.
• In the summer you will feel cooler at any given temperature, when the air is drier versus more humid.  Therefore, you may be able to set your thermostat higher during the summer!
• In the winter you will feel warmer at  any given temperature, when the air is drier versus more humid.  Therefore, you may be able to set your thermostat lower during the winter!

Dehumidifiers come in all sizes for all applications.  When choosing a portable one for a room, it’s important to know the following things:

• Square footage determines capacity:  Just like air purifiers, dehumidifiers are limited by air flow, so standalone units can’t effectively dehumidify through walls and doors.  If you are choosing a standalone unit, measure the floor space.  The square footage measurement incorporates standard 8-foot ceilings, because it really translates to air space, which is ft3.  For 500 ft2, start with a small dehumidifier (10 pints for a moderately humid space and 12 pints for a more humid space) and add 4 pints capacity for every additional 500 ft2 (bobvila.com).  The capacity is usually measured in pints or liters per day, which is the amount of moisture the unit can draw from the space in 24 hours.  The Department of Energy changed capacity testing and ratings for models released in 2020, so newer models are not comparable to older ones.  This page shows a table comparing older and newer capacity ratings.
• Additional/ongoing moisture sources:   Human occupancy = moisture!  We sweat, breathe, and generally exude H20, and rooms with higher activity or temperature levels (like a home gym or sauna) will need more dehumidification capacity.  Also, leaks in the building envelope like doors and windows can allow moisture from outdoor air to come in.  Then, there are those inherently humid spaces that incorporate running water like bathrooms and laundry rooms.  
• Energy Efficiency:  Dehumidifiers are very much like air conditioners, with similar parts and operation.  A coolant is pumped in a closed loop system from the hot side (condenser) to the cool side (evaporator) to draw moisture from the air, collecting it in a reservoir or allowing it to drain to a permanent drain.  The compressors in these dehumidifiers used to draw significant energy (amps) to do their work of changing the fluid from gas to liquid, but newer models are much more energy-efficient.  Inverter technology decreases the energy draw most of all, because the compressor will have a variable speed motor, allowing it to run continuously at a lower speed to keep a constant humidity, or ramp up when the humidity increases.  
• Method of dehumidification:  There are two main types of dehumidifier: refrigerant and desiccant.  Refrigerant is by far the most applicable to residential needs because it can remove large amounts of water from rooms above 50 degrees F.  These work when humid air is drawn across the cold evaporator coil containing refrigerant; the refrigerant removes moisture from the air and produces condensate, and the dry air is blown into the room.  Desiccant dehumidifiers work in lower, less humid spaces by absorbing water directly into a material (desiccant), which is dried out to be used again.  There are some desiccant humidifiers on the market for small spaces like closets or cars; these require that the desiccant be regenerated in an oven or replaced with new desiccant. 

Installing a portable refrigerant dehumidifier is pretty simple; you will need to: 

• Place the unit in the room you want to dehumidify (not inside of a closet), at least 1 foot away from walls or other obstacles so that air is free to circulate around it
• Make sure it’s placed on a flat and stable surface. Sometimes carpet can be too plush for this purpose, so try to find a board or other flat surface
• Choose your drainage method (ideally you should have this in mind before selecting the unit).  If using the bucket, make sure it’s properly installed (most new units will not start working if it’s not).  If using continuous drainage, make sure that the hose is attached securely, the drain end is placed into a sink or drain, and check for leaks once it starts to operate.  Unless the dehumidifier has a condensate pump included, the drain hose end will need to be lower than the unit so that water doesn’t back up in the unit.
• Plug in and set the desired humidity level.

If you have a humidity problem in several rooms or the whole house (this is common situation in hot, humid regions), it’s wise to choose a whole-home dehumidifier. This is a permanent installation that uses your home’s HVAC ducts to distribute dry air throughout the home.  Whole house dehumidifiers are a bit complicated (not generally a DIY installation) essentially involving hanging the unit, running the ductwork, running the condensate line, connecting the unit to an electrical supply and installing the controller.   In addition, you need to make sure that the ductwork is connected to the right places: having a dedicated “return” vent for the dehumidifier, and sending the dry air to the distribution plenum for your AC, are critical for getting the most out of this unit. (pvhvac.com, bobvila.com)

One slight drawback of dehumidifiers is the heat that they produce.  Unlike air conditioners, the hot and cold sides of the heat transfer system are not separated by a wall, so the heat generated by the unit goes into the air surrounding it.  Unless the unit is placed in a small room, this usually doesn’t make a noticable difference in the temperature of the space, but it’s something to take into consideration.

Dehumidifiers need maintenance, just like HVAC units.  With standing water inside, mold can grow fast.  Some manufacturers require that the maintenance on whole house units is performed by a qualified HVAC technician, for warranty purposes.  Here is in essence what they do:

• Turn off the power
• Clean or change the air intake filter
• Clean the condensate drain line and/or add anti-microbial agents to the line
• If there is a condensate pump (typical in crawl space units), make sure it is clean and operating properly
• Make sure that the house humidity is staying in range of its setpoint

For portable dehumidifiers, you can do the following (cnet.com):

• Unplug the unit
• Wipe down the outside
• Empty and clean the bucket thoroughly with dish detergent.  If your unit is plumbed to empty the condensate into a garden hose or other hose line instead of the bucket, then unscrew the connection at the unit and use a towel to wipe any slime from inside the fitting.  Also at this time, you can dump a cup of vinegar or hydrogen peroxide (not both!) into the hose so that any algae forming in the line will die and be flushed out.
• Remove and check the bucket filter (if your unit has one) and clean it out.
• Rinse off the air filter
• Replace the bucket and air filter, and you’re good to go!

