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Tips For A Healthy Home: Environmental Design and Inspection Services
Tips For A Healthy Home: Environmental Design and Inspection Services
Tips For A Healthy Home: Environmental Design and Inspection Services
Providing adequate runoff for rooftop rainwater takes care of 90% of mold
problems in a basement. Keep rain gutters clear of debris and downspouts
in good working order. Make sure downspout extenders end at least
several feet away from the foundation so that rainwater does not pool near
the foundation.
Berm (or slope) the earth that is around the house so that there is at least
a 5-10 degree slope for rainwater to drain away, not towards, the
foundation.
If the ground around your house generally slopes toward your foundation
on any side, install drain tile under the soil to carry excess rainwater away.
Dont let a sprinkler spray directly against the side of the house.
Plant your flowerbeds and shrubs somewhat away from the house if you
dripping onto insulation in the attic below and causing mold to grow. You
see this as discoloration on your room ceilings and along the tops of your
outer walls. You can prevent this by sealing all air penetrations into our
attic from the living space below, including the installation of weather
stripping around your attic hatch and sealing around chimneys and pipes.
Ventilate any rooms with excess moisture to the outside, such as
bathrooms during and after showering. Do not vent exhaust fans into the
attic. Consider installing a timer switch on your bathroom exhaust fan.
Choose whole house central air humidifiers for use in winter in which
water flows-through, rather than models that blow air past a pan of
stationary water. The latter can harbor mold, sending it throughout the
house with the air stream. Aprilaire is one such manufacturer of flowthrough central humidifiers (608-257-8801; www.aprilaire.com ).
Keep your central air conditioner well maintained and have an HVAC
contractor inspect and clean the condenser coils with a cleanser to avoid
mold. Be sure the cleanser is non-toxic.
Make sure window air conditioners drain the condensate water away from
your house onto the ground outdoors, not onto a porch below.
Inspect and clean refrigerator drain pans regularly for standing water and
mold growth.
Make sure all drainage hoses from air conditioner HVAC condenser units
and whole house humidifiers in the basement actually end over a floor
drain, not a few feet from them. Otherwise you end up with a perpetual
wet spot on the basement cement floor that will support mold growth.
Consider purchasing an indoor air purifier. The unit that I recommend is an
ozone-generating air purifier called the Royal Air air purifier (330-7753014; www.royalairpurifiers.com ). The Royal Air makes no detectable
nitrous oxide by-products as it creates abundant quantities of healthpromoting higher weights of oxygen (O4 to O16). Research shows that
nitrous oxide by-products are the cause of damage to the lung lining, not
ozone itself. Nitrous oxide by-products are created by an electronic spark
(which burns at 900 to 1,000 degrees F) as well as some frequencies of
UV light. Both these technologies are used in other ozone-generating air
purifiers but not the Royal Air. The Royal Air instead uses a cold fusion
process (only 110 degrees F) to generate higher weights of oxygen, all
without moving parts. Three independent outside laboratories have
documented that the Royal Air does not create any detectable amounts of
unhealthy nitrous oxide by-products. Call the R&D Department at Royal
Air (330-775-3014) to get the full story. Also go to Royal Airs website
(www.royalairpurifiers.com ) and click on the link, What Is Aran to read
how ozone produced without nitrous oxides is safe. Purchase a Royal Air
air purifier through Dawn Radibaugh, 651-269-0347.
Homeowners can repair small mold jobs themselves if the affected area is
generally less than ten square feet by following the guidelines in A Brief
Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home
(www.epa.gov/iaq/mold/moldguide.html ) and Mold Remediation in
Schools and Commercial Buildings
(www.epa.gov/mold/mold_remediation.html ).
Be sure to wear a well-fitting N-95 respirator mask and protective goggles.
Wear old clothing that you can discard or launder in hot water.
Seal off the mold infested room or area with plastic and seal the air vents
into and out of the room. Put a fan in the window and blow the air out, so
you in effect create negative pressure in the room. This is to avoid mold
spores from spreading throughout the house, turning a small, confined job
into a much bigger one.
You must be prepared for the fact that billions of mold spores could
potentially be released into the air when you start opening up and
demolishing mold-infested sheetrock, insulation, and tearing up moldy
carpet and padding.
All porous materials that became wet must go, even if they are now dry.
Through all infested materials out the window. Do not drag them through
the rest of the house. Cut moldy carpet and padding in strips, roll it up,
bag it, and discard it out the window.
Once you are down to solid, structural surfaces that must stay (studs,
sheathing, subflooring, concrete slab in the basement), use non-toxic
alternatives to bleach to kill and inhibit mold growth. Here are your
options:
Vital Oxide (www.vitaloxide.com/ )Vital Oxide is a non-toxic disinfectant
and mold remover. Well-tolerated by chemically-sensitive individuals. Safe
and effective.Available at local hardware stores.
