Don't Snare the Air in your Home

How important is the freshness of indoor air in our homes? It could be argued that the problem of fresh air is more prevalent in condos and apartments than in houses. In apartments when we leave our home, we do not fling open the front door and let the fresh air in, as we do in houses. We fling open the front door, but it leads to a corridor that often has no direct outlet to the outside air.

In winter time, the cold temperatures often freeze our window, making them impossible to open. High temperatures and humidity can also increase and concentrate the pollutants in the home in the winter. In the summertime, these are far more likely to be carried outdoors through an open window and diluted by fresh air.

Ironically, the very reason that we have less fresh air in our homes these days is a 'green' reason. In order to minimize heating bills, protect the ozone layer, and reduce energy use, we tend to let less heat (and air) out of our house, recycling the same air over and over. This creates a problem, preventing fresh air from coming into our homes and stale air from moving out!

Most homes these days are efficiently weatherized; weatherizing your doors will not generally add pollutants to the air (but beware as some brands of caulking can). However, it can mean that even less fresh air can squeeze into your home through the gaps!

Pollutants in your home can come from a myriad of sources, some of them being fairly obvious. For instance, oil, gas, coal, wood, kerosene, pesticides and tobacco all pollute the air. Less obvious are the pollutants like dampness in walls or carpets, asbestos insulation, pressed wood furnishings and cleaning products.

Sometimes we have sources in the home that can be emitting pollutants intermittently or even continuously. Space heaters, paint stripper, smokers, a dirty central heating system, mold and inefficient furnaces could all fall into this category. An inefficient gas stove or fireplace can release surprising amounts of carbon monoxide into the air.

Most of us, it would appear, have pollutants in our home. Mostly it is noticeable by sneezing, coughing, irritation of eyes or nose, dizziness, sore throat and fatigue. Respiratory disease and heart disease are sometimes thought to be a long term effect of pollutants.

For people who eventually find that the air in the home is not pure enough, or does not carry enough oxygen, there are solutions. Machines that can boost a room's oxygen levels are popular if a person has a serious problem. There are also commercial air refreshers on the market; however it is easy to find free ways to solve the problem.

Throwing open the windows once a day is a healthy option, as long as your windows do not get frozen up for weeks at a time. If you know that your windows will freeze shut, work at keeping just one window available for a fresh air source.

This can be done by opening the window every morning and every night to eliminate build up of frost. This method will stop the small amount of frost that gathers each twelve hours from forming into an ice barrier that you can't shift (it will also give you a dose of fresh air!).

A bathroom fan will do an adequate job of dispelling most of the humidity after showering; in the same way that a kitchen fan is recommended for removing steam etc.

Having found ways to bring fresh air into our homes, we now want to make it smell nice. BUT NO! We have been informed that air fresheners are also pollutants!

Recent reports from the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health say that air fresheners make it a little harder for you to breathe. In fact, a different study stated that air fresheners could damage your lungs, as one of the chemicals in air fresheners could cause impaired lung function.

One media outlet reporting this news suggested that sticking cloves or cinnamon sticks into some water and allowing them to simmer on the stove would be as effective. It didn't specify whether the spices should be organic or not....we could just play it safe and heat natural oils in our home; they would be pollutant free, surely?