Dehumidifiers work best with air circulation!  With portable units, that means that using a ceiling or portable fan to move the air around the room, so pockets of drier or more humid air don’t form.  With a whole house dehumidifier, the fan inside the unit (if operating independently) or the HVAC fan will provide the circulation.

If you decide to invest in a dehumidifier, be sure to check the Department of Energy’s Buying Guide for additional tips, and to find Energy Star Products and rebates ($!)

To Vent or not to Vent the Attic?  It’s all about air-sealing and insulation

In the early 2000’s, this was not a relevant question for most homebuilders.  Attics were virtually always vented, in line with the thinking that ventilation was the best way to mitigate condensation and moisture issues, ice dams and other damage.  Like many elements of home design, however, practices have evolved to seal homes more tightly against energy loss and pollution.  Sealing the attic is one such evolution. 

In our article “On a home hunt?  Make sure Air Quality is on your home inspection list!”, sealing the attic was mentioned.   If you are building a new home, you will basically need to decide where the thermal boundary will fall–will it exclude the attic, or include it?  Here is a diagram to show what we mean (source: basc.pnnl.gov)

The pink lines indicate where insulation and air barriers will be.  In diagram a), the upper thermal boundary is located at the attic floor.  Notice that the roofline is broken at the eaves (small hooked part on lower ends) and there is also a “vent” in the ridge of the roof.  In diagram b), the upper thermal boundary is located at the attic ceiling (underside of roof), and there are no breaks in the roof line for vents.  Diagram a) will require that the attic is vented, but diagram b) will require that it is unvented.  Why?

Sealing up uninsulated spaces (like diagram a) will cause the air in the space to become the same temperature as the outside, but without ventilation, moisture cannot escape and mold and rot can form.  The alternative is to make sure the uninsulated attic receives plenty of outdoor air ventilation, OR include the attic within the thermal boundary, making it part of the “conditioned space” of the rest of the home (diagram B).  

Factors to consider when determining where to locate the thermal barrier in new construction include climate, desire for additional living and storage space, building design and configuration, and location of HVAC. 

Let’s explore the types of ventilation that are common in attics today (source: roofingcalc.com): 

Passive roof ventilation using:

• Ridge vents

• Soffit vents

• Roof vents including box vents and turtle vents

• Gable vents

Active roof ventilation using:

• Turbine-style (whirlybird) vents

• Motorized roof vents

• Gable fans

Many people are convinced that “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it”, and this applies to the traditional design of vented attics.  In truth, many attics have been able to ward off condensation, rot and mold for decades because they are well-ventilated and properly roofed.  If you decide to stay with a vented attic design and still keep the HVAC ducts in the attic, there are two developments that can help save money on heating and cooling.  

• Laying the ducts on the attic floor and burying them in fibrous insulation can achieve energy savings and can be done at any point, before or after building (although it’s easier whenever new ducts are installed) (basc.pnnl.gov) The key to success with buried ducts is making sure that the ducts are airtight, encapsulating them with foam (ccSPF=closed cell spray foam) if necessary, and deeply burying them in loose insulation.  Here is a diagram:

• If the ducts are hanging in your attic and you decide to keep the attic vented and ducts where they are, you can have them encapsulated in closed-cell spray foam in order to minimize heat transfer. 

Source: basc.pnnl.gov

Vented attics are not a good place for storage because of extreme heat, cold, and sometimes insect and pest issues.  Without the above measures, vented attics are also not the best place for HVAC systems, for the same reasons.  HVAC equipment will last longer and perform more efficiently when it’s operating in a temperate, dry climate.  Ducts passing through a vented attic must be sealed tightly in order to avoid pulling unconditioned air and dust into your home.  

The key to creating an unvented roof assembly is to keep the roof deck – the principle condensing surface in roof assemblies – sufficiently warm throughout the year such that condensation will not occur, or to prevent moisture-laden air from the interior of the home from accessing the underside of the roof deck. (basc.pnnl.gov)  This can be accomplished by installing rigid foam insulation over the sheathing, or (more commonly) using spray foam insulation under the sheathing.  Both require a high degree of air-tightness to avoid condensation.  In an existing home, changing the thermal boundary from the floor to roof or vice-versa can be quite a bit of work, and often it’s best to do/combine this task when reroofing or other modifications, like HVAC system replacement. 

For many people, it’s hard to imagine an attic that is not unbearably hot in the summer and frigid in the winter.  However, when the roofline is properly insulated and sealed to the walls, you have a space that is less dusty, easier to work in when renovations are made, and a better space for HVAC equipment.  It also provides a “buffer space” for all that conditioned air in your home, which tends to rise and escape through the ceiling area.  Without excess temperatures bearing down on your ceiling in the summer or trying to vent warm air in the winter, energy costs can be moderated.  If you do choose to convert to an unvented attic, be sure that the company you choose to seal and insulate it will do a thorough job of sealing, then apply sufficient spray foam insulation according to local code for your climate. 

Whether you decide to go with a vented or unvented attic space, the best choice for air quality and energy efficiency will depend on how well you can seal and insulate.  For vented attics, the living space below and any ductwork within need to be sealed and insulated from the attic space, which is an extension of the outside via ventilation.  For an unvented attic, the whole attic is an extension of your home and therefore must be sealed and insulated from the outside at the roofline.