Another good mold cleanser and mold killer is Thieves Oil, one of the
Young Living Essential Oils (www.youngliving.com/thieves ). Thieves Oil is
an historically effective blend of essential oils that has been shown to kill
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(http://www.h2orange2.com/products-genl-pur-cleaning.asp ).
These are two products made by Envirox. Concentrate 117 must
be diluted, while ONE can be used full strength.
Mold Control 500 From Scott's Liquid Gold,
(http://www.natlallergy.com/prod/1850/mold-control-500-fromscotts-liquid-gold.html ), distributed by National Allergy Supply.
SafeChoice X-158, (http://www.afmsafecoat.com/products.php?
page=5 ), made by AFM. From the website: "SafeChoice X-158 is
a premium quality, clear coating for prophylactic use on surfaces
where mold and might appear. It is not a cleaning agent, but a
clear defensive sealer designed to encapsulate surfaces which
would typically be subject to mold and mildew attack."
Vacuum all surfaces with a HEPA vacuum cleaner once you have done the
demolition and clean up. Be sure to have the room vented to the outside
with a fan in the window when you do this and wear your mask.
Then you are ready to rebuild. Be sure to use non-toxic paints and
adhesives (see below).
For larger jobs, consult a professional mold remediator. You can consult
the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification
(http://www.iicrc.org ) for a list of certified cleaning and restoration experts
in your area.
Avoid spun fiberglass furnace filters. Upgrade to pleated air filters and
change them more frequently than the manufacturer recommends, ideally
every one to two months (versus every three months, as recommended by
most manufacturers).
Install an air-to-air heat exchanger, also known as a Heat Recovery
Ventilator. They provide several fresh air exchanges per hour of stale
indoor air with fresh outdoor air without significant loss of heat in the
winter, and they keep out the heat in the summer. If you live in warmer
southern climates, you should ideally purchase an Energy Recovery
Ventilator (as opposed to a Heat Recovery Ventilator), available from
RenewAire (800-627-4499; www.renewaire.com ) or Aprilaire (608-2578801; www.aprilaire.com ). Energy Recovery Ventilators supply abundant
fresh air while keeping out heat and humidity in summer, and keeping in
heat and humidity in winter.
Have your air ducts cleaned throughout the house if not done so within the
past three to five years. This will eliminate accumulated dust and mold and
improve your indoor air quality. Have this done again in another three to
five years, or more often if occupants are symptomatic. Important: Ask
the serviceman to vacuum only. Do not let them spray toxic bactericide or
fungicide into the air ducts. The serviceman will do this automatically if you
do not tell them not to. These chemicals are toxic to you, as well as to
microorganisms and fungi.
Metal air ducts are best for forced air heating systems. If you need to
install flexible air ducts, choose cotton-lined semi-flexible air ducts over
fiberglass-insulated flexible air ducts. Cotton-insulated semi-flexible air
ducts are made by Superior Air Ducts in Houston (713-682-3828;
www.superiorairducts.com ). The plastic lining is tough enough for the
ducts to be professionally cleaned by a duct cleaning company, which is
not possible with fiberglass-lined ducts because the lining is too thin and
can easily be punctured. That is a real plus for Superiors air ducts as far
as we are concerned.
Have an HVAC contractor remove and replace the fiberglass panels that
line the plenum of your HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioner)
unit. These panels contain low-grade spun fiberglass, the fibers of which
are carried in the air stream that passes through this chamber in the
furnace. Replace with Tekfoil or similar non-fiber insulation, preferably
placed on the outside of the unit, if thermal and sound insulation are still
needed. Some HVAC manufacturers are looking into lining their plenums
with cotton insulation, not fiberglass.
Purchase a good quality HEPA vacuum cleaner, such as from the Miele
company, with good-fitting seals. Whole-house vacuum cleaners are the
best, because they are vented to the outdoors.
Avoid wall-to-wall carpeting. It collects and traps pesticides brought in on
the soles of your shoes, dead cells from your skin that feed dust mites,
and dust, and is a breeding ground for mold when the relative humidity
rises above 65%. Also formaldehyde, used as a color fixative, and glues
used in carpet backing can outgas for years, not just a few weeks after
installation. Instead use carpeting with woven jute backing and no
formaldehyde. Better yet, choose solid surface flooring that will outlast
wall-to-wall carpeting by decades. Cover them with area rugs that can be
periodically shaken and aired out. Start a no shoes inside policy with
your family so that street shoes are left at the door; use slippers indoors.
Consultations are available from Oram Miller, BBEI for healthy home evaluations
conducted both personally onsite as well as long distance over the telephone.
Contact him at 310.720.7686 or at info@createhealthyhomes.com. You can also
go to his website, www.createhealthyhomes.com for more information.
Oram Miller, BBEI
Certified Building Biology Environmental Inspector
11693 San Vicente Blvd., #342
Los Angeles, California 90049
Tel 310.720.7686
www.createhealthyhomes.com
info@createhealthyhomes.com
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