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Indoor Air Quality
Everyone wants to breathe clean air of the highest quality everywhere we go, whether we’re outside on a sunny day or relaxing inside our homes. Most people are aware of the effects of outdoor air pollution.
Increasingly, people are realizing that the air inside their homes may not be as clean and healthy as they want and in fact, may be more hazardous to their health than outside air. Mold growth, moisture generated through daily activities, chemical contaminants from furnishings and cleaning products, and lack of controlled ventilation are only some elements that contribute to poor indoor environments.
Some people have no known reaction to low levels of contaminants, but are interested in preventing health problems from occurring. Others have known sensitivities such as allergies, respiratory ailments and chemical sensitivities or may be at higher risk because they spend a lot of time in the home. A third, smaller, group is hypersensitive to numerous agents and react adversely to extremely low levels of exposure.
Preventing and fixing indoor air quality problems can be relatively simple although single solutions are rare. A comprehensive strategy based on solid building science is always necessary. Often, indoor air quality problems go unnoticed until they become critical. Whatever the size of the problem, the proven strategy, is to eliminate all sources of potential pollutants; separate any pollutant sources from the indoor environment if they can’t be eliminated; ventilate to bring in fresh air and to dilute the pollutants that haven’t been eliminated or separated from the home occupants; and provide filtration to further enhance the gains in indoor air quality made from the first three approaches.
While home occupants can often do some things on their own to improve IAQ, many problems require skilled investigation and remediation. Mold clean-up is a good example. Uninformed clean-up efforts are often wasted. It is essential to address the underlying building science issues so that mold problems do not re-occur. Identifying an indoor air quality problem, understanding the source and developing a cost effective action plan to fix the entire problem for the long term, requires building science knowledge, practical experience and ongoing professional development training.
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"The underlying causes of indoor air quality (IAQ) concerns and housing durability problems are often the same. Understanding how houses work as a system is key to developing solutions that will not only improve the IAQ in a house, but also protect the homeowner's investment."
IAQ Resources Canada team | | |
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